• Amman, a 16-year old boy with physical disabilities, uses his tricycle to get to school. His school does not have a toilet that he can use independently, so he must refrain from going to the bathroom all day or has to ask another child to run to fetch his mother at their home so she can assist him.
    © 2011 Shantha Rau Barriga/Human Rights Watch
    Nepal: Separate and Unequal Education
    Children with disabilities in Nepal face diverse and imposing barriers to getting a basic education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Schools are physically inaccessible, teachers are inadequately trained, and some children with disabilities are unjustly denied admission to neighborhood schools, Human Rights Watch found.
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    • Nepal: Children with Disabilties Struggle to Get Education
      Aug 22 2011 - 15:09

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    Nepal: Access to Education for Children with Disabilities
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  • Disability Rights

    Across the world, many of the world's one billion individuals with disabilities struggle for access to education and employment, for the right to live in the community instead of being locked up in institutions, to express their sexuality and have children, and to participate in political and social life. Individuals with physical and mental disabilities often face increased violence and discrimination, yet they remain invisible in their communities.

Reports

Disability Rights

  • People with Disabilities: Law Reform Needed
    Jan 22, 2012
    Governments around the world should reform laws that limit the capacity of people with disabilities to vote, to make independent decisions, or to live in the community, Human Rights Watch said today in an essay in its World Report 2012.
  • Jamaica: Ensure Voting Access for People With Disabilities
    Dec 22, 2011
    Jamaican authorities should take prompt action to ensure that people with disabilities can vote in the elections on December 29, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Submission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Dec 20, 2011
    This submission is based on research and advocacy conducted by Human Rights Watch. Women and girls with disabilities face a heightened risk of physical and sexual violence. Many factors contribute to this risk, including limitations in physical mobility, isolation, and common myths about women and girls with disabilities.
  • Vote for an End to Discrimination
    Nov 11, 2011
  • Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities
    Nov 10, 2011
    Across the globe, women and girls with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilizations performed under the auspices of legitimate medical care or the consent of others in their name. The practice of forced sterilization is part of a broader pattern of denial of the human rights, including reproductive rights of women and girls with disabilities.
  • Submission to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
    Oct 17, 2011
    This submission highlights areas of concern we hope will inform your consideration of violations of Article 29 of the CRPD. It documents legal restrictions on the right of persons with disabilities to vote and stand for election, including the laws that deprive them of their legal capacity to make decisions. It describes accessibility barriers that effectively lead to the denial of the right to vote, as well as limitations that may prevent persons with disabilities from running for public office. This submission also presents positive examples of how some countries have implemented this right, and recommendations for States parties to the CRPD. The following information is based on our research and advocacy efforts in a number of countries around the world and ongoing monitoring of the human rights of persons with disabilities.
  • Peru: Voting Rights Victory for People With Disabilities
    Oct 17, 2011

    Peru’s decision to restore voting rights to thousands of people with disabilities is an important step toward ensuring their full participation in society.  More than 23,000 people with mental and intellectual disabilities had been excluded from the voter registry for the 2011 presidential elections in April and June based on previous government policy. 

  • US: Protect Children with Disabilities from School Violence
    Oct 14, 2011
    Landon K., a 6-year-old boy with autism, was in first grade in a Mississippi elementary school when the 300-pound assistant principal picked up an inch-thick paddle and started hitting Landon on the buttocks. His grandmother, Jacquelyn K., told me: “My child just lost it ... he was screaming and hollering ... it just devastated him.”
  • Laos: Drug Users, ‘Undesirables’ Detained, Abused
    Oct 10, 2011
    Police and local militia in Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR, are forcibly detaining people who use drugs in a so-called treatment center where they risk beatings and other abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Homeless people, street children, people with mental disabilities, and others deemed “undesirable” are often detained in the center as well, Human Rights watch said.
  • Europe: Protect the Right to Vote for People with Disabilities
    Sep 28, 2011
    Joint letter to members of the Council of Europe's Venice Commission from Human Rights Watch and the Mental Disability Advocacy Center.
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