Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

7 ensuring a suPPortive 
 
environment
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
32
Local governance 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
32 
Laws and policies 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
32
Box 7.1: Nicaragua: Coordination promotes 
the rights of children with disabilities 
. . . . . . . . . . . .
33
Box 7.2: Raising disability awareness 
in the Maldives 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
34 
“Nothing about us without us” 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
34
Changing attitudes 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
34
Budget allocations and priorities 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
34 
Box 7.3: Monitoring human rights 
violations and abuse against persons 
with disabilities
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
35 
Monitoring 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
35 
International and regional partnerships 
. . . . . . . . . . 
35 
8 ConClusions
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
38
notes 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
39
links 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
44
Convention on the rights of 
Persons with disabilities 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
51
optional Protocol to the Convention on 
the rights of Persons with disabilities 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 
66

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iv
Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
Innocenti Digest No. 13
Children with disabilities and their families constantly 
experience barriers to the enjoyment of their basic 
human rights and to their inclusion in society. Their 
abilities are overlooked, their capacities are underesti-
mated and their needs are given low priority. Yet, the 
barriers they face are more frequently as a result of 
the environment in which they live than as a result of 
their impairment.
While the situation for these children is changing for 
the better, there are still severe gaps. On the positive 
side, there has been a gathering global momentum 
over the past two decades, originating with persons 
with disabilities and increasingly supported by civil 
society and governments. In many countries, small, 
local groups have joined forces to create regional or 
national organizations that have lobbied for reform 
and changes to legislation. As a result, one by one 
the barriers to the participation of persons with dis-
abilities as full members of their communities are 
starting to fall.
Progress has varied, however, both between and 
within countries. Many countries have not enacted 
protective legislation at all, resulting in a continued 
violation of the rights of persons with disabilities.
The 
Innocenti Digest on Promoting the Rights of 
Children with Disabilities
attempts to provide a 
global perspective on the situation of the some 200 
million children with disabilities. The 
Digest
is based 
on reports from countries across regions and from 
a wide range of sources. These include accounts by 
persons with disabilities, their families and members 
of their communities, professionals, volunteers and 
non-governmental organizations, as well as country 
reports submitted by Member States to the United 
Nations, including to human rights treaty bodies 
responsible for monitoring the implementation of 
international human rights treaties.
This Digest focuses particularly on the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on 
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The 
latter instrument was signed by an unprecedented 
81 countries on opening day, 30 March 2007. As of 
15 August 2007, 101 countries had signed the CRPD 
and 4 had ratified it. For entry into force, it is neces-
sary that the Convention receive 20 ratifications. The 
Disabilities Convention offers a unique opportunity 
for every country and every community to reexam-
ine its laws and institutions and to promote changes 
necessary to ensure that persons with disabilities 
are guaranteed the same rights as all other persons. 
It expresses basic human rights in a manner that ad-
dresses the special needs and situation of persons 
with disabilities and provides a framework for ensur-
ing that those rights are realized.