NASSAU, The Bahamas – Bahamians were warned by the regional representative appointed to the United Nations Working Group on the Draft Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities to enable the disabled in all they do.
Remember this, no man, no woman goes out there and buys a disability, said Sen. the Hon. Floyd Morris. Disability respects absolutely no individual. You might be fully able-bodied today, but disabled tomorrow because accidents can happen anytime and you might be a victim of unfortunate circumstances. So I say to you today, in all you do, enable the disabled.
Sen. Morris, who also serves as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in the Jamaican Government, addressed a one-day workshop on the U.N. Convention, at Worker’s House, Harrold Road.
The workshop, attended by persons from the disabled community in New Providence and Grand Bahama, the business community, labor unions and several non-governmental organizations, was sponsored by the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development and the Disabled Persons Organization, headed by Mr. William Lightbourne.
Sen. Morris said that based on the discussions that have been taking place among the Ministers responsible for the disabled in the region, he has no doubt that the Caribbean will see a significant improvement in the lives of the persons living with disabilities within the next two years.
He said there is a new focus on improving the lives of the more than 500,000 persons living with disabilities within the English-speaking Caribbean and challenged the participants to latch onto the new wave that is raging throughout the Caribbean.
When people make mention of a tsunami, they think of it in a negative context because it can be very destructive, but there is a positive tsunami that is growing in the Caribbean and it is a new focus on the lives of persons with disabilities and you have to catch the fire; you have to catch the flame and work with the government and non-governmental organizations to ensure that the lives of persons with disabilities are fully improved, he said.
Sen. Morris said that government officials attending a 2004 meeting of regional Ministers responsible for the disabled in Kingston, Jamaica, signed off on what is now known as the Kingston Accord, which outlines a number of issues that regional governments will be focusing on in order to improve the lives of persons living with disabilities.
He said the Ministers also developed a document that will be presented to CARICOM in an attempt to place the issue of the disabled on the CARICOM Agenda.
We also strengthened the resolve that throughout the region, we want to ensure that we have a unified regional policy for persons with disabilities, and that we are committed to working to ensure becomes a reality, and that is why we want to place on the agenda of CARICOM the issue of the disabled, so that CARICOM can be the lead institution to ensure that the respective countries in CARICOM, develop policies for persons with disabilities and improve the lives of the disabled throughout the region, Sen. Morris said.
He said that the final U.N. Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will ensure that those rights and dignities of disabled persons are adhered to by the respective Member State of the United Nations.
Sen. Morris said all States associated with the United Nations and are signatories to the United Nations will be mandated to participate in and sign the Convention.
Once the State Parties sign this Convention, they will be obligated by international law to protect the rights and dignities of persons with disabilities, Sen. Morris added.
