This week I represented Malta at the 8th Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability in New York to discuss the Convention and its Optional Protocol.
The paradigm shift that this Convention triggered had a domino effect on all major institutions, creating a readiness for change and transformation. We moved away from a medical model approach to a broader one that encapsulated a social and rights-based approach to the disability agenda.
I believe that the crucial benchmark and point of reference in the transformations experienced are the consequence of bringing all the stakeholders together: people with disability leading the agenda, joined by politicians, policy-makers, academics, NGOs and allies to support as necessary and as required.
In my address I highlighted the work being done by the government in Malta, where we have aimed to emulate the model adopted by the UN and put the rights of people with disability at the top of our agenda with they themselves the main protagonists of this very important agenda.
In these last two years, we have worked hard to strengthen the provision of our services to cater for more needs at community level by providing a sound legal identity for Aġenzija Sapport. One main priority has been to strengthen the law to ensure we do not simply pay lip service to people with disability but help this community in tangible ways, such as providing the tools required to combat discrimination.
We are currently reviewing the cornerstone legislation, the Equal Opportunities Act, and have also strengthened the Employment for Persons with Disability Act, together with an advantageous package for both employers and persons with disability themselves who are reluctant to join the workforce. The initial results are very positive, leading to 20 per cent of people with disability who were registered for work finding employment in the last few months.
We have ensured that the Guardianship Act and the Trusts and Foundation Act are in place, with the necessary structures established. We have also enacted a People with Disability Representation Act to ensure that people with disability are fully represented in government decision-making bodies and authorities. The Social Enterprise Act will shortly be tabled in Parliament and the Maltese Sign Language Recognition Act is currently being debated in Parliament. We are also working on the final draft of the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Act.
A major cornerstone in our legal framework is the UN CRPD Act scheduled for its first reading in Parliament next week. This act will fully transpose the UNCRPD and Optional Protocol into our laws, thus providing a strong framework for protection against discrimination and a remedy before the Constitutional Court over and above the existing legal remedies and implementation and monitoring mechanism.
However we cannot avoid the fact that people with disability still rank high among those who have most difficulty in finding employment, are at risk of poverty and social exclusion and struggle with social inclusion – along with other major challenges.
Naturally, ensuring that people with disability have protection from discrimination, providing the right shield against abuse and ill-treatment, strengthening our support services and improving our workers’ capacity are at the foundation of our National Disability Strategy that will be launched at the end of this summer, following the launch of our National Disability Policy last December as indicated in our first state report submitted in November.
We are at a stage where we are starting to collate the necessary data so that we can trace and track the needs of this community. With all the changes and investment taking place in Malta, we can see this sector advance only if we are able to collate the necessary empirical data. This database will be an important yardstick in our systems progress and will also be an important source of information for research-based policies.
The notions of equal opportunity and inclusion remain the focal point of our debate. The government is committed to ensuring that the standard of living and quality of life of people with disability is not only maintained but enhanced to ensure a fair society for everyone.
During my visit to New York, I also had the opportunity to meet Akito Ito, the Secretariat Chief for the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability and Global Focal Point on Disability. In our bilateral meeting we exchanged different ideas regarding the sector and also discussed how we could collaborate more on initiatives regarding disability.
I also said that we should have a better mechanism for ensuring that the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability is carried out in a constant manner on a global scale.
Ms Ito was aware of Malta’s progress in the disability sector and praised our country on its commitments – despite the fact that we are a very small state.
I also called on the UN to exercise leadership with regard to data collection so that a uniform system is adopted by all member states to enable better monitoring of the implementation of the UNCRPD.
This is what the Parliamentary Secretariat for Rights of People with Disability and Active Ageing is doing, with regard to both policy and the relative implementation strategy. In fact, this week we had the opportunity to demonstrate the work of the Secretariat when we announced that anyone with disability who holds a special ID card can now benefit from subsidised rates on public transport. This is something we have been requesting since the privatisation of public transport and, through this Secretariat, the government has made it happen because we brought all the stakeholders together to present a strong argument to the operator. I am grateful to Minister Joe Mizzi, Transport Malta CEO James Piscopo and Oliver Scicluna from KNPD for their cooperation in achieving this important goal. With the introduction of this measure, the government is completely eliminating discrimination faced by people with disability when using public transport, as in the past some people with disability used to benefit from subsidised rates whilst others did not.
This measure, amongst others, is a tangible example of the government’s commitment to better rights for people with disability. It is having an impact on their quality of life, especially when it comes to social inclusion and the fight against poverty. Measures like this are also important because they give people with disability more independence, as stated in our Disability Policy.
Dr Caruana is the Parliamentary Secretary for the Rights of People with Disability and Active Ageing