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New Human Rights Convention Protects Widely Deaf People's Rights

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)
15 December 2006

The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) hails the newly adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for covering widely Deaf people's rights. There are still serious shortages in the protection of Deaf persons' rights both in developing and developed countries. The convention will be a significant step forward, especially in the promotion of equal participation as well as in prohibiting discrimination based on disability.

The World Federation of the Deaf regards the most significant achievement for Deaf people the recognition of Deaf people's linguistic rights. For example, the new convention outlines rights to receive education and access to information in sign language, to have professional sign language interpreting, to accept and facilitate the use of sign languages, and to promote cultural and linguistic identity of the deaf community. In addition, sign languages are defined as languages, more to say, as equal languages together with spoken languages.

Altogether five articles have a direct reference to Deaf people's rights. In addition to linguistic rights, most of the 50 articles of the convention protect Deaf people of all ages in many aspects of life.

Discrimination based on disability is still a big problem in the world. Most of the Deaf people do not get any education in developing countries and approximately 80 % of the world's 70 million Deaf people do not have any access to education. Only about 1-2 % of the Deaf get education in sign language. Particularly situation of women and children is weak. Legal development and recognition of sign languages can promote many Deaf people's equal participation in the society.

WFD hopes that countries ratify the convention and also implement it in their national legislation. WFD wishes that the convention will be translated in different national sign languages soon. In future, WFD will participate in the international monitoring and also supports national monitoring in many ways. It is important that Deaf people are actively engaged to the implementation and monitoring of the convention.

In future, WFD will train its national members and to assist in the implementation of the convention with its members, states and UN's special organizations. "There is a new time arising for all the world's Deaf that use sign languages, a time to recognize our equal rights", says Liisa Kauppinen, WFD's president emerita, who represented WFD at the General Assembly on Wednesday.

The World Federation of the Deaf has been part of the convention process since the beginning and has participated in all the sessions during five years. Non-governmental organizations as well as disabled people's organizations have actively participated in the creation of the new human rights treaty. Also the World Federation of the Deaf has been part of the larger coalition in the drafting process called International Disability Caucus.

Links:
World Federation of the Deaf: http://www.wfdeaf.org/
Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/