International Disability Alliance (IDA)
Disabled Peoples' International, Down Syndrome International, Inclusion International,
International Federation of Hard of Hearing People,
World Blind Union, World Federation of the Deaf,
World Federation of the Deaf Blind,
World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry,
Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities, European Disability Forum,
Latin American Network of Non-Governmental Organizations of Persons with Disabilities and
their Families (RIADIS), Pacific Disability Forum
IDA submission to the CEDAW Committee’s
General Discussion on Girls’/Women’s Right to Education
58th session, 7 July 2014
The International Disability Alliance (IDA) is a network of eight global and four regional
organisations of persons with disabilities and their families (DPOs), representing the
estimated one billion persons with disabilities worldwide. Founded in 1999, as a network of
international disability rights organisations, a unique composition, that allows IDA to act as an
authoritative and representative voice of persons with disabilities in the United Nations (UN)
system in New York, Geneva and worldwide. IDA’s advocacy seeks to advance human
rights utilising the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and other
Conventions, harnessing the strengthened united voice of its members, forging working
relationships with partners to achieve common goals inclusive of persons with disabilities
worldwide.
IDA welcomes the initiative of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (hereinafter “the Committee”) to hold a General Discussion
on Girl’s/Women’s Right to Education in the lead up to the adoption of a General
Recommendation. IDA encourages the Committee to fully embrace inclusive education as
the most appropriate model to guarantee universality and non-discrimination in the right to
education, and hence to eliminate the marginalisation of women and girls with disabilities
within education and society generally, in line with the CRPD and the latest developments
and standards of international human rights law.
Universal right to education
Access to education is recognised as essential to the development of the individual in all
aspects of life and education systems are considered tools for the development of fair
societies that reduce inequality and poverty and build citizenship through the transmission of
knowledge and values. The school institution has become, along with the family, the place
where children first experience affective relationships and socialise with peers in a
continuous process of exchange and learning that constructs the individual and the
community, impacting and conditioning the future development of both. Social science
research around the globe consistently correlates the person’s level of instruction with
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
employment opportunities, economical growth and social mobility; the greater the level of
instruction acquired, the more opportunities and prospects an individual will have.1
Human rights law has recognised the value of education from the very beginning as inscribed
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides that “everyone has the right to
education”.2 International and regional human rights instruments and related jurisprudence,
including Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), have built upon and developed the content of the universal right to
education.3 In a landmark General Comment, the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (CESCR Committee) affirmed that “[e]ducation is both a human right in itself
and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights”,4 reflecting the interdependence
of human rights.
Challenges
Nevertheless, persons with disabilities continue to be excluded from access to quality
education worldwide, either by their continued segregation in special schools or by the lack
of access to any education, regardless of its kind. A recent monitoring report of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN Secretary-General acknowledged that “the
challenges faced by children with disabilities in realizing their right to education remain
profound” and that they are “one of the most marginalized and excluded groups in respect of
education.”5
It has been estimated that almost 75 million primary school age children are not included at
all in schools, from which children with disabilities represent one third of them, approximately
25 million.6 In developing countries, the percentage of children with disabilities attending
schools has been estimated at around 1% and 5%.7 The obstacles which exist generally for
children to access education are frequently aggravated for children with disabilities.
Newborns with disabilities may not be registered at birth and consequently be denied access
to education, health and social services to which they are entitled.8 General inaccessibility of
school environments, curricula, pedagogical equipment and materials, as well as lack of
teacher training, supports and assistive technology impede the educational opportunities of
children with disabilities.
1
UNESCO, Education For all: The Quality Imperative. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005, Printed in Paris, France, 2004, p. 40
and 47, available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001373/137333e.pdf; UNICEF, State of the World’s Children;
Children with Disabilities, 2013, p 37
2
Article 26(1), UDHR
3
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Articles 13 and 14, Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Article 28 and 29; among others.
4
CESCR Committee General Comment no 13 on the right to education, E/C.12/1999/4, 1999, para 1
5
United Nations, Report of the Secretary- General on the Status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, A/66/230, United
Nations, New York, 3 August 2011, p 8
6
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Policy Guidelines on Inclusion on Education, p 5 (2009)
7
Peters, Johnstone & Ferguson, A Disability Rights in Education Model for Evaluating Inclusive Education, 9 International
Journal on Inclusive Education 139, 142 (2005) (quoting United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization &
Ministry of education and science of Spain, The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education
(1994), and Gulbadan Habibi, UNICEF and children with disabilities, 2 Education Update (1999), available at
http://www.unicef.org/education/files/vol2disabileng.pdf Household survey data from low- and middle income countries show
that children with disabilities aged 6–17 years are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school than peers without disabilities,
Filmer, ‘Disability, Poverty, and Schooling in Developing Countries: Results from 14 household surveys’, World Bank Economic
Review, vol 22, no 1, 2008, p 141–163, as cited in World Health Organization and the World Bank, World Report on Disability,
2011
8
UNICEF, State of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities, 2013, p 2
2
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
The continued existence of these barriers reflect the long-standing discrimination against
persons with disabilities based on stereotypes and prejudices.9 For example, children with
intellectual disabilities had been till recently deemed to be uneducable.10 In addition, in
countries where there is a provision for education of children with disabilities within special
schools, it is frequently not under the direction of the Ministry of Education, but mandated
under the Ministry of Social Affairs or whichever Ministry is responsible for disability related
issues.11 As a result, this conditions the approaches adopted: education in the latter being
based on charity or welfare rather than being viewed and implemented as a human right, as
well as lower allocations of resources and lower standards of education compared to schools
directed by the Ministry that has the proper expertise in education. In addition, reform toward
the development of inclusive education systems may be inhibited by certain education
stakeholders, notably teachers and teacher trade unions due to their negative attitudes and
conservative positions concerning persons with disabilities and their education.
Women and girls with disabilities
Women and girls with disabilities experience multiple and intersectional discrimination based
on their gender and disability as well as other characteristics which place them at a higher
risk of infringement of the enjoyment and exercise of all their rights given the universal,
interdependent and indivisible nature of human rights. In particular, they are subjected to
gender based violence, neglect, maltreatment, harassment and exploitation both within and
outside the home, at school, in the workplace, in the community and when confined in
institutions, which obstruct their development, self-esteem and participation. It is also
recognised that there are numerous areas in which women and girls with disabilities face
inequalities including education, employment, healthcare, access to justice and political
participation.
Girls with disabilities are less likely to attend and complete school in comparison with boys
with disabilities,12 and in rural settings this rate is even lower. Girls with disabilities are more
likely to be obliged to stay at home in the role of caregiver. In rural areas, girls with
disabilities face increased barriers to education compared to boys with disabilities. The
absence of facilities like accessible toilets and appropriate support has been identified as a
barrier to education for girls with disabilities.13 Further, the considerable distances to schools
render disabled girls vulnerable to harassment, abuse and violence both going to and coming
9
See Rieser, Implementing Inclusive Education: A Commonwealth Guide to implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 13-19 (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2008).
10
See for example, Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability v Government of the Republic of South Africa and
Government of the Province of Western Cape, High Court of South Africa, 11 November 2010. The respondents in this case
alluded to the ineducability of this group of children by submitting that “no amount of education would be beneficial for children
failing to qualify for admission to special schools”. Also as referred in MDAC v Bulgaria, European Committee of Social Rights,
collective complaint no 41/2007, 3 June 2008, para 46, in Bulgaria, up until 2002, children with intellectual disabilities had been
deemed to be uneducable.
11
UNICEF, State of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities, 2013, p 36
12
Groce, ‘Adolescents and Youth with Disabilities: Issues and challenges’, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, vol 15,
no 2 (July 2004) 13–32; UNICEF, State of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities, 2013, p. 2.
13
See Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the
World Bank which cites studies from Uganda, Mexico and Australia in which menstruation is identified as a compounding factor
impeding attendance at school for girls with disabilities. Inaccessibility of toilets in schools as an obstacle to the right to
education is a gender issue which has been elaborated upon extensively by other human rights mandates including the Special
Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, UNICEF, and the World Bank and WHO. See Special
Rapporteur on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, speech presented during the
CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on rural women, October 2013; report on Stigma and the realization of the
human rights to water and sanitation, A/HRC/21/42, 2 July 2012, para 25: UNICEF State of the World’s Children: Children with
Disabilities, 2013, p 26, 36; UNICEF, Equity in School Water and Sanitation: Overcoming Exclusion and Discrimination in South
Asia – A Regional Perspective; WHO & World Bank, World Report on Disability, Barriers to education for children with
disabilities, 2011, p 215
3
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
from school. When schools are located at long distances, it may not be possible for them to
walk there on their own and/or families may be less willing to let their daughters travel alone,
thus making it more burdensome and costly for families to provide an escort.14 While boys
with disabilities may face the same barriers of distance and lack of accessible transportation,
there are expectations that they will get by relying on their peers, whilst disabled girls are
seen as vulnerable and dependent, reflecting a combination of stereotypes of gender,
disability and culture.15 Boys also often have priority in obtaining assistive devices and other
rehabilitation services needed to get to and participate at school,16 hence gender bias in
access to rehabilitative services and devices is in itself a barrier to education for disabled
girls.17
As a result, women and girls with disabilities are at a disadvantage in their educational
outcomes. It has been estimated by UNESCO and others that the literacy rate for disabled
women is one per cent, compared to an estimate of about three per cent for people with
disabilities as a whole.18 Having been excluded from basic education, girls with disabilities
often lack the entry requirements for formal vocational training programmes, such as literacy
skills, which minimises their chances of finding employment in comparison with boys with
disabilities or girls without disabilities.19
Further, older women often have limited
opportunities to access education and lifelong learning due to high rates illiteracy.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the right to inclusive
education
With the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(CRPD),20 came the important paradigm shift from the medical model of disability- viewing
persons with disabilities as objects of treatment or passive recipients of aid- to persons with
disabilities emerging as subjects of their own rights and active participants and contributors
to society. It upholds several principles that guide its interpretation and which are important
to nurture the understanding of all rights including the right to inclusive education. These
are: respect for inherent dignity, non-discrimination, full and effective participation and
inclusion in society, respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part
of human diversity and humanity; equality of opportunity, accessibility, respect for the
evolving capacities of children with disabilities and the right to preserve their identities, and
notably, equality between men and women.21
14
Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the World
Bank
15
Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the World
Bank
16
Women receive only one fifth of the rehabilitation in the world and particularly in developing countries, men have greater
access to rehabilitation services and to prosthetic and orthotic devices than women. See Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited,
Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the World Bank and Rousso, Girls and Women with
Disabilities: An International Overview and Summary of Research, Rehabilitation International and the World Institute on
Disability, 2000
17
Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the World
Bank
18
Rousso, CSW, Disabilities Unlimited, Education for All : A gender and disability perspective, Report prepared for the World
Bank, p 2 (referring to Groce, “Women with disabilities in the developing world”, Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 8, 1&2
(1997) 178-192)
19
Groce, ‘Adolescents and Youth with Disabilities: Issues and challenges’, Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, vol 15,
no 2 (July 2004) 13–32
20
The CRPD entered into force in 2008 and has 147 States Parties as of 15 June 2014
21
Article 3, CRPD
4
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
Article 24 of the CRPD provides that “[w]ith a view to realizing this right without discrimination
and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education
system at all levels and life long learning.”22 The Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights recently confirmed that inclusive education has been
“acknowledged as the most appropriate modality for States to guarantee universality and
non-discrimination in the right to education”.23 This recognition is also reflected in the
jurisprudence of UN treaty bodies and other expert bodies, such as the Special Rapporteur
on the Right to Education24 and more recently the Human Rights Council.25
Inclusive education has emerged in response to the previous discriminatory approaches of
schools systems towards persons with disabilities, i.e. complete exclusion, segregation by
special schools (usually by disability constituency), and integration.26
Segregated
education/special schools are currently the main form of education for elementary and
secondary education for children with disabilities in many parts of the world. The curricula of
separate schools are often reduced and children are educated only among other children
with disabilities. The removal of children with disabilities from mainstream education denies
students without disabilities opportunities to interact with their peers with disabilities, which in
turn perpetuates ignorance and stigma. Moreover, children with disabilities whose education
is delivered in special schools are facing a dead end track as they are frequently denied
certification needed to access higher education.27 Article 24 purposefully does not mention
special/separate education. The CRPD requires that the whole education system meet the
diverse needs of students, which necessitates having a fully student-centred approach. The
existence and strong divide between two parallel systems (special/separate education and
"mainstream" education), remains one of the key barriers in the education of children with
disabilities.
Concerning integration, it has most often been mistaken as inclusion but it differs; the
integration model provides for the placement of students with impairments in mainstream
school, “so long as [they] can adjust to fit the standardized requirements of the school” 28 and
thus, focusing only on enhancing the students’ abilities to do so.29 In contrast, inclusive
education recognises the obligation to eliminate barriers that restrict or ban participation, and
the need to change culture, policy and practice of the mainstream schools to accommodate
the needs of all students.30
The CRPD Committee has stressed that the “concept of inclusive education is essential to
the implementation of Article 24”31 and has criticised the high number of special schools and
22
Article 24(1),CRPD, emphasis added
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 3
24
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, A/HRC/4/29, 19 February 2007
25
Human Rights Council, A/HRC/25/L.30, 24 March 2014
26
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 4
27
Recently in Argentina, an administrative court of the city of Buenos Aires urged the Ministry of Education of the City of Buenos
Aires to provide the secondary studies certificate required to access higher education to a girl with disabilities who had
succeeded during the five years of study with a slightly adapted curricula (Melina Quereilhac v Buenos Aires City Government,
Ministry of Education, City Court No. 2 on Contentious and Administrative Affairs, March 2014)
28
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 4
29
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 4
30
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 7
31
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on China, CRPD/C/CHN/CO/1, 2012, para 95. In addition, the Committee
explicitly distinguished the access of persons with disabilities to the educational system from the duty that education is made
inclusive at all levels: “the Committee recommends the State Party to implement a strategy to allow the access of all children
and adolescences with disabilities to the education system and that the education is made inclusive in all levels and in all the
country…” CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations on Paraguay, CRPD/C/PRY/CO/1, 2013, para 58
23
5
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
the policy of actively developing them.32 Importantly, it has recommended to enrol those
students from special schools into inclusive education schools33 as well as rejected the use
of special classes or units for persons with disabilities within regular schools.34
Today inclusive education35 is understood as:
..transforming the school system and ensuring interpersonal interactions based upon core values which allow for
the full learning potential of every person to emerge. It also implies effective participation, individualized
instruction and inclusive pedagogies. Some key values of inclusive education are equality, participation, nondiscrimination, celebrating diversity and sharing good practices. The inclusive approach values students as
persons, respects their inherent dignity and acknowledges their needs and their ability to make a contribution to
society. It also acknowledges difference as an opportunity for learning, and recognizes the relationship between
the school and the wider community as grounds for creating inclusive societies with a sense of belonging (not
only for students but for teachers and parents too).36
Article 24 of the CRPD recognises the right of persons with disabilities to inclusive education.
It requires States Parties to ensure:








Inclusive quality education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to, among
other things, the full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth,
and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human
diversity
Quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with
others
the provision of reasonable accommodation
Effective individualised support measures
Delivery of education to persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf, hard of
hearing or deafblind in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of
communication for the individual in environments that maximise academic and social
development including learning Braille, sign languages, augmentative and alternative
modes, means and formats of communication and the promotion of the linguistic identity
of the deaf community
Adapted curricula
Qualified teachers
Access to tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning
In accordance with the CRPD, inclusive education manifests by allowing children with and
without disabilities to attend the same age-appropriate classes at the local school, with
additional individually tailored support as needed; students are taught in small classes in
which they collaborate and support one another rather than compete; and children with
32
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on China, CRPD/C/CHN/CO/1, 2012, para 35
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Argentina, CRPD/C/ARG/CO/1, 2012, para 38
34
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Australia, 2013, para 45
35
As based on the formative text, the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994),
signed by 92 States, it is identified as a milestone towards inclusive education. It recognised inclusion in education as “the most
effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and
achieving education for all.” (UNESCO & Ministry of Education and Science of Spain, Salamanca Statement and Framework for
Action on Special Needs Education (1994), p viii). In addition, it urged governments “to give the highest policy and budgetary
priority to improve their education systems to enable them to include all children regardless of individual differences and
difficulties.” In 2005, UNESCO advanced a comprehensive definition: “[i]nclusion is seen as a process of addressing and
responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and
reducing exclusion within and from education [involving] changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and
strategies, with a common vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it is a responsibility
of the regular system to educate all children.” (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Guidelines for
Inclusion: Ensuring access to education for all, 13 (2005))
36
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para 7
33
6
IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
disabilities are not segregated in the classroom, at lunchtime or on the playground.37 This
requires measures of physical, informational and communication accessibility, notably for
persons who are blind, deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind, including adapted child-centered
curricula to meet the needs of all children.
It also requires the provision of reasonable accommodation. As set out in the CRPD38 and
the CESCR Committee’s General Comment no 20,39 States have an obligation to make
reasonable efforts (i.e. the necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments which
do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden) to accommodate an individual in a
particular situation to ensure the enjoyment or exercise of their rights on an equal basis with
others. Reasonable accommodation recognises that several positive steps can be taken to
integrate a specific individual in the workplace, in school, in society without undue hardship
on the part of the State or duty bearer, and the failure to take such reasonable measures to
accommodate the active participation of persons with disabilities is a form of discrimination. 40
For example, a measure of reasonable accommodation regarding schooling would be
moving a classroom to the ground floor to accommodate a student in a wheelchair where the
school’s upper floors are not accessible.
The CRPD Committee has reaffirmed, under Article 24, that the “denial of reasonable
accommodation constitutes discrimination”41 and that “the duty to provide reasonable
accommodation is immediately applicable and not subject to progressive realization”,42 as
well as highlighted its provision must be costless for the person.43 More recently, concerned
with the sub-standard education received by students with disabilities in regular schools due
to the failure to provide reasonable accommodation, it recommended to Australia to increase
“its efforts to provide reasonable accommodation of the necessary quality in education”. 44
Such ‘necessary quality’ requires that reasonable accommodation facilitates effective and
quality education and suggests the need for constant evaluation. The concept of reasonable
accommodation has also been endorsed by other treaty body recommendations, including
the CEDAW Committee linked to education45 and to other areas.46
UNICEF, State of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities, 2013, p 28
Article 2, CRPD
39
General Comment no 20, E/C.12/GC/20, 2 July 2009, para 28: “In its general comment No. 5, the Committee defined
discrimination against persons with disabilities as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference, or denial of reasonable
accommodation based on disability which has the effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of
economic, social or cultural rights”. The denial of reasonable accommodation should be included in national legislation as a
prohibited form of discrimination on the basis of disability. States parties should address discrimination, such as prohibitions on
the right to education, and denial of reasonable accommodation in public places such as public health facilities and the
workplace, as well as in private places.”
40
Article 5, CRPD and CESCR Committee General Comment no 20, E/C.12/GC/20, 2 July 2009, para 28
41
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1, 2011, para 43, Hungary, CRPD/C/HUN/CO/1,
2012, para 41
42
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1, 2011, para 44
43
The Committee recommended Spain to “[e]nsure that the parents of children with disabilities are not obliged to pay for the
education or for the measures of reasonable accommodation in mainstream schools”, CRPD Committee Concluding
Observations on Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1, 2011, para 44(c)
44
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Australia, CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1, 2013, para 46
45
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on Germany, CRC/C/DEU/CO/3-4, 2014, para 51(b); Algeria,
CRC/C/DZA/CO/3-4, 2012, para 56(e); Cyprus, CRC/C/CYP/CO/3-4, 2012, para 39; CESCR Committee Concluding
Observations on Czech Republic, E/C.12/CZE/CO/2, 2014, para 19.
46
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations on Hungary, CEDAW/C/HUN/CO/7-8, 2013, para 29(c); CESCR Committee,
Concluding Observations, Republic of Moldova, E/C.12/MDA/CO/2, 2011, para 7; Cameroon, E/C.12/CMR/CO/2-3, 2012, para
11; Japan, E/C.12/JPN/CO/3, 2013, para 12; New Zealand, E/C.12/NZL/CO/3, 2012, para 13.
37
38
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
The OHCHR has explained that even the most developed inclusive education system “may
have gaps in its design because of the specific individual needs of students.”47 These could
be addressed systematically,48 thus improving the inclusiveness of the system’s design, or
through a reasonable accommodation measure49 for the particular case of a student,
guaranteeing his or her inclusion. It should be noted that the practice of adopting reasonable
accommodation for particular cases might nurture the continuous reflection for the
improvement of the system.
Another key element to the success of inclusive education is awareness-raising and training
of teachers. Teachers often view the inclusion of children with disabilities into regular
schools as a burden- they lack appropriate preparation and support in inclusive teaching. A
recent systematic literature review of countries as diverse as China, Cyprus, India, Iran, the
Republic of Korea, the State of Palestine, the United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe found
that teachers with the least general teaching experience had more positive attitudes than
those with longer service. Teachers who had received training in inclusive education had
more positive attitudes than those who had received no training, and those who had the most
positive attitudes were those with actual experience of inclusion.50 Teachers should also be
trained in disability awareness, deaf culture, sign language and the use of appropriate
augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational
techniques and materials to support students with disabilities.
Showing its concern about the specific situation of women and girl with disabilities and the
quality of the education provided, the Committee has recommended that the inclusive
education system which should be put in place incorporate the gender perspective.51 In the
same vein, in order to address the lack of adequate information on the educational system, it
required disaggregation of data by sex, among others, under Article 24.52 With respect to
Article 6 of the CRPD, this stand-alone provision on women and girls with disabilities which
has a transversal impact across the CRPD, the Committee stressed the need to develop
strategies, policies and programmes “especially in the field of education”53 and the need to
develop studies and research in order to do so.54
In addition, the right to sex education is an important component of the right to education and
access to information and its inclusion within the curricula of the inclusive system should be
ensured. In particular, for women and girls with disabilities who are often denied this based
on stereotypes and prejudices about their sexuality leading to significant consequences, sex
education serves as a means of protection “from all forms of exploitation, violence and
abuse, including their gender-based aspects”,55 notably sexual violence, and promotion for
47
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para
42
48
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para
42
49
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para
42
50
de Boer, Anke, Sip Jan Pijl and Alexander Minnaert, “Regular Primary Schoolteachers’ Attitudes towards Inclusive Education:
A review of the literature”, International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol 15, no 3 (April 2011) 345–346, cited in UNICEF State
of the World’s Children: Children with Disabilities, 2013, p 28
51
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Costa Rica, CRPD/C/CRI/CO/1, 2014, para 48, El Salvador,
CRPD/C/SLV/CO/1, 2013, para 50, Paraguay, CRPD/C/PRY/CO/1, 2013, para. 58
52
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Azerbaijan, CRPD/C/AZE/CO/1, 2014, para 41
53
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1, 2011, para 22(c)
54
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Tunisia, CRPD/C/TUN/CO/1, 2011, para 15(c)
55
Article 16(1), CRPD
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
the exercise of their reproductive rights.56 The OHCHR stated that “[t]he lack of sexual
education of women and girls with disabilities, wrongly perceived as non-sexual beings,
contributes to sexual violence committed against them, as they are unable to distinguish
inappropriate or abusive behaviours”.57 According to research in Europe, women with
disabilities are “four times more likely than other women to suffer sexual violence.”58
Moreover, a study showed that women with intellectual disabilities are more than ten times
as likely to be assaulted than other women.”59
In this regard, the CRPD Committee recommended to Hong Kong, “that sex education be
taught to children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities”.60 Other treaty bodies have
also highlighted the importance of sex education.61 The CEDAW Committee, concerned
about “the limited access to and inadequate quality of sexual and reproductive health
services for women with disabilities”,62 recommended to Hungary not only to “improve the
quality and increase accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services, in particular to
women with disabilities”,63 but also to “[e]nsure adequate and continuous age and gendersensitive education on sexual and reproductive health and rights in primary and secondary
schools by properly trained teachers”.64
UN treaty bodies
The practice of UN treaty bodies is developing to increasingly reflect the CRPD’s right to
inclusive education,65 sometimes under provisions related specifically to children with
disabilities, such as Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but not
exclusively.66 In particular, the CESCR Committee has elaborated its recommendation to
incorporate into national legislation “the preferred model of inclusive education as well as the
obligation to provide reasonable accommodation.”67
Recognised to all persons with disabilities in CRPD Article 23(c) that provides that States must ensure “[t]he rights of persons
with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to ageappropriate information, reproductive and family planning education are recognized, and the means necessary to enable them
to exercise these rights are provided”
57
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thematic study on the issue of violence against women and girls and
disability, A/HRC/20/5, 2012, para 19; see also Milligan & Neufeldt, “The myth of asexuality: a survey of social and empirical
evidence”, Sexuality and Disability, 19 (2) 2001 91109; Groce, “HIV/AIDS and people with disabilities”, The Lancet, 361 (9367)
2003, 14012
58
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thematic study on the issue of violence against women and girls and
disability, A/HRC/20/5, 2012, para 21 referring to European Parliament, Report on the situation of minority women in the
European Union 13 (2003/2109(INI))
59
Chenoweth, “Sexual Abuse of People with Disabilities” in Jones & Basser Marks (eds), Disability, Divers-ability and Legal
Change, 1999, 301, 303
60
CRPD Committee Concluding Observations on Hong Kong, China, CRPD/C/CHN/CO/1, 2011, para 66
61
For example, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on Costa Rica, CRC/C/CRI/CO/4, 2011, para
64(f); Qatar, CRC/C/QAT/CO/2, 2009, para 53(c); Mozambique, CRC/C/MOZ/CO/2, 2009, para 68(b)(ii).
62
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations on Hungary, CEDAW/C/HUN/CO/7-8, 2013, para 32
63
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations on Hungary, CEDAW/C/HUN/CO/7-8, 2013, para 33(a)
64
CEDAW Committee, Concluding Observations on Hungary, CEDAW/C/HUN/CO/7-8, 2013, para 33(c)
65
CESCR Committee Concluding Observations on Armenia, E/C.12/ARM/CO/2-3, 2014, para 24(b); China, Macao,
E/C.12/CHN/CO/2, 2014, para 60; Czech Republic, E/C.12/CZE/CO/2, 2014, para 19 ; Serbia, E/C.12/SRB/CO/2, 2014, para
35(b); Iran, E/C.12/IRN/CO/2, 2013, para 28; Moldova, E/C.12/MDA/CO/2, 2011, para 28; Israel, E/C.12/ISR/CO/3, 2011, para
34; Yemen, E/C.12/YEM/CO/2, 2011, para 29, among others. Committee on the Right of the Child Concluding Observations on
Uzbekistan, CRC/C/UZB/CO/3-4, 2013, para 50(c); Cuba, CRC/C/CUB/CO/2, 2011, para 44; Cook Islands, CRC/C/COK/CO/1,
2012, para 44; Costa Rica, CRC/C/CRI/CO/4, 2011, para 56(a), among others.
66
Notably, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, aware of the wide range and systemic implications of inclusive education,
recommended to Argentina, under the title “Education”, to “[i]nvest additional resources in order to ensure the right of all children
to a truly inclusive education” (Concluding Observations on Argentina, CRC/C/ARG/CO/3-4, 2010, para 68(b). Such an
approach can be traced back till its Concluding Observations on United Kingdom (CRC/C/GBR/CO/4, para 67(b).
67
It also recommends “the new concept for better accessibility of schools at all levels of education for children, pupils and
children with disabilities fully promotes inclusive education for children with disabilities, including by allocating resources for the
provision of reasonable accommodation and of any additional professional support needed, and by training teachers.” CESCR
Committee Concluding Observations on Czech Republic, E/C.12/CZE/CO/2, 2014, para 19
56
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
The CEDAW Committee is also beginning to incorporate the right to inclusive education in its
recommendations. Regarding Cape Verde, the Committee urged the State to “[e]nsure
adequate educational opportunities for women and girls with disabilities, including by
integrating them into mainstream education”,68 which still retains the language of integration.
With respect to the recommendations on the Dominican Republic adopted at the same
session, the Committee expressed “its concern about the lack of measures to provide
inclusive education for girls and women with disabilities”.69 Unfortunately, the more recent
Concluding Observations do not refer explicitly to the education of women and girls with
disabilities and the Committee is encouraged to systematically address this issue.
There is one particular concern which arises out of the Committee’s concept note: the
reference to “alternative learning programs, [that] are by definition, outside of the mainstream
educational system”, and encouragement to States to include them within the right to
education framework.70 IDA would like to seek clarification on what alternative learning
programs signify. IDA kindly requests the Committee to be vigilant in ensuring that these
programs neither serve to put in place, nor maintain, segregated education which is contrary
to the spirit and letter of the CRPD, to reconsider such reference in the light of the right to
inclusive education, and to adopt language which reflects the latest developments in the
matter.
Good practices
Regarding national and local implementation, different initiatives on inclusive education have
been developing around the globe. For example, the education policy of New Brunswick,
Canada, prevents the rejection of students from mainstream education and guarantees
inclusive education,71 and the text of the policy explicitly forbids segregation.72 The process
of reform towards inclusive education might include the transformation of special schools into
inclusive education resource centres as has been the case in Chile, Norway and Spain.73 On
a legal level, several countries have explicitly incorporated the obligation to provide
reasonable accommodation in their legislation.74 Focusing on the conditions in which
education is delivered, since several years now, Norwegian legislation addresses both on the
physical and the psychosocial environments, which might allow for the detection, prevention
and elimination of attitudinal barriers.75
As stated, a key element toward achieving inclusive education is awareness raising and
training of teachers. One small scale initiative carried out by the Center for Social Adaption
68
CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations on Cape Verde, CEDAW/C/CPV/CO/7-8, 2013, para 25(f)
CEDAW Committee Concluding Observations on Dominican Republic, CEDAW/C/DOM/6-7, 2013, para 32
70
CEDAW Committee, Concept Note on the Draft General Recommendation on Girls’/Women’s Right to Education, Chapter
5.2.9
71
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para
26
72
The OHCHR cites the relevant part of the policy document: “6.2.2 The following practices must not occur: 1) Segregated, selfcontained programs or classes for students with learning or behavioural challenges, either in school or in community-based
learning opportunities. 2) Alternative education programs for students enrolled in kindergarten to grade eight”. The policy
document is available at: http://www.gnb.ca/0000/pol/e/322A.pdf
73
OHCHR, Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to education, A/HRC/25/29/ENG, 18 December 2013, para
60
74
See Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the
Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs on the concept of
reasonable accommodation in selected national disability legislation, referring to Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New
Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Zimbabwe, as
well as the European Union.
75
See Act of 17 July 1998 no.61 relating to Primary and Secondary Education and Training (the Education Act), Section 9a-3
69
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
and Labour Rehabilitation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, provided training sessions and seminars
gathering teachers, experts and parents of children with autism, which resulted in their
effective inclusion and in plans to broaden and extend the initiative.76 On a larger scale, in
Kosovo, 300 primary school teachers received training in interactive teaching and learning
methodologies aimed at improving their pedagogical skills, and its Faculty of Higher
Education set a requirement that education students must take courses on inclusive
education.77
Courts have also started to uphold the right to inclusive education enshrined in Article 24 of
the CRPD. An Argentinean federal court granted access to higher education to a person
with physical disabilities to be eligible to become a gym professor and ordered the university
to provide reasonable accommodation.78 In its reasoning, the court highlighted that the
imposition of physical condition pre-requisites for enrolling in the course of study to obtain the
diploma of gym professor entails a subscription to a paradigm that has become obsolete
since the adoption of the CRPD. The decision was confirmed by the higher federal court. 79
Already in 2007, prior to CRPD ratification in the country, a Bulgarian court stressed the
State obligation to provide a “supportive environment” for the education of persons with
disabilities within mainstream schools80 and the failure to do so was recognised as unequal
treatment on the grounds of disability amounting to indirect discrimination, in line with the
CRPD’s right to inclusive education that requires the elimination of barriers to participation
and shift of focus from the person (in previous models) to the environment.
Post-2015 development framework
Previous figures indicated that there were 325 million women and girls with disabilities in the
world, most of whom live in rural areas of developing countries where women make up three
quarters of the population of persons with disabilities.81 Studies on women with disabilities in
rural areas of many countries in the Asian and Pacific region have found that more than 80%
of women with disabilities have no independent means of livelihood, and are thus totally
dependent on others.82 In recognition of the need to address the particular challenges of the
right to education of persons with disabilities, notably women and girls, as a means to
combat poverty and exclusion and to foster sustainable development, discussions in the lead
up to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda have taken up inclusive education
as one of its priorities. The Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals have
recently affirmed the significance and role of inclusive education as set out in the Zero Draft
on the proposed goals and targets. Specifically, it proposes: “by 2030 [to] ensure that people
in vulnerable situations and marginalized people including persons with disabilities and
76
UNICEF, The Right of Children with Disabilities to Education: A Rights-Based Approach to Inclusive Education, UNICEF
Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEECIS), 2012, p 48
77
UNICEF, The Right of Children with Disabilities to Education: A Rights-Based Approach to Inclusive Education, UNICEF
Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEECIS), 2012, p 80
78
Federal Court N 2 on Civil and Commercial and Contentious Administrative Law from San Martín, Province of Buenos Aires,
Argentina, Emiliano Pablo Naranjo v Universidad Nacional de la Matanza “amparo ” Act 16.986, Federal Court N 2 on Civil and
Commercial and Contentious Administrative Law from San Martín, Province of Buenos Aires, 22 November 2013
79
Emiliano Pablo Naranjo v Universidad Nacional de la Matanza, “amparo” Act 16.986, San Martín Federal Higher Court,
Chamber II, 17 March 2014
80
Case no 13789/06, Sofia District Court, 18 May 2007. This case was initiated by Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights and
the Equality National Association for Human Rights of People with Disabilities.
81
World Bank, Women with Disability, http://bit.ly/ybPKNk
82
Final report, UNESCAP Workshop on Women and Disability: Promoting Full Participation of Women with Disabilities in the
Process of Elaboration on an International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with
Disabilities, Bangkok, 18-22 August 2003, www.wwda.org.au/unescapwwd1.doc
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
indigenous peoples have access to inclusive education, skills development and vocational
training aligned with labour market needs.”83
Recommendations
In view of the specific challenges facing women and girls with disabilities in their access to
inclusive education, the following recommendations are proposed:
• Elaborate and adopt a General Recommendation following the General Discussion on
Girl’s/Women’s Right to Education which puts forward recommendations to guide States and
other actors in ensuring the perspective of women and girls with disabilities within education
and the development of the right to inclusive education, as advanced by the CRPD, for
implementation throughout education laws, policies and programmes engaging both public
and private actors, in consultation with a diverse range of women and girls with disabilities
and their representative organisations, and which calls for the systematic collection of data
disaggregated by gender and disability with a view to recognition of intersections of multiple
discrimination and evidence based law, policy, decision-making, awareness-raising
campaigns, training and consultation to uphold the rights to inclusive education of women
and girls with disabilities.
• Adopt explicitly within the text of the General Recommendation, the model of inclusive
education as the most appropriate modality for States to guarantee universality and nondiscrimination in the right to education at all levels including general, technical, professional,
higher education, lifelong learning, as well as in all types of vocational training, in both urban
and rural settings; call on States to adopt explicitly in legislation the right to inclusive
education consistent with Article 24 of the CRPD including the express prohibition of
disability based discrimination and the explicit recognition that the denial of reasonable
accommodation constitutes disability based discrimination.
• Call on States to adopt measures in law, policy and the budget to ensure the implementation
of inclusive education of students with disabilities by:
o ensuring in the law the principle of equal access for children with disabilities to
mainstream schools, by explicitly providing that no student can be rejected from
general education on the basis of disability;
o developing individual education plans for all students (regardless of disability);
o ensuring the availability of assistive devices, ICTs and support in schools as well as
adapted educational materials and curricula;
o ensuring the accessibility of the physical environment;
o ensuring the delivery of education in the most appropriate languages and modes and
means of communication in environments that maximise academic and social
development;
o ensuring the teaching of sign languages, deaf culture and disability rights awareness
within schools;
o taking steps to ensure obligatory training of all teachers (beyond special education
teachers) on teaching children with disabilities, and to include inclusive education as
an integral part of core teacher training curricula in universities to ensure that the
83
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html
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IDA submission for the CEDAW Committee’s half day of general discussion on girls’/women’s right to education
values and principles of inclusive education are infused at the outset of teacher
training and teaching careers
• Call on States to provide awareness-raising and training on inclusive education to both public
and private actors, including for families and communities, including the gender perspective
with a view to enhancing the positive image of girls and women with disabilities and focusing
on eradicating negative stereotypes that hinder their full inclusion on an equal basis with
others.
• Call on States to provide sex education within inclusive education systems in order to protect
and promote the reproductive rights of persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls
with disabilities, as well as to prevent sexual violence.
• Call on States to provide for monitoring and evaluation, research, studies and the systematic
collection and publication of data, disaggregated by sex and disability among other criteria, in
order to formulate effective policies for the inclusion of all women and girls in education.
Closely consult with and actively involve women and girls with disabilities, including older
women, indigenous women, and women from rural areas, among others, at all stages.
• Call on States, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral donors, and development
agencies to adopt measures in the context of international cooperation and the post-2015
development framework to promote the right to inclusive education of women and girls with
disabilities as a tool to combating poverty and exclusion and the creation of sustainable
communities.
For further information, please contact: vlee@ida-secretariat.org
International Disability Alliance
150 Route de Ferney
CH-1211 Genève 2
www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org
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