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Chapter 5: Conclusion

The challenges in establishing an international monitoring system for disability rights are many. Current monitoring practices and human rights mechanisms do not adequately monitor or enforce disability rights. The minimal awareness of disability rights outside the disability community requires creative strategies to communicate ideas that are new to many people and are not currently universally accepted. The capacity building tasks will be daunting: promoting broader awareness of disability rights, developing training materials and monitoring tools appropriate for diverse cultures and regions, supporting credible and accurate monitoring procedures that ensure a safe environment for people with disabilities to speak out, communicating collected data so it can be used constructively, and encouraging engagement with the international and regional human rights systems.

Yet, while the challenges are many, so are the possibilities.

Along with the recent growing international recognition of the need for equal enjoyment of all human rights by people with disabilities, especially at the United Nations level, N.G.O.s are increasingly incorporating disability rights into their advocacy agendas. There are increasing opportunities to bring together the human rights movement and the disability movement. Increased awareness of disability rights as human rights is essential to acknowledge the disability rights violations that are occurring and to add to the effectiveness of work to eliminate disability discrimination. New partnerships and cross-cultural interaction provide opportunities for sharing knowledge and expertise, identifying common problems, and developing creative solutions.

The research results summarized in this report show the wealth of expertise that exists in organizations that have undertaken disability rights monitoring and in organizations with years of experience monitoring human rights in other areas. Examples include the disability rights monitoring of the Human Rights Project of Disabled Peoples International and Disability Awareness in Action, the projects of Inclusion Europe and Mental Disability Rights International, and the global monitoring of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

People with experience in this field have ideas and advice about methodology that can be applied to the D.R.P.I. project. An assortment of useful materials and precedents are available as models for disability rights training and monitoring. This valuable experience illuminates the many possibilities for action and confirms that reliable tools and processes can be created to collect disability rights data in the five areas of focus. Such concrete guidance must be considered as D.R.P.I. moves forward.

The Human Rights and Disability report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized that international human rights treaties and monitoring mechanisms could be more effectively used to enforce the equal effective enjoyment of all human rights by people with disabilities. The Phase I research results confirm that there are concrete opportunities for advancing disability rights using international human rights monitoring mechanisms. The research demonstrates the feasibility of mainstreaming disability rights into the existing international human rights system. Credible data on disability rights violations, together with effective interpretations of international human rights law, offer great potential for using the human rights treaty monitoring bodies to encourage government compliance with their human rights obligations.

The Phase 1 research not only highlights opportunities, but also offers instructive examples of how to move forward in establishing a sustainable disability rights monitoring system. The beneficiaries of disability rights monitoring projects must be the priority in this project and their security and integrity cannot be compromised by moving quickly or without consultation, or by taking ineffective or unproductive action. It is clear from the history of human rights monitoring in other areas of discrimination that the establishment of a global monitoring system or network must involve extensive planning. The development of monitoring tools and the training of disability rights monitors in various regions around the world will take considerable time. However, the time invested in supporting groups and individuals who can share skills with others, as well as the investment in establishing enduring infrastructure, will reap rewards in the long-term.

Building on the momentum generated by the accomplishments of the disability movement, D.R.P.I. has chosen to focus on a human rights approach and to facilitate the technical task of collecting data on the human rights situation of people with disabilities. While this project focuses on human rights monitoring, diverse actions and multifaceted plans are needed to eliminate disability discrimination. Many elements are involved in achieving the type of social transformation necessary to realize the equality of people with disabilities. It is anticipated that D.R.P.I.’s work will contribute to and complement the ongoing efforts of disability rights advocates, as well as generate new ideas and opportunities for advancing the equal enjoyment of all human rights by people with disabilities.

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