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Lebanon Urged to Ratify Disability Rights Treaty
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | August 3, 2008
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Disability, Hissa al-Thani, recently called upon Lebanon to ratify the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), <i>The Daily Star</i> has reported (article entitled "UN special rapporteur highlights tragedy of disability in war")
The CRPD is the first legally-binding, international treaty to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Some of the human rights it protects include: the right to have access to education, health, and public transportation; the right to work and an adequate standard of living; the right to rehabilitation and habilitation; the right to marry and divorce and share equally in child custody; and many more.
Countries that ratify the CRPD may also choose to ratify the accompanying Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol gives people with disabilities one more avenue to pursue justice for human rights violations. People whose rights have been violated under the CRPD must first work within the justice system of their own country. If all of these attempts fail, they may then ask the international Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to investigate their complaints.
Lebanon is among 130 countries that have signed the CRPD, and it is also among 71 countries that have signed the Optional Protocol. However, it is not yet among the 30 countries to ratify the CRPD, nor is it among the 18 countries to ratify the Optional Protocol. Signing an international treaty is a country’s way of promising to avoid doing anything to actively violate it, and also shows strong interest in ratifying it in the future. However, a country is not legally obligated to start obeying a treaty until it ratifies it. A country that ratifies a treaty must create and enforce laws as needed to be consistent with the treaty and must abolish laws that conflict with it.
Read more about Hissa al-Thani’s advice to Lebanon to ratify the CRPD in <i>The Daily Star</i> at:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=93847
Find out if your country has signed or ratified the CRPD at http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
Learn more about the CRPD and Optional Protocol by skimming the RatifyNow FAQ.
Learn how you can become involved with the global campaign to promote the ratification and implementation of the CRPD and Optional Protocol in your country and elsewhere.
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