DUSHANBE, April 2, 2012, Asia-Plus — Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on the Tajik authorities to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
An appropriate statement has been signed by the Association of Development Problems Children, the Association of Parents of Children with Disabilities, Tajikistan’s Bureau on Human Rights and the Rule of Law (BHR), the National Association of People with Disabilities of Tajikistan, Dushanbe’s Society of People with Disabilities, the League of Women with Disabilities, the Khujand-based public association “Parents of Development Problems Children with Disabilities” as well as public associations “Hamdilon” and “Taqdir.”
According to the statistical data, the number of PWDs has considerably increased in Tajikistan over the past twenty years and some 160 people with disabilities now live in the country.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.
The text was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13, 2006 and opened for signature on March 30, 2007. Following ratification by the 20th party, it came into force on May 3, 2008.
As of March 2012, it has 153 signatories and 111 parties, including the European Union which ‘concluded’ the treaty (in effect, ratified it to the extent responsibilities of the member states were transferred to the European Union) on December 23, 2010. The Convention is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a side-agreement to the Convention which allows its parties to recognize the competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to consider complaints from individuals. The text is based heavily on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The Optional Protocol entered into force with the Convention on May 3, 2008. As of February 2012, it has 90 signatories and 63 parties.
