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The African Disability Protocol (ADP) is necessary to address the continent’s unique cultural practices, customs, and traditional beliefs that hinder people with disabilities (PWDs) from an opportunity for equal treatment and access to products and services.
This emerged at a meeting held at Holiday Inn Hotel in Harare on 4 November 2021, to review the African Charter on the Rights of People with Disabilities and to consider whether to recommend its adoption by the Government considering that Zimbabwe is also a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Delegates reiterated the need to adopt the African Disability Protocol since in Africa there are harmful practices that require to be addressed focusing on the role of the family, caregivers, and community in regards to the welfare of PWDs.
Bekithemba Mlauzi who was standing in for Dr. E. Mthethwa, the Chief Director in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare, presented on the scope of disability rights in Africa and made reference to some model countries on the continent that had reached some milestone achievements in promoting the rights of PWDs.
“Disability should be understood in the African context. The African Disability Protocol (The Protocol) to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights was adopted by the African Union Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) at the thirtieth ordinary session of the Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 29 January 2018. The focus should be on Articles 2 and 18 that focus on the prevention of discrimination and the elderly people.
“Women’s rights are espoused in the Maputo Protocol and African charter also focuses on children’s rights. These protocols do not specifically and succinctly address the welfare of PWDs. The African Disability Protocol is yet to be ratified by African countries. There are some countries with good practices on PWDs. These include South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda.,” Mlauzi said.
He said South Africa is working on domesticating UNCRPD. Sierra Leone proposed the recruitment of PWDs in the uniformed forces including the police. Mlauzi said Malawi also has a good law on disability rights. Zimbabwe’s national disability policy has a detailed implementation strategy on advancing the rights of PWDs. To date, 182 countries have ratified the UNCRPD,
According to some studies, Africa has a 40% of its population with PWDs. The African Disability Protocol deals with community-based rehabilitation and minorities within the disability community in Africa like people with albinism.
Deborah Tigere, the Country Director of the Christian Blind Mission said Africa has a unique approach to dealing with PWDs in that the continent is struggling with poverty.
“In Africa, we struggle with poverty hence our approach to disability issues has to be unique because as developing countries, our problems and approaches in addressing our challenges have to be different from that of developed countries,” Tigere said.
Ishmael Zhou, the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH) Chairman thanked Sightsavers, UNESCO, and the Chrisian Blind Mission for championing the advocacy around the signing and ratification of ADP to advance rights of PWDs in Africa.
Peter Bare, the Senior Programme Lead for Sightsavers Zimbabwe urged organisations for persons with disabilities to continue engaging government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare and ensure Zimbabwe will not miss signing and ratifying the ADP during the next AU summit scheduled for February 2022. He said it will be historic for Zimbabwe to be part of the fifteen countries that will put ADP into force.
The first African Union Continental Plan of Action for the “Decade of Persons with Disabilities” was between 1999 and 2009. Thus, in 2003 the first Ministerial Conference on Human Rights in Africa came out with the Kigali Declarations which “calls upon States Parties to develop a Protocol on the protection of the rights of the elderly and Persons with Disabilities”. In view of this, a working group was established by ACHPR via Resolution 143/45 of 2009.
In 2010 on the strength of Articles 66 and 18(2), the Working Group released the draft copy of an African Protocol for persons with disabilities for comments. However, disability human rights organisations and experts pointed out that there had not been much consultation and that there were several gaps in the document. The circulated draft did not advance any African legal jurisprudence and the document eroded the gains achieved with the enactment of the UNCRPD.
Thus, Africa Disability Alliance together with partners including Sightsavers and Africa Blind Union provided technical assistance to the Commission and in collaboration with the University of Pretoria offered guidance and direction on options for an inclusive process. The agreed text of the Protocol is the result of this collaboration.
Provisions of the Protocol
The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (The Charter) of the African Union envisaged the need for the AU to have a clear framework for member states to promote disability rights. Therefore, the Charter makes specific provisions in the following articles:
Article 66; “special protocols or agreements to supplement the provisions of the present Charter”;
Article 60;“shall draw inspiration from other instruments adopted by the United Nations; and
Article 18 (4), specifically mentions the aged and the disabled “Shall also have the right to special measures of protection with their physical or moral needs”.
The protocol therefore is the actualisation of that framework to guide member states of the AU in the promotion of the rights of persons with disability. Generally, the language of the Protocol is more disability friendly and uses the right based approach, more detailed and illustrative to bring out the peculiarities of the African context.
The Protocol is intended to complement the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Upon entry into force, the Protocol will address, political, economic and social issues affecting people with disabilities such as harmful practices, systemic discrimination, social exclusion, increased rates of poverty, risk of violence and abuse particularly for persons with albinism, women, girls and older people with disabilities.