Morris wants Disabilities Act implemented to protect marginalised group

The newly elected member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Senator Dr Floyd Morris, is calling on the Government of Jamaica to speed up the implementation of the Disabilities Act (2014) to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are protected.

While acknowledging that work is ongoing to complete the relevant regulations and codes of practice to guide the implementation of the law, he said a consistent and aggressive public education programme must precede its roll-out to help Jamaicans accept and understand that persons with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as other citizens.

Senator Morris made this call while delivering the keynote address at a virtual lecture and panel discussion to mark Human Rights Day 2020. The event was hosted by the United Nations in Jamaica and the European Union, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, under the theme ‘Recover Better: Stand Up for Human Rights’.

Critical to the Act

Morris commended the Government for setting aside some $200 million in the 2020-2021 Budget for the establishment of the new Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD). This, he says, is going to be critical in the roll-out of the act, given the enhanced role that the JCPD will play as a body corporate that would directly oversee the implementation of the act.

Noting the important role that civil society organisations have played in helping to realise the rights of persons with disabilities, of which there are 500,000 in Jamaica, Senator Morris appealed to the international community for continuing financial support to their efforts going forward.

“Jamaica has been classified as a middle-income country and that classification has seen resources in terms of grant funding being shifted to other poorer countries and in that process, non-governmental organisations catering to persons living with disabilities locally have been affected, because they used to get significant support as non-governmental organisation(s) from these bilateral and multilateral institutions; and right now, every single non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Jamaica that is catering to persons with disabilities is struggling financially,” Morris said.

He highlighted a potential threat to the independence of NGOs brought on by the dwindling resources.

“The significant progress and inroads we have made in Jamaica have been largely attributed to the efforts of non-governmental organisations catering to persons with disabilities, and what has been happening is that these NGOs have had to be dependent on the Government for funding support; and you don’t want that to happen with NGOs, because it will cause them to lose their independence,” he stated.

He pledged that in his new role as member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, he will continue his advocacy and work to tear down the barriers and mechanisms of discrimination that stand in the way of persons with disabilities to realise their full potential.