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Liz LynneLiberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands 1999-2012 |
Disability and Development
January 19, 2006 12:00 AM
By Liz Lynne
By Liz Lynne
Mr President, I welcome the chance to debate this issue, and I should like to thank Mr Bowis for this opportunity.
Disabled people, as we have heard, make up about 10% of any population, but 20% of the poorest are disabled. Eighty-two per cent of disabled people live below the poverty line in developing countries. They are even more excluded than disabled people within the EU. They are excluded from social, economic and political life and, in many cases, are denied access to food, water and shelter.
When we talk about disability and development, we are not talking about charity but about basic human rights. All people - disabled or otherwise - should be treated as equal. That is why I am pleased that we are stressing the rights-based approach. We must ensure that disabled people and disabled people's organisations are involved in discussions about what is needed and in the delivery.
I am pleased that we have made progress on the UN Convention on Disabled People's Rights. Hopefully we will see something by 2007. Many of you know that I was rapporteur for Parliament's position on this. We must ensure, however, that monitoring and enforcement procedures are included within the Convention. That is why I called for a legally binding Convention. It is important that whatever we bring forward, real action is taken and that action is monitored and evaluated.
Part of that action is to prevent more people becoming disabled. One way to eradicate this is to ensure that landmines and cluster bombs are not used. We must take action against all countries that manufacture, sell or use them.
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