NHRC chief releases book on rights of persons with disabilities

New Delhi, Sep.3 (ANI): National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, on Friday, released a book that focuses on the rights of persons with disabilities.

The book titled "Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities - A guide by Commonwealth Secretariat" was released in the presence of a host of luminaries and key members of the NHRC.

An NHRC release said that it has been deeply concerned about the protection and promotion of rights of persons with disabilities. The Commission is of the view that the persons with disabilities should enjoy all human rights on an equal basis with others. Towards this end, the Commission has adopted a multi-pronged approach which includes redressal of individual complaints, legislative and policy reform, spreading of awareness etc.

The Commission has been involved since the formative stages of the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Commission advocated the ratification of the UN convention and finally the Government of India ratified the Convention on 1st October 2007.

As a follow up action, the Commission appointed a Special Rapporteur on Disability related issues and constituted a Core Advisory Group on Disability to advise the Commission on matters connected with and incidental to the promotion, protection and monitoring of the human rights for persons with disabilities.

With a view to assess whether existing Programmes and Policies for persons with disabilities are having the desired impact and to identify gaps in implementation, if any, and to suggest appropriate strategies to deal with them, the Commission organized five Regional review meetings on Disability during 2008-09 in various parts of the country.

The Commission has advocated to the Government of India for the ratification of Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Commission is of the view that the Optional Protocol will strengthen the accountability mechanism and serve as an additional tool for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.

The Commission reviewed The Copy Right (Amendment) Bill, 2010 from Human Rights perspective and noted that it does not meet the demand of print disabled person. With a view to protect the rights of the print disabled people, the Commission made recommendations for amendments in The Copy Right (Amendment) Bill, 2010 which is being examined by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

With a view to monitor the implementation of various laws, policies, concerning the rights of the persons with disabilities, Special Rapporteurs, NHRC have been visiting various states. The Commission has also asked all the State Governments to give wide publicity to UNPRCD to create awareness regarding the rights of persons with disabilities.

The book enumerates various provisions of the Convention in a very simple and informative manner. It not only clarifies that States should not discriminate against persons with disabilities, but also sets out the many steps that States must take to create an enabling environment so that persons with disabilities can enjoy real equality in society.

urther, this book is also accessible to the persons with visual impairments. This publication has been released simultaneously at the four centers around the world by the Commonwealth Secretariat. In recognition of the work done by NHRC in the field of protecting and promoting Human Rights of persons with disabilities, NHRC is selected as one of the four institutions for releasing this book. (ANI)