(Adopted by the
Meeting to Review the Progress of the Asian and Pacific
Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002, Bangkok, 26 –
30 June 1995.)
Critical
issues
Women and
girls with disabilities in every community, whether urban
or rural, whether in a developed or a developing country
or territory in the ESCAP region, experience triple
discrimination: from being female, disabled and poor.
Discrimination and prejudice prevail even within each of
those groups. Among women, the disabled woman is seen as
inferior; among people with disabilities, she is not
their equal. Thus women with disabilities are among the
most isolated, marginalized and poorest of people.
They are
likely to receive less care and food and be left out of
family interactions, and community activities. They also
have less access to health care and rehabilitation
services, fewer opportunities to be educated and employed
and little hope of marriage. They will be more vulnerable
to physical and psychological abuse.
All actions
to improve the status of disabled persons do not always
benefit women and girls with disabilities equally. If the
Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002,
is to make a difference for women and girls with
disabilities in the region, greater attention must be
given to the issues faced by them and to increasing their
capacity to participate in the local-, national- and
international-level implementation of the Agenda for
Action.
Recommendations
1. National
coordination
Strategic
objective:
To enable representatives of women with disabilities to
be involved in policy - and decision-making on issues
that relate to them at the national level.
Action to be taken:
1.1 Include
women with disabilities as members of the national
coordination committee, their number to be equal to the
number of men with disabilities in the committee.
Action by: National coordination committees for
disability concerns.
1.2 Provide
the means for them to develop the skills required for
effective functioning in the committee.
Action by: Self-help organizations of people with
disabilities, organizations concerned with human
resources development and empowerment among women.
2.
Legislation
Strategic
objective:
To protect and promote the rights of disabled women.
Action to be taken:
2.1 Identify,
examine and amend existing legal and policy provisions
which may discriminate against women with disabilities
and restrict their access to public services and
participation in society.
Action by: Governments, self-help organizations of
people with disabilities.
2.2 Initiate
and strengthen activities to inform and educate women and
girls with disabilities as well as the public (including
women and men with disabilities), regarding their rights.
Action by: Governments, self-help organizations of
people with disabilities, women s organizations,
particularly those engaged in the promotion of legal
literacy.
2.3 Provide
free legal service to women with disabilities.
Action by: Governments and legal aid
organizations.
3.Information
and 4. Public awareness
Strategic
objective:
To generate, collate and disseminate information on the
situation of women with disabilities to povide a sound
basis for policy formulation and action, and to increase
public awareness.
Action to be taken:
3.1
Incorporate the collection of gender-specific data in
surveys on the disability situation at national level and
by the United Nations system.
Action by: Governments, UNICEF, UNIFEM.
3.2 Undertake
studies on the actual living conditions of disabled women
in urban and rural areas, particularly those in the
poorest and most disadvantaged communities, with a view
to identifying ways to improving their status and living
conditions.
Action by: Governments, self-help organizations of
people with disabilities, women s organizations,
organizations working on urban management and housing
rights and on rural poverty alleviation.
3.3 Record
and document the experiences of women with disabilities
in ESCAP developing and least developed countries.
Action by: Self-help organizations of people with
disabilities, womens' organizations and media
organizations.
3.4
Investigate and report on the extent and nature of
violence against disabled women and girls, with a view to
formulating measures for their protection and redress.
Action by: Governments, self-help organizations of
people with disabilities, womens' organizations and
regional networks involved in campaigning on violence
against women.
4.1 Raise
awareness among media persons in the ESCAP region on
issues relating to women and girls with disabilities and
encourage their support for promoting positive public
attitudes regarding women and girls with disabilities.
Action by: Self-help organizations of people with
disabilities, organizations working on social
mobilization of marginalized groups, UNICEF, UNESCO, the
Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO.
4.2 Include
women and girls with disabilities in all activities
(e.g., sports and the arts) and materials (e.g., posters,
commemorative stamps, first day covers and training
packages) aimed at public information, education and
social mobilization on disability issues.
Action by: Governments, self-help organizations of
people with disabilities, media organizations.
5.
Accessibility and Communication
No additional
recommendations for women and girls with disabilities.
6. Education
Strategic
objective:
To ensure that all girls and women with disabilities be
given the fullest possible opportunity for education.
Action to be taken:
6.1 Study the
reasons for the low enrolment of girls and women with
disabilities in schools, higher learning institutions,
functional literacy and other non-formal education
programmes, with a view to evolving and implementing a
comprehensive plan to eliminate barriers to their
enrolment.
Action by: Governments and UNICEF.
6.2
Incorporate measures to address the education needs of
disabled women and girls in all policies and programmes
to achieve the UNESCO goal of Education for All.
Action by: Governments, UNESCO, UNICEF and UNDP,
NGOs concerned with the enhancement and promotion of
functional literacy.
6.3 Set
targets for girls and women with disabilities for all
education and literacy programmes, particularly those
that focus on girls and women in general.
Action by: Governments and NGOs working on the
promotion of education and functional literacy among
marginalized groups.
6.4 Integrate
the education and functional literacy needs of women and
girls with disabilities in all UNESCO s activities to
promote education of girls.
Action by: UNESCO and NGOs supporting UNESCO s
objectives.
6.5 Support
exchanges on models of integrated education for disabled
children.
Action by: Governments, UNESCO and UNICEF.
6.6 Request
relevant international agencies and bodies through their
existing advisory services to governments in the ESCAP
region, to provide technical advice to governments in the
formulation of comprehensive plans for the education of
children with disabilities, with attention to equal
access for disabled girls.
Action by: UNESCO, UNICEF.
7.Training
and employment
Strategic objective:
To provide equal opportunities for vocational training
and employment for women and girls with disabilities.
Action to be taken:
7.1 Establish
a system to identify and provide jobs in all sectors
which are suited to the abilities, potential and
aspirations of women with disabilities.
Action by: Governments, organizations involved in
community development, vocational training and other
human resource development activities.
7.2 Increase
the intake of women and girls with disabilities in
vocational training and integrate them with the requisite
support services, into existing vocational training
facilities.
Action by: Governments, NGOs involved in
vocational training for persons with disabilities.
7.3 Provide
opportunity for promotion of women with disabilities by
upgrading their skills.
Action by: Governments, NGOs involved in
vocational training for persons with disabilities.
7.4 Protect
the rights of women with disabilities in the workplace.
Action by: Labour unions, organizations concerned
with the rights of women workers
7.5 Protect
the health and safety of women with disabilities in the
workplace.
Action by: Labour unions, organizations concerned
with the rights of women workers.
7.6 Educate
employers and fellow employees to ensure the rights of
women with disabilities to work free from psychological
and/or sexual harassment.
Action by: Labour unions, organizations concerned
with the rights of women workers.
7.7
Strengthen training in business development, product
quality control, marketing and distribution of products
and services by women with disabilities who are
self-employed either as individuals or as a group.
Action by: Governments, UN agencies, NGOs working
on small business development
7.8 Specify
the inclusion of women with disabilities as target
beneficiaries of credit schemes directed at poverty
alleviation among women.
Action by: Governments, organizations concerned
with provision of credit in urban and rural development
projects.
8.
Prevention of causes of disabilities
No additional
recommendations for women and girls with disabilities.
9.Rehabilitation
services (health and social development)
Strategic
objective:
To ensure that women and girls with disabilities have
equal access to health care and rehabilitation services. Action
to be taken:
9.1
Strengthen community health care and community-based
rehabilitation services, and make available information
about them; so that women and girls with disabilities
will be able to have greater access to them.
Action by: Governments and NGOs involved in
community-based rehabilitation
9.2 Increase
the training of women with disabilities as
community-based rehabilitation workers to enhance service
delivery to more women and girls with disabilities.
Action by: Governments and NGOs involved in
community-based rehabilitation.
10.
Assistive devices
Strategic
objective:
To increase the availability of assistive devices for
women and girls with disabilities.
Action to be taken:
10.1 Promote
the production and distribution of assistive devices
which are appropriate for women and girls with
disabilities and ensure that they have equal access to
existing subsidies and concessions.
Action by: Governments and NGOs involved in the
production and distribution of assistive devices.
11.
Self-help organizations
Strategic
objective:
To strengthen the capacity of women with disabilities to
include their concerns into the agenda of self-help
organizations and to provide them with equal
opportunities to influence policy and decision-making in
those organizations.
Action to be taken:
Self-help organizations of people with disabilities
should:
11.1 Take
special action to recruit more women and girls with
disabilities as members so as to improve the gender
balance in the organizations and better represent the
interests of women and girls with disabilities.
11.2 Aim
towards equal representation of women members in their
policy- and decision-making bodies.
11.3 Form
committees elected by the women members to promote the
advancement of women and girls with disabilities.
11.4 Raise
the awareness of women and girls with disabilities
regarding gender issues, with a view to increasing their
ability to analyse the barriers caused by gender bias and
to develop the skills to deal with those barriers in
everyday life.
11.5 Include
equal numbers of women in leadership and management
training activities.
11.6
Strengthen cooperation with women s organizations through
joint projects on issues faced by women and girls with
disabilities.
11.7
Approach, in collaboration with the national focal points
on disability, all multi-bi-lateral and national funding
agencies to ensure that women and girls with disabilities
are explicitly cited as target beneficiaries of
development programmes which are intended to be
gender-sensitive.
12. Regional
cooperation
Strategic
objective:
To enhance the sharing of information and experience on
the advancement of women and girls with disabilities and
to strengthen their effectiveness in advocacy at relevant
regional forums.
Action to be taken:
12.1
Encourage and support networking among women with
disabilities, and \between women with disabilities and
mainstream women s organizations as well as other NGOs.
Action by: Self-help organizations of people with
disabilities, womens' organizations and NGOs.
12.2 Ensure
equal representation of men and women in bilateral
exchange programmes in the field of disability.
Action by: Governments and NGOs.
12.3
Discussion on the progress of efforts to promote the
implementation of the recommendations regarding women and
girls with disabilities should be included in the agenda
of the meetings of the Asia-Pacific Inter-organizational
Task Force on Disability-related Concerns and the
biennial regional meetings to review the progress of the
Decade.
Action by: All members of the Inter-organizational
Task-Force on Disability-related Concerns.
12.4 Country
reports and reports by NGOs for future biennial regional
reviews should include gender-segregated data and
information on women and girls with disabilities with
respect to implementation of all areas of the Agenda for
Action.
Action by: Governments and NGOs.
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