Pacific Disability Forum
First Regional Conference on Disability in the Pacific
20 to 23 April 2009
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Members of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) including Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, as well as representatives from Timor-Leste, development partners, regional and international organisations, attending the inaugural Pacific Regional Conference on Disability held in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 20 to 23 April 2009, recognize that:
A. Persons with disabilities and their organisations are best placed to provide the necessary fundamental guidance required to develop laws, policies and programs for the advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities in the Pacific
B. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides the legal and policy framework for the rights of persons with disabilities in Pacific Island countries
C. The Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier Free and Rights-Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF), with its targeted priority areas and strategies, is the framework to promote an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific region.[1]
D. The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders endorsed the BMF in August 2003 as the blueprint for advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in all Pacific island countries and there is further work to be done across the region to implement the BMF as referred to in the Pacific Plan.
Therefore the Pacific Disability Forum, its members and supporters recommend that:
1. Pacific Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) be regarded as key to the protection, fulfillment and promotion of respect for the rights of children, women and men with disabilities and central to the practical application of the rights based approach
a. DPOs have a critical role in relation to promoting, monitoring and protecting the rights of women and girls with disabilities, given their particular vulnerability in many Pacific Island countries.
2. Collaborative partnerships between DPOs and Pacific Island Governments be regarded as the most important relationships for developing appropriate policies and programs reflecting national obligations in relation to rights of children, women and men with disabilities
a. Within these partnerships, DPOs need to encourage and support governments to take responsibilities in relation to the CRPD and Governments need to support and encourage DPOs to represent members and children, women and men with disability effectively.
3. Partnerships between Pacific DPOs, Governments and development partners be based on mutual respect and trust, and on a recognition of existing strengths, capacity, opportunities and resources.
4. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat continue to resource and strengthen its important contribution to support Pacific-island governments to meet their obligations in relation to the rights of children, women and men with disabilities
a. as a further expression of its support for the rights of men, women and children with disabilities in the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat take steps to accede to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as provided for by article 44 of the Convention.
5. Development partners play an important role in supporting DPOs and Pacific Island governments to meet their international, national and local obligations relating to the rights of children, women and men with disabilities
a. They are encouraged to especially provide space for local and cultural perspectives to flourish and for these to drive development program designs.
6. Providers of aids and equipment for people in the Pacific Islands are urged to ensure the aids and equipment are appropriate for children, women and men with disabilities and for the local situation, (for example in accordance with WHO Guidelines on the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less Resourced Settings)
7. In particular, a number of specific measures are required to promote inclusion of children, women and men with disabilities in socio-economic and cultural life, including:
a. The right to inclusive education for all children with disabilities as recommended by the Pacific Regional Ministerial Inclusive Education Workshop held in Nadi, Fiji in October 2007, and
b. Participation in sports and physical activity programs at all levels, particularly recommending that women and men with disabilities are included in all future Pacific Games events.
9. Pacific Governments that have not already done so, ratify CEDAW and CRPD and their respective Optional Protocols; and ensure that CRPD Article 6, Women with disabilities and other CRPD Articles containing gender equity measures be given priority for implementation.
10. Pacific Governments ensure that their respective Ministries for disability, women’s affairs and all other relevant portfolios need to include specific policies, programs and measures to address the issues and concerns of women and girls with disabilities.
11. Pacific Governments adopt and implement the 28 recommendations directed at government that are contained within the UNDP report, Pacific Sisters with Disabilities: at the Intersection of Discrimination;
12. Pacific Governments promote and work in partnership with relevant organisations to implement the 42 recommendations directed at non-government and private sector organisations contained in the UNDP report, Pacific Sisters with Disabilities: at the Intersection of Discrimination;
To achieve these recommendations, PDF requests:
aGovernments, DPOs, Pacific regional organisations, development partners and service providers to work collaboratively. They are encouraged to develop plans and strategies at the regional level and take practical steps to ensure implementation of the CRPD and BMF at the national level.
athe Government of the Republic of Vanuatu to raise these issues at the coming Pacific Islands Forum Meeting to be held in Cairns, Australia in August 2009.
The Pacific Disability Forum recognises the important role the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu has played in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in the Pacific and therefore thanks them for hosting the inaugural conference, in partnership with Disability Promotion and Advocacy Vanuatu.
[1] The priority areas are (1) self-help organizations of persons with disabilities and related family and parent associations, (2) women with disabilities, (3) early detection, early intervention and education, (4) training and employment, including self-employment, (5) access to built environments and public transport, (6) access to information and communications, including information, communication and assistive technologies and (7) poverty alleviation through capacity-building, social security and sustainable livelihood programmes. Its four strategic areas are (1) national plan of action on disability, (2) promotion of a rights-based approach to disability issues, (3) disability statistics/common definition of disabilities for planning and (4) strengthened community-based approaches to the prevention of causes of disability, rehabilitation and empowerment of persons with disabilities.