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Malaysia buildings to be more accessible; Disability rights treaty cited
By Andrea Shettle, MSW | August 29, 2008
The Community Development and Consumer Affairs Ministry of Malaysia is working to identify buildings in the city of Sabah that could be made more accessible to people with physical disabilities, the Daily Express has reported ("Making public places in Sabah more disabled-friendly"). Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun has indicated to the press that this move is consistent with Article 30 of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The CRPD is the first international, legally-binding compact among countries to protect the human rights of people with disabilities. It protects a wide range of rights such as the right to have access to justice; the right to life; the right to privacy; the right to accessible education, health care services, and public transport; and many more. Article 30 protects the rights of people with disabilities to participate in cultural life, leisure, and sport.
Malaysia is one of 130 countries that have signed the CRPD. However, it has not yet joined the 34 countries that have ratified it. Signing an international treaty is the first step toward ratifying it. Signatory countries must avoid actions that actively violate the CRPD but are not yet obligated to obey it. Countries that ratify the CRPD must create new laws as needed to protect all the human rights covered in the CRPD on an equal basis to other people in the same country. State parties (i.e., countries that have ratified) also must abolish old laws that violate the CRPD.
Read more about the move toward making more buildings in Sabah, Malaysia accessible at:
http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=59298
Also read an earlier RatifyNow post about Malaysia and the CRPD, entitled Malaysia Urged to Comply with CRPD and its Own Disability Rights Law.
Learn more about the CRPD and the Optional Protocol by skimming the RatifyNow FAQ and the page on the Optional Protocol.
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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