Yafaau's blog

This ‘Disability Act’ bill which the Maldivian Parliament passed today contains a lot of clauses which many of the Civil Society Organizations(CSO’s) disagree. The first thing anyone would notice is the terminology used. It’s quite clear that People with Special Needs are not only Persons with a disAbility and i do understand disAbility terminology is a controversial issue everywhere.

Disability Act and the final Report by the Committee(dhivehi) on Social Affairs (Ijuthimaaee Committee) of the Parliament shows how unfamiliar and ignorant the legislative body of Maldives is on disability issues. Even with the advice from Healthcare professionals, and CARE who’ve worked on disAbility Policy and Action Plan, there seems to be no concrete corrections in this Bill.

When such an important bill has it’s terminology in question, obviously its meaning is lost in translation.

I wouldn’t say children with Thalassemia are children with a disAbility but they are children who may need a Special care. But are they supposed to be in the disAbility Act then?

This disAbility Act also states that a Council will be be formed and entrusted with compiling a national database on the disabled, protecting the rights of the disabled, overseeing monitoring…bla bla bla…  but the Bill doesn’t even say that this council shall have a Person with a disAbility within this council members! So much for “Nothing about us, without us“.

The report also states that the Committee got help from Attorney General’s office who I believe doesn’t have a clue that Maldives have even signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability(UN CRPD) Their “List of multilateral treaties to which Maldives is party to“(http://www.agoffice.gov.mv/pdf/Treaties.pdf) DOESN’T have CRPD!

So passing of ‘Disability Act’ Bill sends a clear message from Majlis Committees to CSO’s: We won’t hear you! unless you speak REALLY loud. The Civil Society Organizations need to join up on similar issues and make our voices heard. I’m hoping to see CARE Society and Association for disAbility and Development or any other organizations to voice their opinion about this publicly.

1. Bill submitted by Vilufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed on providing monetary assistance to people with disabilities.

     MP Riyaz Rasheed's Bill (45.9 KiB, 28 hits)

2. Bill proposed by the government in July to protect the rights of the disabled.

     Government's Bill on rights for People with Special Needs (136.9 KiB, 31 hits)

3. The Committee on Social Affairs report by Fuahmulah South MP Ahmed Maseeh Mohamed.

     Report of Majlis Committee on Social Affairs (160.4 KiB, 26 hits)

Note: The views expressed are just of Yafaau's daddy's and not ADD's.

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