• Disability Rights

    Globally, 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.

  • At Heavenly Ministries Spiritual Revival and Healing Center, some people with presumed mental disabilities lived in buildings with cubicles for each resident and were chained to walls. They could not leave the cubicles without permission of the staff at the prayer camp.
    © 2011 Shantha Rau Barriga/Human Rights Watch
    Ghana: People With Mental Disabilities Face Serious Abuse
    People with mental disabilities suffer severe abuses in psychiatric institutions and spiritual healing centers in Ghana, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Ghanaian government has done little to combat such abuse or to ensure that these people can live in the community, as is their right under international law.
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Disability Rights

  • US: What a Senate Vote for Disabilities Treaty Would Really Mean
    Dec 10, 2012
    When the Senate returns to this treaty in the new Congress, it should approach arguments against ratification with caution. The US is already committed to protecting human rights through its ratification of important human rights treaties. Opponents to CRPD missed that boat many years ago.
  • US: Senate Misses Opportunity on Disability Convention
    Dec 4, 2012
    The United States missed an opportunity to display global leadership on disability rights on December 4, 2012, as the Senate failed to approve ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  • The disabled often are denied information about sex and HIV
    Dec 1, 2012
    Over a billion people — 15 percent of the world’s population — live with a disability. These numbers should confer power and authority in decision making about all aspects of their lives, including to HIV and AIDS. Yet people with disabilities have been largely ignored in the global response to HIV.
  • Malta: A mandate for reform
    Nov 19, 2012
    Malta should be proud of its recent ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a crucial tool for protecting the rights of more than one billion people with disabilities worldwide. As the Government begins to integrate the convention into its laws and policies, it should understand that the protections apply to the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who linger in immigration detention in Malta each year.
  • Ghana Grapples with Mental Health
    Oct 8, 2012
    When we met Elijah early this year in Ghana, he was chained to a tree at a “prayer camp.” Five months earlier, his family had him bound with rope and forcibly taken to the camp for “treatment.” Elijah told me that he had been chained to the tree ever since – the “healing” prescribed for the restlessness and insomnia that his parents and the camp’s spiritual leaders had decided was a mental disability.
  • Ghana: People With Mental Disabilities Face Serious Abuse
    Oct 2, 2012
    People with mental disabilities suffer severe abuses in psychiatric institutions and spiritual healing centers in Ghana, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Ghanaian government has done little to combat such abuse or to ensure that these people can live in the community, as is their right under international law.
  • UN Human Rights Council: Adoption of the Outcome of India's UPR
    Sep 19, 2012
    Human Rights Watch welcomes the adoption of the outcome of the second Universal Periodic Review of India, which reflects a large number of important recommendations. However, Human Rights Watch regrets that India has failed to comprehensively address recommendations calling for an end to impunity and repeal of laws that have led to widespread human rights violations.
  • Human Rights of Women and Children with Disabilities
    Sep 11, 2012
  • UN: Set Plan for Women, Children With Disabilities
    Sep 10, 2012

    Governments meeting at the United Nations about the needs of women and children with disabilities should develop a clear plan of action to promote and uphold their rights. Among others steps, they should make a commitment to address the needs of women and children with disabilities through international development programs.

  • Disabled and Disenfranchised
    Sep 4, 2012

    State efforts to restrict voting access have dominated election news this year. Since the beginning of 2011, legislators in 41 state governments have introduced at least 180 bills that wouldmake it harder to register or to vote. At least 25 laws and two executive actions have been enacted, affecting 19 states. These include laws requiring proof of citizenship or photo identification to register or to vote; limiting voting registration opportunities; and reducing early and absentee voting.

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