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.

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.

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.”