ID Item3- SR on Persons with Disabilities
Sudwind welcomes the creation of the mandate and your appointment as the Special Rapporteur. We hope that your efforts can help end discrimination against a population that constitutes more than ten percent in every country in the world. First, let us begin with our most important question which concerns the very term ‘persons with disabilities’. Do you agree that the very use of the term implies acceptance of discrimination? Isn’t it true that people belonging to these social groups usually show abilities more than the average person in the society and are ‘over-able’ in many fields? Shouldn’t we find a better term to use? In your report you have stated that you will visit the countries where you are invited. We are sorry to say that in this very council, there are countries that regard any discussion of social issues as deliberate slander; countries that have gone through war and still face amputation of women and children due to mine explosions and yet some authorities of these countries give very unrealistic statistics of persons with disabilities. Madam Special Rapporteur! We wish to draw attention to civilian casualties and victims of mine explosions in Iran which as of 2013 exceeded 50,000. Most of them in rural areas without access to transport to standard hospitals and they are denied access to standard prostheses. How do you plan to support persons with disabilities in such countries, especiallycountries that will not extend an invitation to you? We ask you to work closely with Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Islamic Republic of Iran and other Rapporteurs like the Special Rapporteur on health and Special Rapporteur on the elderly persons and to demand a visit to Iran where you can assess the situation of human rights in regard to the subject of your mandate.
