This oral statement was broadcasted at the 58th Session of the Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Click here to watch the statement.
Esteemed Special Rapporteur.
I am Dipika Lama and I am making this statement on behalf of the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), National Indigenous Disabled Woman Association Nepal (NIDWAN) and the Asia Pacific Indigenous Women and Girls with Disabilities Network (APIWGDN). We welcome the special rapporteur’s remarkable report on rights of persons with disabilities.
As we commemorate the milestone of thirty years of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, we cannot ignore the fact that women and girls with disabilities are still facing challenges in accessing opportunities in terms of employment, healthcare, education, land rights, and are still facing structural and systemic violence. Reiterating the 2024 Asia Pacific Declaration of Women and Girls with disabilities, we recommend the following:
- Ensure inclusive, accessible education for diverse women and girls with disabilities by securing adequate funding for institutions, infrastructure, and technology at all levels.
- Enforce legal protections against workplace discrimination, harassment, and violence while ensuring equal access to decent work and respecting the collective rights of diverse women with disabilities in all sectors.
- Ensure diverse women and girls with disabilities have access to the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities-compliant social protection, poverty reduction, and health programs.
- Ensure Universal Health Coverage for all diverse women and girls with disabilities throughout their life cycle.
- Ensure accessible physical and digital health infrastructure is accessible for diverse women and girls with disabilities, including clinics, hospitals, diagnostics, information, and rehabilitation.
- Integrate protections for sexual and reproductive rights and reduce maternal and newborn mortality for diverse women and girls with disabilities in health policies, programs, and legislation.
- Ensure awareness around sexuality based themes for women and girls with disabilities, especially putting focus on the need to promote their free, prior, and informed consent for indigenous women with disabilities.
- Ensure community-based care model with integration of principles of collective rights as a measure to promote the rights of women and girls with disabilities.
