Pan African Parliament adopts the African Model Law on Disability

Hon. Lucia Mendes dos Passos

The Pan African Parliament on Friday, adopted the African Model Law on Disability presented by the Chairperson of the Committee on Gender, Family, Youth and People with Disability, Hon. Lucia Mendes dos Passos.

Hon. Mendes dos Passos disclosed that in drafting the final version of the model law, her Committee worked closely with civil  and community-based organizations to ensure the effective participation of African peoples in decision making processes, and in the integration and economic development of the continent.

“In an effort to promote rapid implementation of initiatives on the continent, African Union Heads of State and Government adopted the Continental Plan of Action for the African Decade of Persons with Disability (210 – 2019). At the end this decade, in January the Heads of State and Government adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires only 15 ratifications to enter into force”.

She stated that the rationale for the development of the draft model law on disability by her Committee, in collaboration with the Africa Disability Alliance (ADA) is the adoption of the Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. “The draft model law is also justified by the provisions of Article 1 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Right which stipulates that “The Member States of the Organization of African Unity parties to the present Charter shall recognize the rights, duties and freedoms enshrined in this Charter and undertake to adopt legislative or other measures to give effect to them”.

The model law will serve as an instrument for promoting and protecting the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and thereby make “a significant contribution towards remedying the social disadvantages of these people and promoting their full inclusion in political, socio-economic and cultural life, affording them equal opportunities at the national and international level”.

“From the legal standpoint, the draft model law has an African and international legal basis in that the provisions contained therein are based on international and regional treaties and principles. These include the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, the 2002 African Union Continental Plan of Action for the African Decade of Disabled Persons and the Second African Decade of Disabled Persons, the Treaty of the Southern African Community (SADC), the Protocol on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights”.

Hon. Mendes dos Passos therefore called on the PAP to adopt the model law and submit same to the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa in January 2020 as well as promote the model law for domestication by member states of the African Union. She also called for the adoption of a monitoring and evaluation mechanism of the implementation of the provisions of the model law all of which were unanimously adopted by the Parliament.