Making a report globally is one way of pressuring governments to act.
Keep the Truth coming.
Lauro
Original message:
> Dear Janet,
> Reading your extremely moving report/analysis of the oppression of
> disabled people in North Korea which largely goes unreported, as a
> disabled person, I feel so hopelessly powerless and really wonder
> whether as disabled people, we are just on our own and that our rights
> (if ever we have any) are really human rights worth talking about; or
> at best, we should just resign to the 'fact' that we are at the
> disposal of the non-disabled society and they can use their discretion
> regarding how they treat us. Below, please read an open letter written
> by my fellow activist here in Zimbabwe on the 3rd of December.
> DISABILITY IN ZIMBABWE; THE CASE OF THE STRAY DOG
> Dear comrades, compatriots and all those who wish us well:
> Once again, today, the whole world reflects on challenges and
> successes of persons with disabilities. Progressive nations have state
> organised commemorations. This year, this day is being celebrated
> under the theme, “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive
> society and development for all”. It is with a heavy heart that here
> in zimbabwe, we mark this day for the second time with visible state
> inactivity. As an activist, this exposition is my own way of marking
> the day.
> In its manifesto, the ZANU PF party which went on to win the
> elections and formed the current government identified respect for
> persons with disabilities as one of the “goals of the people”. It is
> necessary that I quote for you from page 28 of the manifesto:
> Zimbabweans recognise the challenges faced by their compatriots with
> disabilities. Against this backdrop, it is a goal of the people to
> ensure that persons with disabilities are fully respected and assisted
> by the Zanu PF Government to realise
> their full mental and physical potential in order for them to be
> self-reliant so as to participate fully in the national economy
> and to be able to live with their families and pursue their hopes and
> dreams while being protected from all forms of abuse or exploitation.”
> What is clear in this is that notwithstanding the welfarist approach
> apparent in words such as “assisted”, the quoted statement is more
> inclined towards disability rights and inclusion. In addition, on the
> 23rd of September 2013, the government ratified the UN convention on
> the rights of persons with disabilities. This was a ray of hope for
> persons with disabilities who thought that this would be followed by
> tangible state activities.
> Before proceeding, a flashback will do. Last year, the inclusive
> government did not even care about the international day of persons
> with disabilities. We were told that the ministry under which
> disability fell was held by the MDC and that Zanu PF would not have
> allowed this to happen. We were in the trenches fighting other battles
> and we let it go. This time, our revolutionary party’s government has
> marked all other events one can think of. Talk of the breast feeding
> day, the world aids day, the international day of women, refugees etc
> etc yet it has not even said a word on disability. This is very sad
> indeed especially given that this is a government which came as a
> result of a protracted war of liberation which left so many
> Zimbabweans disabled. This behaviour is characteristic of a government
> which has left disability work in the hands of charity and the major
> task which activists and persons with disabilities have is that of
> ensuring that the government is held accountable and walk the talk on
> disability from a rights based approach. How can a government which
> ratified the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
> fail to honour the UN day of persons with disabilities? Is this not
> just like a man who pays the bride price and has a white wedding but
> refuses to stay with the woman as his wife? What a shame!
> As we commemorate this day, lets never lose sight of the fact that we
> have a government with a well documented history of non-compliance
> with disability legislation. A case in point is that of section 3 of
> the Disabled Persons Act, though antiquated, this act provides in the
> section under discussion for the establishment of the office of “the
> director for disabled persons affairs”. By implication, there must be
> a department of disabled persons affairs. Since this act was
> promulgated in 1992, this office has never been occupied and the
> department never created. Recently, the ministry of labour and social
> welfare, which is tasked with the administration of this act has been
> restructured and there is now a new director of child rights who has
> three deputy directors. Yet disability remains under the
> over-stretched and under-staffed department of social welfare. For the
> past twenty-one years, the government is refusing to create this
> department. When one critically looks at this, it is clear that there
> is misdirected effort because children’s issues are dealt with in the
> ministry of education, health and child care as well as ministry of
> youth. If ever there was a department which needed to be created
> urgently in that ministry, it is the department of disabled persons
> affairs.
> Still on the legal developments, though poorly written, the new
> constitution provides a number of opportunities for persons with
> disabilities. This include the official status of sign language, the
> obligation on the part of the state to provide information to persons
> with disabilities in accessible formats, the inclusion of several
> rights such as the right to state funded education for persons with
> disabilities in the bill of rights inter-alia. Furthermore, as
> highlighted above, the government ratified without reservations both
> the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the
> optional protocol. It is imperative upon all who are in the trenches
> to fight for the domestication of the convention and the harmonisation
> of our laws with the disability rights framework established in terms
> of the convention.
> One of the most tired yet true statements in the world of academia is
> that there is a co-relation between disability and poverty. As we mark
> this day, activists must come to a point of a painful admition that we
> have not directed our efforts well towards poverty alleviation.
> Education and empowerment of persons with disabilities remain very law
> on the agenda of both the state and public players. Indeed project
> proposals have been written and organisations have been funded in the
> name of disability mainstreaming yet the actual beneficiaries have
> never got anything other than being called to workshops where they are
> filmed and photographed for more donor funding. In other instances
> where money has been received for disability inclusion, persons with
> disabilities are taken on board as window dressers and not decision
> makers.
> My father is a Mbira player. I particularly remember one song he would
> play. “imbwa yangu machena, yaenda yega isina munhu mugwara” This is
> a cry of a hunter whose dog has just gone alone without it’s owner. I
> am truly convinced that our government is like that dog as far as
> disability issues are concerned and as disability rights activists and
> all other concerned citizens, we can not continue watching this dog
> not only going astray but also rabid. Lets put a stop to the situation
> where disability work is directed by gate keepers of charity and make
> our government more disability rights oriented. If they have not made
> us part of systems, lets bulldoze our way into the system. As Ed
> Roberts put it, “if you snooze you lose”. Lets start demanding for
> action and action now. I wish you a happy international day of persons
> with disabilities.
> Yours truly Mukoma A the activist
> Regards,
> Kudzai Shava
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