Disability Rights Defender in Gaza Addresses UN
Recounts Harrowing Experience Fleeing during Latest Escalation
Abeer al-Harakli, a 28-year-old disability rights defender from Gaza, addressed the United Nations earlier this month at the 14th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She described…
Important Progress for People with Disabilities in Armenia
New Law Bans Discrimination, Promotes Inclusion
On May 5, Armenia's parliament adopted the law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is a long-awaited reform with the potential to change the lives of the roughly 200,000 people with disabilities in Armenia by protecting them from…
Witness: How One Woman with a Disability Builds a Life in Gaza
People with Disabilities Find Strength Despite Discrimination
"I think I wouldn't have achieved so much in my life without my disability," said Doaa Qashlan, a university graduate and disability rights activist living in Gaza. Doaa, who was born with a physical disability and uses a wheelchair or an electric…
Will Serbia Release Covid-19 Data from Institutions?
Ensure Transparency, End Institutional Care
Serbia has taken a positive step to better protect people from Covid-19 by agreeing to release data on the total number of Covid-19 infections and deaths inside social care institutions. People inside institutions are some of the most at-risk during…
South Africa's Children with Disabilities Need the President's Attention
Hundreds of Thousands Still not Getting Equal Education
When two young South African learners ran into the road to pick up a fallen election poster featuring the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa, their action did not go unnoticed. A video about the "rescue mission," posted on social media…
Time for Serbia to Uphold Rights of Women with Disabilities
UN Committee Finds New Evidence of Violence in Institutions
A recent review of Serbia finds that the government is failing to protect women with disabilities in institutions from violence. In its report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) also…
Advancing Access to Justice for People with Disabilities in Armenia
Court Ruling Gives Hope for Greater Equality Before the Law
A recent decision by Armenia's highest court promises to advance the right to equal justice for people with disabilities in Armenia. In 2015, Artur Hakobyan, a then 18-year-old military conscript reported that a military…
Awaiting Being Freed by Hamas in Gaza
Two Israeli Civilians With Psychosocial Disabilities Held Incommunicado
April 4 was the fifth day of Passover, the weeklong Jewish holiday commemorating freedom from slavery, but Avera Mangistu's parents – who were protesting outside the Israeli prime minister's house – were keenly aware that their son was…
Children with Disabilities in South Africa Cannot Wait
Government Should Make Education Free for All
A group of courageous moms of children with disabilities in Johannesburg has seized the run-up to International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3 to launch a petition that calls upon South Africa's Department of Basic Education to remove…
South African Girl with Disability Abused on School Bus
Students With Disabilities Unsafe on the Way to School, in Classroom
The video is distressing: A 16-year-old girl with multiple disabilities cowering in her bus seat as she is struck repeatedly by her caregiver. Seconds later the driver appears and drags the girl violently off the bus, dumping her onto…
May 9, 2017 News
South Africa Needs a Global Reminder About Education Obligations
Human Rights Council Members Should Ask South Africa About Children With Disabilities
More than 600,000 children with disabilities are out of school in South Africa. In a country that has claimed to have achieved universal basic education, children with disabilities experience systemic barriers and discrimination on a daily basis. These…
Free Primary Education Still Out of Reach in South Africa
Hefty Fees and Additional Costs Discriminate Against Children with Disabilities
No child should be denied their right to learn because of poverty. Two years ago, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which states that primary education should be free and compulsory for all, came into force in South…
Witness: 'Wherever She Is, I Will Find Her'
Long Journey Home for Baby With Disabilities
At her local church in Yerevan, Armenia, Siranush lit a candle and prayed that her daughter would survive the night. Lusine, 22, was hovering between life and death in a nearby hospital after a terrible car crash. As Siranush pleaded for her daughter's…
Still Out of School in South Africa
Government Should Tackle Discrimination and Exclusion Against Children With Disabilities
This month marks the start of a new school year in South Africa, but many children with disabilities won't be attending class with their peers. Parents have been told that their children cannot go to mainstream schools, but at the same time many have been…
Restoring Dignity in Disability in South Africa
Closing of Esidimeni psychiatric complex shows need for caution
Esidimeni means "place of dignity" in Zulu. It was the name of a large psychiatric complex in South Africa's Gauteng province where more than 2,000 people with psychosocial disabilities lived, largely isolated from society, some for more than 20 years.…
South African Official Brushes Off Children with Disabilities
The Government Should Guarantee Their Equal Right to Education
A top South African official spoke in glowing terms earlier this week about the country's successes in ensuring children with disabilities have the same opportunities as other children when it's time to go to school. …
September 1, 2016 News
Serbian Children with Disabilities Left Out of School
Government Should Implement Law Providing for Inclusive Education
Today, September 1st, will be an exciting first day of school for most Serbian children. But for many children with disabilities, it will be just one more day without a chance to learn, make friends, and interact with peers and teachers. Take for…
Witness: Sidelined in South Africa For Being Different
Sisandua Hani's fight to keep her son in school
Ntsikelelo is small for his age, and quite a handful. One moment, the 8-year old rolls around on the floor, the next instant he paces the room, impatiently and with big strides. The colorful picture books his mother has spread out on a low table hardly…
Dispatches: Will False Signs Bring Change?
By Jenny Nilsson and Lea Labaki Talk about trampling all over Nelson Mandela's legacy of equality and human rights: deaf viewers among the global audience for Mandela's memorial service on December 10 were confronted by a fake sign language interpreter.…
Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas
Toxics