When Kazakhstan ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) earlier this year, it also marked the early achievement of the Incheon Strategy goal to achieve ten new ratifications in Asia and the Pacific by 2017. Kazakhstan ratified the treaty on 21 April 2015, becoming the 37th country in the region, and the 154th country in the world to do so.
The Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific was launched in 2012, based on the agreement of 62 ESCAP governments to implement the CRPD as part of the third Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013-2022. The Strategy’s ninth goal calls on ten additional governments in the region to ratify the CRPD by 2017, and a further ten to do so by 2022.
At the time of the adoption of the Incheon Strategy, 54% of ESCAP member States had ratified the CRPD, as compared with 71% in Western Asia, 70% in both Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean, and 64% in Africa. Since then, however, the number of ratifications in Asia and the Pacific has steadily increased – with five countries ratifying in 2013, two more doing so last year and three ratifications so far in 2015. This means that 74% of countries in the region are now States Parties to the CRPD.
Although the act of ratification is not an end in itself, the achievement of the Incheon Strategy target two years ahead of time marks a significant step forward in the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities in the region. Crucially, as well as ratifying the CRPD, governments must harmonize their domestic legislation and policies with the Convention in order to promote and protect the rights of their citizens with disabilities. The establishment of enforceable anti-discrimination laws on disability is an integral part of this process.
For more information about CRPD ratifications by ESCAP member States, see: http://www.maketherightreal.net/how-many-countries-have-ratified-crpd-asia-and-pacific.