nach oben

Erschienen in:

2020 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

3. Disability Justice in an African Context: The Human Rights Approach

verfasst von : Oche Onazi

Erschienen in: An African Path to Disability Justice

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Einloggen

Aktivieren Sie unsere intelligente Suche, um passende Fachinhalte oder Patente zu finden.

search-config

KI-gestützte Suche

Aus

Abstract

This chapter discusses the human rights-based approach to disability justice through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 (the Convention or CRPD) and the emerging African regional disability human rights framework. Through anecdotes from Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi and Kenya, the chapter argues that it is not the absence of laws and policies that has been the obstacle to disability justice in Africa, but rather the inability of existing human rights laws and policies to challenge negative cultural beliefs and social perceptions of disability. The recently established Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa 2018 (the Protocol) presents a unique opportunity to address this gap. However, the chapter will raise doubts about whether the Protocol can make a meaningful impact on the lives of people with disabilities in Africa without a substantial revision to the order in which duties are presented and articulated in the regional instrument.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

Jetzt informieren

Vorheriges Kapitel Outline of an Alternative Research Agenda on Disability Justice

Nächstes Kapitel Disability Justice in Legal and Political Philosophy: Is the Concept of Community a Missing Ideal?

The Protocol 2018, Article 16(4)(d).

The Convention 2006, Preamble.

Ibid., Article 1.

The limits of the social model of disability have attracted attention in the literature (Oliver 2013; Shakespeare 2013; Hughes and Patterson 1997). In particular, Julie Maybee’s (2017) recent work stands out here because it is one of the rare works to consider disability through African philosophy in relation to the neglect of impairments and the body by the social model of disability.

The Convention 2006, Article 3.

Ibid., Article 4.

Ibid., Articles 12–29.

Ibid., Articles 24–28.

Ibid., Article 16.

Ibid., Article 19.

Ibid.

‘Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits’.

‘Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible’.

ICCPR, Articles 8 and 25.

ICESCR, Articles 8 and 11.

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2017, para 16a.

The Convention 2006, Article 3a.

Ibid., Article 19.

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2017, para 16b.

Ibid.

The Convention 2006, Article 19b; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights 2012, p. 15.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Fourth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2004.

UNGA Fifth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2005.

UNGA Fourth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2004.

Ibid.

UNGA Fifth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2005 and UNGA Fourth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2004 respectively.

UNGA Fourth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2004.

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2017, para 8.

In Africa, there are L’Arche communities in Burkina Faso, Cote’ d’Ivoire, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe. For more details about L ‘Arche communities in general, see International Federation of L’Arche Communities https://www.larche.org/en/welcome. Accessed 22 January 2019.

UNGA Fifth Session of the Ad hoc Committee 2005.

Algeria, Cape Verde, Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania.

Angola, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Lesotho, Mauritania, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Zimbabwe have accented to and ratified the treaty without signing it, while the Central African Republic, Chad and Comoros have only signed it.

Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Lesotho, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe and Zimbabwe have accented to and ratified the Optional Protocol without signing it, while only Cameroon and Chad have signed it.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) based in Africa, such as Sudan Association for Combating Landmines (JASMAR) and Amicale Marocaine des Handicapes, made contributions on the Convention sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee.

UNGA Ad Hoc Committee 2003.

Permanent Mission Burkina Faso to the United Nations 2005.

See, for example, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights 1980, Article 18 (4). African regional conference on the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981). The African Union also announced the African decade for people with disabilities in 1999 long before the Convention was established, even though it can be argued that the former was influenced by the same type of agitation that led to the latter.

Constitution of the Republic of Benin 1990, Article 26.

Constitution of Burkina Faso 1991 (Amended in 2012), Article 18.

Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon, Preamble.

Disability rights are also covered in Articles 7(3)(b), 21(3), 27(4) and (5), 54, 82(c) (i), 83(1)(b), 99(2)(e), 100(b), 120(1), 177(1)(c), 193(2)(d), 232(i)(ii)(iii) and 260 of the Kenyan Constitution.

People with disabilities are also covered by the following Acts of Parliament: The Social Assistance Act 24 2013; The Mental Health Act 1989; Matrimonial Causes Act 34 1941; Criminal Procedure Code; Sexual Offences Act 3 of 2006; and The Basic Education Act 2013.

Malawi signed the CRPD on 27 September 2007, and subsequently ratified it on 27 August 2009.

Constitution of the Republic of Malawi 1995, sections 13(g), 20(1) and (2), 23(4) and 30(1).

See, for example, the Disability Act 2013, sections 2, 10, 24, 72 and 145(d). Disability rights are also covered by the Child Protection Act (Act 22 of 2010); the Education Act (21 of 2013), section 4(1); the Employment Act (Act 6 of 2000), sections 5(1) (2), 6(1), 57(a); and the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority Act (Act 6 of 1999).

Constitution of Mozambique 2004 (Amended 2007).

Constitution of the Republic of Cape Verde 1992 (Amended in 2010).

Cape Verde Constitution 2010, Article 76.

Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act 1996.

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996.

See section 4 of the 2010 Act.

This is a revised version of a similar argument presented in Onazi (2017).

The African regional disability human rights framework arguably consists of a range of initiatives and instruments, including the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (1999–2009) and (2010–2019), as well as the Continental Plan of Action for the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2013). The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003) also explicitly recognises the ‘rights of women with disabilities’. Similarly, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (2001) and African Youth Charter (2006) recognises and protects the rights of children and youth with disabilities respectively.

See the Banjul Charter 1980, Article 18(4). There are suggestions that the ‘other status’ category under Article 2 of the Banjul Charter covers disabilities, but it is too vague to agree with this conclusion.

The South African and Ugandan delegations were particularly vociferous on the impact of poverty on development.

The Convention 2006, Preamble, Article 32.

The Convention 2006, Preamble.

Ibid., Article 5.

Ibid., Article 7.

Ibid., Article 8.

Ibid., Article 11.

Ibid., Article 16.

Ibid., Article 19.

Ibid., Article 24.

Ibid., Article 25.

Ibid., Article 26.

Ibid., Article 28.

Ibid., Article 32.

The Protocol 2018, Preamble.

Ibid.

Ibid., Article 14(2)(e).

Ibid., Article 14(2)(g).

Ibid., Article 16( 4)(d).

The Banjul Charter 1980, Article 27–29.

The Protocol 2018, Articles 4, 11, 14 (2) and 16.

There has only been one decision on disability human rights taken by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Purohit and Another v The Gambia (2003) AHRLR 96.

The Protocol, Article 18.

Ibid., Article 14(4)(d).

Ibid., Article 31.

Ibid., Article 12(d).

Ibid., Article 31.

Ibid., Articles 1, 11.

The Banjul Charter 1980, Article 29(7).

The Protocol 2018, Article 16( 4)(d).

My point here is for the autonomy of African morality from African culture, much in the same way the former is autonomous from African religion (Wiredu 1992, 196).

The Convention 2006, Article 19.

In empirical terms, Kenya and Uganda’s initial status reports submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of Person with Disabilities in 2010 demonstrate a strong emphasis on the role of community. UN Doc CRPD/U/UGA/1.

The Convention 2006, Preamble.

The Protocol 2018, Article 31.

Article 19 extends the principle of non-discrimination in Article 2 to peoples. Articles 20, the rights of a people not to be dominated and to resist dominated and Articles 21, 22 and 24, the rights of people to natural resources, socio-economic development and an environment.

See Chap. 2. This may be a debatable point, since the Banjul Charter also advances duties horizontally. However, my point is that because duties ascend from the individual to community and to others, it is more representative of the group-based conception of community.

The Protocol 2018, Article 4.

Ibid., Article 31(1).

Ibid., Article 31(2).

Ibid., Article 1.

Ibid., Article 4.

100

The Banjul Charter 1980, Article 1(e).

101

Ibid., Article 29(6).

Alston P, Goodman R (2013) International human rights. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Bagenstos S (2009) Law and the contradictions of the disability rights movement. Yale University Press, New Haven, CTCrossRef

Boot E (2017) Human duties and the limits of human rights discourse. Springer International Publishing, SwitzerlandCrossRef

Casals T (2006) Group rights as human rights. Springer, DordrechtCrossRef

Charlesworth H (2011) Swimming to Cambodia: justice and ritual in human rights after conflict. Australian Yearbook of International Law 29:1–16

Charlesworth H, Larking E (eds) (2015) Human rights and the universal periodic review: rituals and ritualism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Chayes A, Chayes A (1998) The new sovereignty of compliance with international regulatory agreements. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

Chilemba M (2014) Malawi. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 2:207–226

Chilemba M (2015) Disability rights and emerging disability legislation in selected African jurisdictions: a commentary. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 3:291–308

Cobbah J (1987) African values and the human rights debate: an African perspective. Hum Rights Q 9(3):309–331CrossRef

Cohen R (1993) Endless teardrops: prolegomena to the study of human rights in Africa. In: Cohen R et al (eds) Human rights and governance in Africa. Florida University Press, Gainesville, pp 3–38

Combrinck H (2013) Disability rights in the African regional human rights systems during 2011 and 2012. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 1:361–368

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017) General comment 5 on Article 19: Living independently and being included in the community. United Nations General Assembly. Eighteenth session/CRPD/c/18/1, New York

Constitution of Burkina Faso 1991 (Amended in 2012)

Constitution of Mozambique 2004 (Amended in 2007)

Constitution of the Republic of Benin 1990

Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon 1972

Constitution of the Republic of Cape Verde 1992 (Amended in 2010)

Constitution of the Republic of Ghana (Amendment) Act 1996

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (2012) The right of people with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community. Council of Europe Publishing, France

D’ Sa R (1985) Human and peoples’ rights: distinctive features of the African charter. J Afr Law 29(1):72–81CrossRef

Degener T (2016a) Disability in a human rights context. Laws 5(35):1–24

Degener T (2016b) A human rights model of disability. In: Blanck P, Flynn E (eds) Routledge handbook of disability law and human rights. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, pp 39–50

Degener T (2017) A new human rights model of disability. In: Della F et al (eds) The United Nations convention on the right of persons with disabilities: a commentary. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp 41–59CrossRef

Della F et al (eds) (2017) The United Nations convention on the right of persons with disabilities: a commentary. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland

Devlieger P (1995) Why disabled? The cultural understanding of physical disability in an African society. In: Whyte S, Ingstad B (eds) Disability and culture, 94–134. University of California Press, Berkeley

Diagne S (2009) Individual, community and human rights: a lesson from Kwasi Wiredu’s philosophy of personhood. Transition 101:8–15CrossRef

Donnelly J (1982) Human rights and human dignity: an analytic critique of non-western conceptions of human rights. Am Polit Sci Rev 76(2):303–316CrossRef

Donnelly J (1989) Universal human rights in theory and practice. Cornell University Press, New York

Elder-Woodward J (2013) Independent living: the frontier of communitarian welfare? Disabil Soc 28(2):274–278CrossRef

Ellis K (2005) Disability rights in practice: the relationship between human rights and social rights in contemporary social care. Disabil Soc 20(7):691–704CrossRef

Enable UN (2006) Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities: full participation and quality in social life and development. United Nations, New York

Franck T (1998) Fairness in international law and institutions. Oxford University Press, OxfordCrossRef

Freeman M (1995) Are there collective human rights? Polit Stud 43:25–40CrossRef

Goodman R, Jinks D (2004) How to influence states: socialization and international human rights law. Duke Law Rev 54(3):622–703

Goodman R, Jinks D (2008) Incomplete internalization and compliance with human rights law. Eur J Int Law 19(4):725–748CrossRef

Goodman R, Jinks D (2013) Socializing states: promoting human rights through international law. Oxford University Press, OxfordCrossRef

Griffin J (2008) On human rights. Oxford University Press, OxfordCrossRef

Gyamfi E (2013) Ghana. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 1:221–243

Gyekye K (1996) African cultural values: an introduction. Sankofa Publishing Company, Accra

Hahn H (1985) Disability policy and the problem of discrimination. Am Behav Sci 3:293–318CrossRef

Hahn H (1987) Civil rights for disabled Americans: the foundation of a political agenda. In: Gartner A, Joe T (eds) Images of the disabled. disabling images, 181–200. Praeger Publishers Inc, Santa Barbara

Henkin L (1979) How states behave: law and foreign policy. Colombia University Press, New York

Heyer K (2006) The ADA on the road: disability rights in Germany. Law Soc Inq 27(4):723–762CrossRef

Heyns C (2001) The African regional human rights system: in need of reform. Afr Hum Rights Law J 2:155–174

Heyns C, Killander M (2010) Africa. In: Moeckli D et al (eds) International human rights law. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 441–457

Hughes B, Patterson K (1997) The social model of disability and the disappearing body: towards a sociology of impairment. Disabil Soc 12(3):325–340CrossRef

Hurst R (2003) The International disability rights movement and the ICF. Disabil Rehabil 25(11–12):572–576CrossRef

Jones P (2013) Groups and human rights. In: Holder C, Reidy D (eds) Human rights: the hard questions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Kamga S (2013) A call for a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights on the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa. Afr J Int Comp Law 21(2):219–249CrossRef

Kamga S (2017) Disability rights in South Africa: prospects for their realisation under the white paper on the rights of persons with disabilities. S Afr J Hum Rights 32(3):569–580CrossRef

Kamundia E (2013) Choice, support and inclusion: implementation article 19 of CRPD in Kenya. Afr Disabil Yearb 1:49–72

Kiwanuka R (1988) The meaning of ‘people’ in the African Charter on human and peoples’ eights. Am J Int Law 82(1):80–101CrossRef

Koh H (1996) Transnational legal process. Neb Law Rev 75:181–207

Koh H (1997) Why do nations obey international law? Yale Law J 106:2599–2659CrossRef

Koh H (1998) Bringing international law home. Houst Law Rev 35:623–681

Koh H (2004) Transnational legal process after September 11th. Berkeley J Int Law 22(3):337–354

Liggett H (1988) Stars are not born: An interactive approach to the politics of disability. Disabil Handicap Soc 3:263–275CrossRef

Lopes E (2013) Mozambique. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 2:245–260

Lord J, Stein A (2013) Prospects and practices for CRPD implementation in Africa. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 1:97–113

Maybee J (2017) Em ‘body’ ment and disability: on taking the ‘body’ out of em ‘body’ ment. J Soc Philos 48(3):297–320CrossRef

McCrary L (2017) Re-envisioning independence and community: critiques from the independent living movement and L’Arche. J Soc Philos 48(3):377–393CrossRef

McCrudden C (2015) Human rights and traditional values. In: Baxi U et al (eds) Law’s ethical, global and theoretical contexts: essays in honour of William Twining. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 38–72CrossRef

Meekosha H, Soldatic K (2011) Human rights and the global south: the case of disability. Third World Q 32(8):1383–1398CrossRef

Megret F (2008) The disabilities convention: human rights of persons with disabilities or disability rights? Hum Rights Q 30:494–516CrossRef

Menkiti I (1984) Person and community in African traditional thought. In: Wright R (ed) African philosophy: an introduction. University Press of America, New York, pp 171–181

Metz T (2014a) African values, group rights and the Banjul Charter. In: Onazi O (ed) African legal theory and contemporary problems: critical essays. Springer, Netherlands

Metz T (2014b) African values and human rights as two sides of the same coin: A reply to Oyowe. Afr Hum Rights Law J 14:306–321

Metz T, Gaie J (2010) The African ethic of Ubuntu/ Botho: implications for research on morality. J Moral Educ 39(3):273–290CrossRef

Mostert M (2016) Stigma as a barrier to the implementation of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 4:3–24

Mostert M, Weich M (2017) Albinism in Africa: a proposed conceptual framework to understand and effectively address a continental crisis. Afr Disabil Rights Yearb 5:101–117

Mureriwa J (2011) Some reflections on the African disability protocol and socio-economic justice for persons with disabilities. Econ Soc Rights Rev 12(3):3–6

Murray R, Wheatley S (2003) Groups and the African Charter on human and people’s rights. Hum Rights Q 25(1):213–236CrossRef

Mutua M (1995) The Banjul Charter and the African cultural fingerprint: an evaluation of the language of duties. Virg J Int Law 35:339–380

Newman D (2011) Community and collective rights. Hart Publishing, Oxford

Nussbaum M (2006) Frontiers of justice: disability, nationality and species membership. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

Okeja U (2018) Justification of moral norms in. In: Etieyibo E (ed) Method, substance and the future of African philosophy. Springer Nature, Switzerland, pp 209–228CrossRef

Oliver M (2013) The social model of disability: thirty years on. Disabil Soc 28(7):1024–1026CrossRef

Onazi O (2017) [Disability] justice dictated by the surfeit of love: Simone Weil in Nigeria. Law Crit 28(1):1–22CrossRef

Oyaro L (2015) Africa at crossroads: The United Nations Convention on the rights of person with disabilities. Am Int Law Rev 30(2):347–376

Palmisano G (2017) Article 19 [Living independently and being included in the community]. In: Della F et al (eds) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: a commentary. Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, pp 353–373CrossRef

Parker C, Clement L (2008) United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability: a new right to. Eur Rights Law Rev, 508–523

Sarkin J (2011) The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the future African Court of Justice and Human Rights: Comparative lessons from the European Court of Human Rights. S Afr J Int Affairs 18(3):281–293CrossRef

Shakespeare T (2013) Disability rights and wrongs revisited. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon

Silvers A (1994) “Defective” agents: equality, difference and the tyranny of the normal. J Soc Philos 25:154–175CrossRef

Sloth-Neilsen J, Mezmur B (2008) A dutiful child: the implications of Article 31 of the African children’s charter. J Afr Law 52(2):159–189CrossRef

Soldatic K, Grech S (2014) Transnationalising disability studies: rights, justice and impairment. Disabil Stud Q 34(2)

Talle A (1995) A child is a child: disability and equality among the Kenya Maasai. In: Whyte S, Ingstad B (eds) Disability and culture. University of California Press, Berkeley, pp 56–71

Tonnies F (2001) [1887] Community and civil society (Harris J, Hollis M, Trans). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Turiel E (2002) The culture of morality. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeCrossRef

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

UNGA Ad Hoc Committee (2003) On a comprehensive and integral international convention on protection and promotion of rights and dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Second session of the Ad Hoc Committee. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York

UNGA Ad Hoc Committee (2004) On a comprehensive and integral international convention on protection and promotion of rights and dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Fourth Session of the Ad hoc Committee UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Ad Hoc Committee (2005) on a comprehensive and integral international convention on protection and promotion of rights and dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Fifth Session of the Ad hoc Committee UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York

United Nations Human Rights Council (2011) Promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind. Resolution A/HRS/16/L.6, New York

van Reenen T, Combrinck H (2011) The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in Africa: progress after 5 Years. SUR: Int J Hum Rights 14:133–164

Viljoen F, Biegon J (2014) The feasibility and desirability of an African disability rights treaty: further norm-elaboration or firmer norm-implementation? S Afr J Hum Rights 30(2):345–365CrossRef

Wiredu K (1992) The moral foundations of an African culture. In: Wiredu K, Gyekye K (eds) Persons and community: Ghanaian philosophical studies I. The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, Washington DC, pp 193–206

World Health Organisation and World Bank (2011) World report on disability. World Health Organisation, Geneva

Zames F, Fleischer D (2011) The disability rights movement: from charity to confrontation. Temple University Press, Philadelphia

Zola I (1989) Towards the necessary universalizing of a disability policy. Milbank Q (Suppl.) 67:401–428CrossRef

Titel: Disability Justice in an African Context: The Human Rights Approach
verfasst von: Oche Onazi
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: An African Path to Disability Justice
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35849-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-35850-1

Copyright-Jahr: 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35850-1_3

Springer Professional

Abstract

Bitte loggen Sie sich ein, um Zugang zu Ihrer Lizenz zu erhalten.

Sie haben noch keine Lizenz? Dann Informieren Sie sich jetzt über unsere Produkte:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"