Women with disabilities: they need a law to protect them

CEDAC (Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation) has organized a workshop to sensitize women with disabilities about the importance of the ratification of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of People with Disabilities- by Lorraine Josiane Manishatse

Zaina Habonimana, a disabled participant in the workshop “I sometimes work for people without being rewarded unjustly but I didn’t know where to appeal.

Burundi has joined the world and signed the Universal Declaration of the Rights of people with disabilities; unfortunately the Government hasn’t yet ratified it. According to Joel Niyibigira, in Charge of Psychosocial Assistance in CEDAC, their main objective is to beg and convince Burundi Government to ratify the Universal Declaration of the Rights of people with disabilities. “To sign it is not enough, it should be implemented,” insists Niyibigira.
They have put a particular emphasis on women because Burundian women are naturally disdained; when they are disabled they are doubly suffering. “We want to make them understand the importance of the ratification of that declaration and what women will benefit from it. If the government puts forward that all citizens have the right to education and that they haven’t plan classrooms for blind or deaf-mute people for example it is not sufficient.

Many people with disabilities will never go to school. The law should be ratified to awaken people’s consciousness

about its importance,” he indicates.

The ratification is important

According to Eliane Nsengiyumva, a disabled woman living at Kinama Commune, if the government ratifies that law, women with disabilities will be treated like human beings. “I was a primary school teacher in Cibitoke Province but I lost my job because of my disability. We are not accepted in our society and we are neither respected nor protected,” deplores Nsengiyumva.

The view is shared by Zaina Habonimana, a disabled participant in the workshop who stated that she didn’t know if people with disabilities could appeal once they were wrongly refused their rights. “I sometimes work for people without being rewarded unjustly but I didn’t know where to appeal. But thanks to CEDAC, I now know that there is a law protecting me even though it isn’t yet ratified,” says Habonimana.

Some Recommendations

People with disabilities ask for the ratification of the law for their careful protection due to their vulnerability. Even people without any disability should support them effectively as disability can occur to anyone at any time. For Zaina Habonimana, the Ministry of National Solidarity, Human Rights and Gender should support them considerably as people often look down on them. In the same way, Faida Claudine, a disabled pupil of 7th Year class at the Lycée of Buterere asks the Government to build school infrastructure and equipment appropriate for people with disabilities.