The people with disabilities face hatred, discrimination, violence, deprivation and injustice in Pakistan because domestic laws are not implemented. "Pakistan is legally bound as per UN international law CRPD to take practical measures for creating better environment for persons with disabilities to help them lead an independent and painless life.
Addressing a two-day orientation workshop on "Equipping the Activists to Defend Rights of Women with Disabilities", which was arranged by the Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM). Shafiq-ur-Rehman said, "the disability exists in infrastructure, society, thoughts and behaviours, but not within a person with impairment, resultantly people with disabilities face troubles for the execution of tasks in daily routine due to the inaccessible buildings and transportation in Pakistan. Therefore, the government must build favourable environment for the inclusion of persons with disabilities."
Shazia George said, "There are negative impressions, behaviours and titles attributed to disability in our society, therefore the birth of children with disabilities is considered the sign of misfortune and punishment to the sins of parents."
"The irony is that persons with disabilities are prevented from participating in social activities, even they are deprived of the basic human rights such as; education, health, employment, marriage, movement etc. Therefore the families must provide equal opportunities and rights to persons with disabilities for their personal development and physical and mental growth as well," she added.
Sadia Butt said, "People with disabilities are able to perform many tasks, but the society has made them disabled due to unavailability of accessible environment for them, therefore they must have authority to take decisions attached to their own lives for their empowerment. Social, economic, political and religious rights must be ensured to all human beings irrespective of any discrimination on the basis of disability, faith, gender, caste, colour and ethnicity etc, and appropriate steps must be taken to empower underprivileged groups for establishing an inclusive, accessible and barrier-free society," she added.
Suneel Malik said, "The goal of the promotion of human rights education is to bring about positive change in behaviours towards marginalized groups, and to struggle for framing domestic policies and legislation in line with universally accepted standards." "No society can be civilised without the respect of human rights, therefore peace, harmony, justice, tolerance and prosperity prevails in those societies only where the rights of deprived groups are respected and protected," he added.
Bushra Khaliq said, "Women's rights are immensely exploited in Pakistan due to the dominance of patriarchal system in our society. Women must be provided with equal opportunities and resources without any discrimination, and appropriate measures must be taken to remove social, cultural, religious, legal and political barriers in the way of women's progress," she added.
The workshop was aimed at enhancing the understanding of participants about human rights, gender and disability concepts and standards, and sensitising them for their role in defending human rights of people with disabilities. As many as 23 Muslim and Christian participants including teachers, students, women with disabilities and representatives of civil society organisations actively participated in the workshop held at Dar-ul-Mussarat Training Institute. Naseem Anthony (Executive Secretary-AWAM), Bushra Khaliq (Director-WISE), Shafique-ur-Rehman (Milestone), Sadia Butt (MID), Suneel Malik (Director-PHD) and Shazia George were among the facilitators.
Comments
Comments are closed.