October 9, 2024

INT’L DAY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: NHRC Tasks Stakeholders on Inclusiveness

By Shola Akingboye- December 3, 2019

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr Tony Ojukwu Esq, has called on relevant agencies to mainstream disability issues in their activities as an integral part of any strategy geared towards sustainable development.

The statement made available to RegentAfrica Times by the Commission indicates that Ojukwu made the declaration on the Eve of the United Nation Day to Commemorate the 2019 International Day of Persons with Disabilities. He observed that the society will develop faster when there is inclusiveness in seeking the protection of human rights, says only that will enhance the attainment of the aspirations of any individual or group irrespective of their physical or other challenges in life.

“This year’s theme: ‘promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda’, is apt because it raises hope particularly for the disability community as this will encourage them to contribute their quota to national development by actively participating in all spheres of leadership and national development, Ojukwu stated.

The Executive Secretary, who is also the Vice Chair of the Global Alliance of Human Rights Institutions called on all persons of goodwill to continue to amplify the rights of persons with disabilities, saying that they form a critical mass needed in our nation’s building.

He also used the occasion to commend the commitment of the federal government in the expansion of the protective space for persons with disabilities by the assent to the disability law, pointing out that this has created the opportunity given to a Nigerian to chair the UN Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities.

However, Ojukwu lamented that despite the progress made in the provision of legal framework for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities through the signing and ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol in 2007 and 2010 (CPRD) respectively, as well as the recent signing into law of the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, Persons with disabilities have continued to experience exclusion in many aspects of the society and development.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed annually on 3 December. The goal of the UN day is to promote understanding of disability issues. In addition, it also promotes the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disestablishes in every aspect of the political, social, economical and cultures life of their communities.

Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General launched the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy to provide a foundation for “sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations, which Nigeria under the leadership of the incumbent Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Tony Ojukwu, has fully adopted in line with the global agenda for the emancipation of people living with disabilities.

 

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