Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

laws and policies
Many countries include in their Constitution specific 
provisions referring to non-discrimination, but while 
gender, ethnicity, race and religious beliefs are often 
cited as grounds for protection, specific references to 
disability are less common. Since the 1980s, consti-
tutional and legislative changes in favour of persons 
with disabilities have been enacted in a number of 
countries, including Austria, Brazil, China, Finland, 
Germany, Malawi, the Philippines, South Africa, 
Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. 
Research shows that, across regions, 39 states have 
adopted non-discrimination or equal opportunity legis-
lation in the context of disability.
113
These reforms have been based upon international 
human rights instruments, including the Convention 
on the Rights of the Child. They were also influenced 
by the 1993 UN Standard Rules on the Equalization 
of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and the 
work of the Special Rapporteur on Disability. The new 
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
also requires a re-examination of legislation and poli-
cies in all member States. 
A commitment to inclusive planning ensures that 
a disability dimension is clearly present in all policy 
development, implementation and monitoring. To this 
end, a useful toolkit has been developed and is avail-
able online.
114
A good example of inclusive planning is provided by 
South Africa, where the promotion of inclusion for 
children with disabilities has been linked to broader 
developments such as the overall reform of the 
country’s education system and curriculum, and to 
changes addressing the status of marginalized groups 
7 ensuring a 
suPPortive 
environment

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Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
Innocenti Digest No. 13
such as government ministries, local authorities, 
development agencies and children with disabilities 
and their families. Box 7.1 provides an example of 
initiatives taken in this respect through UNICEF’s 
cooperation in Nicaragua.
The rights of children with disabilities are often 
most effectively promoted when ’disability issues’ 
do not come under the responsibility of a single 
ministry. The mainstreaming of disability issues into 
existing programmes and throughout established 
sectors, such as health, education and social welfare 
ministries, might still involve establishing a focal point 
for disability to ensure that children with disabilities 
are included in all programmes. Without this, 
disability issues are in danger of being submerged 
and overlooked. 
One effective initiative has been to establish a na-
tional coordination committee that oversees disability 
issues in all ministries and at different administrative 
levels to ensure intersectoral coordination. Organi-
zations of disabled persons should always be fully 
represented on an equal basis. In Turkey, for example, 
intersectoral coordination has been promoted through 
the establishment of a coordinating agency, the Ad-
ministration of Disabled Persons.
118
An alternative is 
represented by South Africa, where both the Office 
on the Rights of the Child, and the Office on the Sta-
tus of Disabled Persons, which are responsible for 
the Integrated National Disability Strategy, are based 
in the President’s Office.
119
The development of national legislation and policy to 
address disability issues is an opportunity to ensure 
that public spaces, buildings, recreation areas and 
transport systems are conceived or modified in such 
a way that they can be used by all citizens and that 
government departments themselves take a lead in 
the employment of persons with disabilities. In this 
regard, a number of countries have made notable 
progress in modifying access to streets, buses, trains 
and some buildings for persons with disabilities. 
Access is not only a matter concerning the physical 
environment but involves enabling children with dis-
abilities to overcome barriers to communication and 
day-to-day interaction with others. For example, sign 
language has been given the status of mother tongue 
under Finland’s new school legislation.
120
In Central 
and Southern Africa, Braille materials and the provi-
sion of trained sign language interpreters are made 
available by many governments in the region.
121
As regards entry into the workforce for young per-
sons with disabilities who have reached the age of ac-
cess to employment, governments in many European 
and Asian countries have introduced legislation and 
regulations that require employers to reserve a cer-
tain quota of jobs for persons with disabilities. Other 
countries have introduced anti-discrimination laws 
that make it unlawful for employers to discriminate on 
BOX 7.1 Nicaragua: Coordination promotes the 
rights of children with disabilities
In 2002, 15 Local Commissions of Parents with 
Disabled Children were established in Nicara-
gua. Some 168 people from 42 organizations 
working at the municipal level took part, and 531 
parents and family members in 19 municipalities 
were trained in detecting disabilities as well as 
in the education and rehabilitation needs of the 
children concerned. Comprehensive monitoring 
visits were carried out in these municipalities.
With financing from the Swedish International 
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), new 
early childhood education centres were estab-
lished and existing centres restructured to oper-
ate with active participation from the local com-
munity. All of the centres received rehabilitation 
equipment, and parents and families received 
training in how to use it. The early childhood 
education centre model supported by this 
project was adopted by the ministries of Health, 
Education and the Family, and was replicated in 
other parts of the country.
Source:
’UNICEF Nicaragua 2002 Annual Report’ (internal 
document), UNICEF, Managua, 2002.
in general. Similarly, explicit priority is given to children 
with disabilities as an integral element of Uganda’s 
commitment to provide free primary education to four 
children in every family (see box 6.7 above). In Brazil, 
inclusion is part of wider efforts to address problems 
of poverty, marginalization and illiteracy. Some 5 mil-
lion children have benefited from Bolsa Familia, a 
nationwide programme providing grants to the poorest 
families to send their children to school.
115
This pro-
gramme is being implemented along with a national 
initiative on inclusive education and is further strength-
ened by municipal level capacity-building efforts.
116
The 
experience of Brazil will provide valuable knowledge 
about the ways in which the special needs of children 
with disabilities can best be addressed in such large-
scale, multidimensional programmes.
These examples show that inclusive initiatives can 
potentially benefit excluded children collectively. 
Separate budgets for different excluded groups 
of children – children living on the street, working 
children and so on – can result in the inefficient 
distribution of resources and an overlap of provision. 
Inclusion has also been linked to fundamental 
democratic processes, including participation in civil 
society and in voting and local decision-making.
117
Non-governmental organizations and international 
organizations have the potential to act as catalysts 
at the national level, raising awareness of disability 
issues and bringing together diverse actors 

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Innocenti Digest No. 13
Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
the basis of disability in recruitment, promotion, dis-
missal and other aspects of employment.
122
This leg-
islation often requires employers to make reasonable 
adjustments to ensure that the workplace is adapted 
to the needs of workers with disabilities.