Tuesday 1 September 2009

Community-based rehabilitation & UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

An international workshop on "Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) and UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities" was held in Bangkok (Thailand) in February 2009, as part of the first Asia Pacific CBR Congress. About 80 persons from more than 20 countries participated in this workshop.

The final recommendations of this workshop were as follows:

1. CRPD is a legal instrument and it reinforces the CBR programmes. CRPD is based on the human rights approach and the CBR principles fit in with the CRPD.

2. CBR approach places special importance on working with poor, disadvantaged and discriminated persons in both rural and urban areas and is a key tool in promoting empowerment of persons with disabilities.

3. CBR is a strategy for inclusive development and should be promoted as part of all development efforts. CBR programmes should have a critical self-appraisal if their own activities, organisation and implementation are in line with CRPD. Persons with disabilities should play central role in all the processes of CBR, from planning to implementation to monitoring and evaluation.

4. CBR programmes should work to disseminate CRPD in all communities and among other stakeholders. For working with CRPD, CBR programmes also need to network among themselves.

5. CRPD and other rights-based instruments should be incorporated in all training programmes related to CBR. The regional and national CBR strategies, millennium development goals, other strategies should keep account of CRPD.

6. DPOs and CBR programmes should work together. CBR programmes should facilitate, promote and strengthen DPOs at all levels, with appropriate empowerment activities and instruments. CBR programmes should support networking between DPOs at grassroots level and national level. At the same time, DPOs should support strengthening of CBR programmes.

7. To develop concrete policies on disability, at local and national level, it is necessary building a Disability Action Plan, based on CRPD and involving DPOs in all phase of the process. CBR should be one of the components of Disability Action Plan.

8. Persons involved in CBR programmes, in collaboration with DPOs & disability movements, should continue to advocate in their respective countries for signing and ratifying of UN CRPD and its Optional Protocol.

9. CBR programmes should work together with persons with disabilities & DPOs in advocacy for making the governments accountable in implementation of UN CRPD. CBR programmes have a role in promoting advocacy for making sure that national laws are in line with CRPD.

10. CBR programmes can also support monitoring of implementation of CRPD in the programme areas, based on principle of the art. 33 of CRPD.

11. CBR can play important role in reaching more discriminated groups of persons with disabilities such as women & children, emigrants with disabilities, persons with complex dependency needs, persons who can’t represent themselves, etc. for ensuring that benefits of CRPD reach them.

You can download the full report of the International Workshop on "CBR and UN CRPD" as well as presentations made during this workshop from the AIFO website.