Govt, CSOs tussle over UN report on disability

Eight civil society organisations (CSOs) reported to the United Nations (UN) abuses against people with disabilities, including limited employment opportunities, being denied access to their children and sexual exploitation in schools.

But the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare has queried the CSOs  for failing to engage responsible authorities to chart a path on how to address the challenges.

In a response to a questionnaire, the  ministry’s spokesperson Pauline Kaude said CSOs had not informed them of the complaints.

“As the ministry responsible for disability affairs, we haven’t been informed about this development or intention by some organisations to file complaints to the UN.

“Much as this is in line with such treaties, it requires that existing local channels or arrangements for settling complaints have been consulted and have failed to resolve such matters,”  she said.

The CSOs are Women in Africa, Human Rights for Girls with Disabilities in Malawi, Association for Persons with Albinism in Malawi and Parents for Disabled Children Association of Malawi.

Others are Visual Impairment Hearing Association, Epilepsy Warriors Association, Disabled Women in Development, Tikondane Women with disabilities Forum and Salima Women with Disabilities Forum.

The report was sent to the UN  Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural  Rights ahead of its 72nd working group pre-session planned for mid this March.

 “People with disabilities in Malawi are more likely to be chronically poor and experience extreme poverty.

“Of those that are educated, they are confronted with challenges of attitude regarding their identity  and ability as persons with disabilities,” the report reads.

On employment, the report has revealed a case where a person with disability was told that he could not get a job in the civil service.

“Persons with disabilities are still discriminated against: One of the government ministries was recruiting people for some community level work but one person with disability even though he was qualified for the job; he was told that he should instead visit Malawi Council for the Handicap to see if the organisation can give him a job.

 “This official even said that some organisations employ persons with disabilities out of sympathy,” the report reveals but does not provide details of the persons involved.

The organisations also tell the UN committee that the demand for sex for grades has resulted in girls with disabilities struggling to complete their education.

“This shows that completing education at each level as persons with disability has not been an easy road and especially for girls with disability,” the organisations write.

The report further reveals that women with disabilities were blocked from nursing their children.

The organisations narrate: “Some women with disabilities are denied the opportunity to raise their children. For instance, a deaf woman was denied a chance to raise her children because people feared that the children would not develop speech if she raised them.

“Many women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities are also denied an opportunity to raise their own children under the guise of protection.”

Kaude demanded evidence from the CSOs on issues they raised.

“Our ministry has not been consulted or reached out on this, we are also not aware that the Malawi Human Rights Commission has been reached out on this either.

“Were the teachers reported to police or court or any other law enforcing body? Where is this family? Which government departments are these?”  she wondered.

Kaude further asked the organisations what they have done to address challenges facing people with disabilities.

“Possibly a billion dollar question to those organisations would be what have they done to address those issues instead of rushing to report to the UN?

“We would like to request those organisations to come to our ministry for a meeting to present their issues so that we can work together to assist those persons with disabilities whose rights have been violated.

“Our plea to all CSOs and NGOs doing disability or any other related work on disability is to always engage our ministry. It is not possible for our ministry to know everything facing individual persons with disabilities in the communities, we rely on such organisations to share information with us to intervene,” she wrote back.

On its part, the Malawi Human Rights Commission director of disability and elderly rights Wycliffe Masoo said they are handling three cases of people with disabilities who were denied employment opportunities.

However, he suspected that there are more cases that go unreported.

“Much as we have received only three cases, we understand that there are many cases out there that have not been reported. The commission would like to urge all those concerned to report to us.

“We are planning to investigate these cases to understand the circumstances surrounding the matters both from the complainants and the respondents ie government,” Masoo said in a response to our questionnaire on Thursday.

He, however, was against reporting the issue to the UN before they are resolved  domestically.

“My quick questions would be by reporting to the UN Committee, have they exhausted all the available remedial mechanisms that exist within Malawi. If yes, let’s see what happens.

“I would propose to the organisations of persons with d0isabilities to provide enough space and time for engagement with the government through the Public Service Commission to resolve the matters and in turn, government providing the necessary remedies.

“This could be in collaboration with the Malawi Human Rights Commission and the line ministries of Gender,  Labour, Justice and other relevant stakeholders,” Masoo said.

According to the 2018 Population and Housing Census, there are 1 734 250 persons with disabilities in Malawi, representing about 11.6 percent of the total population aged above five years.