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El Salvador and the History of Disability Rights
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | August 18, 2008
Upside Down World has recently published an extensive history of the disability rights movement in El Salvador from the 1990s through today, with special attention to the 12-year civil war; land mines and land mine victims; disability-related legislation in the country; and the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
El Salvador is one of 34 countries to have ratified the CRPD. The CRPD is the first international, legally-binding treaty to protect the human rights of people with disabilities. It protects many different human rights including: the right to healthcare and to informed consent in health services; the right to procreate and to obtain contraceptives; the right to education; the right to live with one’s own family in the community; and many more.
El Salvador also is one of 20 countries to have ratified the accompanying Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol gives people with disabilities another way to obtain justice if their human rights have been violated under the CRPD. People must first pursue all means of justice available to them within their own country. If all of these attempts fail, and if their country has ratified both the CRPD and the Optional Protocol, then they may register a complaint with the international Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee is authorized to investigate human rights violations under the CRPD.
In addition to the countries that have ratified the CRPD and Optional Protocol so far, another 96 countries also have declared official interest in ratifying the CRPD in the future, and 51 of these countries also are officially interested in ratifying the Optional Protocol. A country signals strong official interest in an international treaty by signing it. Signing a treaty is the first step toward ratifying it. A country that has signed a treaty is not yet obligated to obey it, but must still avoid taking actions that would violate it. A country that has fully ratified a treaty must make its laws more consistent with the treaty by creating new laws as necessary, or by abolishing old laws that violate the treaty.
Read the full story on the history of disability rights in El Salvador, entitled "A Recent History of the Disability Rights Movement in El Salvador" at
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1384/1/
Find out if your country has signed or ratified the CRPD and Optional Protocol at http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
Learn more about the CRPD and Optional Protocol by reading 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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