Turkey Ratifies UN Convention on Rights of the Disabled

From Bianet:

The Parliament has unanimously ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The number of the countries that ratified the convention has become 42.

Turkey had signed this convention on March 30, 2007, but not ratified it until today.

The activists for the rights of the disabled were campaigning for the ratification of the convention. At the press statement made yesterday (December 3) for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Turkey’s Disabled Association (TSD) had demanded ratification of the convention and the optional protocol.

The optional protocol is next
The convention imposes on the state obligations regarding incorporating the persons with disabilities into the society, protecting them from discrimination and stigmatization, making all the services accessible to them and in the matter of equality before the law.

The optional protocol, on the other hand, provides the individuals and the groups with the ability to apply directly to the UN Commission for the Rights of the Persons with the Disabilities, once all the internal legal means in their countries are exhausted. (TK/TB)