UN Recognises 650m Disabled in First Human Rights Treaty of 21st Century

International aid and development agencies, World Vision and Action on Disability and Development (ADD), have welcomed the formal adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.

World Vision told Christian Today, "The Convention draws together for the first time the human rights of disabled people. It has the potential to ensure that barriers to participation in society are removed so that disabled people are fully included in their own communities and in international development initiatives.

"The Convention will provide a recognised international standard for the rights and freedoms of disabled people around the world, including the 480 million disabled people in developing countries."

Isaac Kute, ADD's Chief Executive, said, "We welcome the long overdue Convention and call on all governments to ratify this treaty as quickly as possible - disabled people have been 2nd class citizens for too long! In order for the Convention to make a practical difference to disabled people's lives governments need to take urgent steps to ensure this treaty is not left gathering dust on a shelf."

World Vision's Disability Adviser, Sue Coe, says: "This Convention will hopefully mean that the rights of disabled people, especially disabled children, will finally be taken seriously. Until now, governments have been slow to make good on their commitments to disabled children outlined in many other human rights treaties. For example, though all disabled children have a right to education through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, only 2 per cent of disabled children in the developing world actually go to school."

World Vision is a Christian charity and one of the world's leading relief and development agencies, currently helping more than 100 million people in nearly 100 countries in their struggle against poverty, hunger and injustice, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

British Para-olympian athlete, Anne Wafula-Strike, grew up in Kenya and was struck down with polio at the age of two. She told World Vision: "I threatened to quit school when I was a child because of a lack of adequate facilities and the way I was treated by society. We would particularly like to see governments take action to ensure that the 40 million disabled children currently out of school in developing countries are given the opportunity to receive a quality education which will enable them to reach their full potential in life."

Isaac added: "This new Convention provides the impetus for governments to ensure that disabled people are finally fully included in society. However, this will only happen if the Convention is implemented and monitored effectively once it has been ratified."