This is an unofficial translated version of the “Heaven’s Very Special Child” by Edna Massimilla which Yafaau’s dad posted earlier.

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“Originally published in English: Heaven’s Very Special Child by Edna Massimilla
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Last month, the “Disabilities Act”(Bill 8/2010, hereafter referred to as “disAbility Bill”) got ratified by President Nasheed. This disAbility Bill was a direct result of ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability or CRPD. One of the things that CRPD urge ratified countries is to pass legislature supporting rights of PWDs. It also made it compulsory for the state to form a “Committee on Rights of People with Disabilities”(CRPD: Article 34, Clause 1). So the disAbility Bill which got ratified on 9th July 2010 consisted a “Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities”(<–Person first Language not used there!, hereafter referred as “the Council”) and has representations from;

1. President’s candidate
2. Ministry of Health and Family
3. A Doctor from Maldives Medical Association
4. A Psychiatrist
5. A Non-governmental organization
6. A Person with a disability
7. A Parent of a PWD

Yesterday, President Mohamed Nasheed established “the Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities” [16 August 2010 | Ref #: 2010-619 EN] – [ Ref #: 2010-619 DV]

This very first “Council to Protect the Rights of People with Disabilities” in Maldives, in my personal opinion is a very capable team and consisted of experienced members in the field of disability in Maldives. They are;

1. Mr Ahmed Athif (EDC)
2. Ms Zimna Thaufeeq (Health)
3. Dr Yoosuf Shan
4. Dr Fathimath Nashida
5. Ms Shidhatha Shareef(CARE Society)
6. Mr Hamid Nasheed Mohamed (Person wt a disAbility)
7. Mr Hassan Nizam (Parent of a PWD, ADD)

I hope that the Council, at the time of entry into force, knows their responsibilities (disAbility Bill: Article 12 [a] to [m]) and shall serve their best in their personal capacity to benefit all PWD’s. I personally know almost everyone on the council and I would like to assure everyone that as an individual, I am happy to help in anyway I can.

I would also like to Congratulate all the members on getting appointed.

Update: 30 August 2010

Council President and Vice President appointed among its members. Mr. Ahmed Athif was elected as the President and Mr. Hassan Nizam as Vice President.

Today, the “Directory for the People with disabilities” was launched at Ministry of Health and Family by Minister Dr. Aminath Jameel. This directory consisted of service providers and their contact information. The directory, which was earlier funded by Handicap International, was later developed by Wataniya under its Corporate Social Responsibility fund.

Handicap International(HI), back in Jan 2009 had an idea to produce a “Yellow Pages” listing services as a directory(website) available for people with disabilities. HI stated that the primary audience would be people with disabilities, their family members and service providers. The Yellow pages/directory was to include all services in the health, education, social services, sports and NGO’s etc. for the whole Maldives. They also wanted a printed version (Disability Resource Handbook) which can be easily synchronized with the website and perhaps a localized version for Dhivehi visitors.
The main Aim of the “Disability Resource Handbook” and “website” was; the handbook would include listing of information for all available services in the Maldives, to enable people with disabilities and their families to access the services, and to improve the ability of providers to refer people appropriately to other necessary services. That would allow people with disabilities and their families to better understand which service providers are responsible for which services, how to access them, and empower them to demand improvements and enhancements from the appropriate providers.

But, I honestly do not think that aim can be achieved with this directory which launched today. The “Directory for the People with disabilities” can only be searched for a specific contact details for specific “customers” and not their Services.

Ps: Mentioning the Ministry on its banner could be useful too.

Link to the “Directory for the People with disabilities” http://www.health.gov.mv/disability/

The disAbility Act or disAbility Bill has been ratified by the President. The bill protected rights of Persons with disabilities and promises a financial assistance for them. It was ratified after being sent back to the Parliment for the second time.

The bill was first passed by the parliament on 21 December 2009. But it had many clauses which wasn’t agreed by stakeholders and it was not even inline with the UNCRPD(UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and some NGO’s  with Parents called the disAbility Act to be sent back to Parliament. So, President Nasheed returned the bill for reconsideration, stating that the bill contained articles that contradicted international standards and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Now that the bill has been passed, and the legislature is there to protect Persons with disAbilities; the Government, the people, the community has a role in making our small country an example for others. First, we have to start with the term we use for it. Haveeru states that it is the ‘Special needs bill’ that was ratified. Which is not! It is the disAbility Act isn’t it?

In the news:

• Haveeru, English: http://www.haveeru.com.mv/english/details/31361/Special_needs_bill_ratified
• Haveeru, Dhivehi: http://www.haveeru.com.mv/?page=details&id=98265

The final disAbility Act: Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has released the Report of the Baseline Assessment on Activities Addressing Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In it HRCM highlighted 29 recommendations to the government stakeholders. The Recommendations include;

Download;

Source: http://www.hrcm.org.mv

In the news: Haveeru, TVMaldives,

A Child is like a butterfly In the wind

Some can fly higher than others,

But each one flies the best it can.

Why compare one against the other?

Each one is different.

Each one is special.

Each one is beautiful.

]]> http://yafaau.info/blog/2010/04/a-child-is-like-a-butterfly/feed/ 1 http://yafaau.info/blog/2010/04/maldives-formally-ratifies-uncrpd/ http://yafaau.info/blog/2010/04/maldives-formally-ratifies-uncrpd/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:29:23 +0000 Yafaau's Dad http://yafaau.info/blog/?p=1144

1 April 2010, New York; The Maldives has today lodged its instrument of ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD). Having signed the Convention on 2 October 2007, with the ratification today the Maldives becomes the 85th UN Member State to formally accept the obligations contained in the treaty…

Read more at Ministry of Foreign affairs website http://www.foreign.gov.mv/v3/?p=news&view=sep&nid=3236

3rd March 2010, Maldivian Parliament votes approval to ratify the UN CRPD or UN Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities. Maldives signed the UN CRPD on the 2nd of October 2007 at the UN’s annual Treaty Event in New York. This treaty was signed by the Minister of Foriegn Affairs(2007), Abdulla Shahid who is now the Parliament Speaker(above). Since then, Handicap International played a major role in helping the government, NGO’s in trying to get policies inline with the CRPD. It was the Sensitization meeting held at the Henveiru Youth Center which made most of the general public aware that there was a convention signed by Maldives on disability.

Since then, the faint voice started growing and we have raised concern over the slow process of this convention to be ratified. Our hopes were high when the new government’s health minister mentioned about the UNCRPD on the disability day, 3rd dec 2008 and that the new government would ratify it within a year. The disability day of 2009 was one of the least marked disability day to my memory and CRPD was not ratified! But I knew there was work being done on the convention(translation, terminology…etc.) At the end of 2009, we were also suprised to hear about a bill submitted by the government on disabilities rather than ratifying the UNCRPD first. It was also found that this bill was not in anyway inline with this convention and it had many flaws.

Anyway, when ratified, CRPD marks a milestone in the process of disability rights and it gives a considerable amount of weight to our amendments to the re-submitted disability bill(act). Now that it’s going to be ratified soon hopefully before the disability bill’s revision gets into the Parliament floor, our hopes of a rightful disability bill is in sight.

I’d like to thank all those who have been involved, directly or indirectly in making UN CRPD happen, specially the Handicap International and the staff at Health ministry(to be precise, Zimna Thaufeeq and Shifaza Wajeeh).

And I would also love to ask fellow MP of Kulhudhuffushi Uthuru Dhaaira, Abdul Gafoor Moosa why he’s the only one against ratifying the UNCRPD MP’s like him should read and be familiar with the Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. UN Enable(un.org)

A meeting will be held at Imadhudheen School in briefing the ammendments MVdisAbilityNetwork has come up with the comments, meetings and discussions. For those who are unfamiliar with the MVdisAbilityNetwork, head over to

A couple of years back, I shared a post at Yafaau.info on “How to influence local politics” and I’d like to share this with the readers at Yafaau’s blog too.
Very often you wish you could change the way things are without becoming a politician. One of the disadvantages of becoming a politician is that you become a target for the news media. Perfection is expected of politicians. However, as a private citizen, you are given much more leeway by the press. Here are a number of ways you, as a private citizen, can influence local politics.

1. Attend Public Meetings

This is a very simple but very effective way to influence local politics. By being present at meetings, you will know what is going on in your community. What is more important, the politicians will get to where they will recognize you, and be more apt to listen when you voice your opinion…

2. Write Letters

Most local politicians get very few letters. Letters are often reserved for government and party politicians. Because of this, letters are given significant weight when considering issues.

3. Make Phone Calls or SMS messages

This has essentially the same effect as writing letters, except it is more immediate. Even if you do not get to speak directly with the politician, ask the telephone receptionist to take a message and give your opinion in as few words as possible. Better yet, ask for the politician