Human Rights. YES!

Action and Advocacy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In August 2006, the United Nations adopted the first global human rights treaty addressing the subject of disability, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  While this is a critical and historic step forward for the global disability movement, the adoption of a UN convention alone will not ensure that the human rights of persons with disabilities will be respected and protected. Disability organizations, disability advocates and community leaders must launch and sustain a major educational and advocacy initiative in order to ensure that the rights in the convention are known to all and that governments fulfill their legal responsibilities. History has shown that the effectiveness of such conventions is directly related to the capacity of civil society to promote their implementation and monitor governments’ performance in enforcing them.

Human Rights, YES! is a new human rights education tool, based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The tool was developed to equip persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to integrate a comprehensive human rights approach in their advocacy work.  The training in Human Rights, YES! is designed to enhance organizations’ advocacy at the national and community levels as well as to promote individual empowerment and self-advocacy initiatives.  Human Rights. YES is also an essential resource for other human rights groups, such as women’s rights and children’s rights organizations, that want to understand disability rights and integrate a disability perspective into their human rights efforts.

While the UN has long encouraged the development and dissemination of disability rights education materials, such efforts are rare due to lack of attention to disability from large human rights groups and the historic de-prioritization of disability among mainstream funders of human rights initiatives.  At this crucial time in the history of international disability rights, a pioneering initiative is required to address the urgent need for disability and human rights education resources. 

With the generous support of the Shafallah Center, the Human Rights. YES! project team was finally able to pursue the vision to produce the core curriculum on disability that is missing from the global body of human rights education materials.  It is our hope that Human Rights. YES! will serve as a major resource for building the human rights and advocacy capacity of disability rights advocates and their allies worldwide. Together we can work to ensure that the human rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are fully realized and integrated as part of the legal, political, social and cultural fabric of all societies.