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New Zealand Parents Fight for Better Education Under Disability Rights Treaty
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | August 28, 2008
Parents in New Zealand complain that funding constraints have denied their children with disabilities a decent quality education, Stuff.co.nz has reported ("Fighting for a fair deal"). Some schools, for example, routinely send disabled students home if their special aide calls in sick, or exclude them from extracurricular activities. Advocates have asserted that this pattern of discrimination is a violation of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and have been using the treaty as a tool in their battle to push for better quality education for New Zealand students with disabilities.
The CRPD is the first internationl, legally-binding agreement among countries that protects the human rights of people with disabilities. It covers a wide range of rights such as the right to live in the community (not an institution); the right to informed consent in health care; the right to personal mobility (access to mobility aids and training); the right to receive information in accessible formats (Braille, sign language, etc.); the right to accessible education, health care, and public transportation; and many more.
New Zealand is one of 130 countries that have signed the CRPD. However, it has not yet joined the 34 countries that have gone on to ratify the treaty. Signing the CRPD is the first step toward ratifying it. A country that becomes a signatory (i.e., signs the treaty) agrees to avoid any action that violates the intent and spirit of the treaty, and signals interest in ratifying it at some point in the future. However, a country is not legally bound to obey the treaty until 30 days after it ratifies. Countries that ratify the CRPD must create new laws as needed to ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy all the human rights provided for in the CRPD, and countries also must abolish old laws that violate the CRPD.
Read more about the battle for better quality education for children with disabilities in New Zealand at:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4649116a7694.html
Also see earlier RatifyNow posts about New Zealand and the CRPD, entitled New Zealand Organizations to use award for promoting CRPD; New Zealand Working toward ratifying Disability Rights Treaty; and New Zealand bill would pave way to Ratifying disability rights treaty.
Learn more about the CRPD and the Optional Protocol by skimming the RatifyNow FAQ.
Find out if your country has signed or ratified the CRPD at http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
Learn how you can become involved with the global campaign to promote the ratification and implementation of both the CRPD and the Optional Protocol in your country and elsewhere.
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