On the 18th February 2012 a public consultation on the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD) was jointly organised by local human rights organisation MARUAH and DPA) at OnePeople.sg. Globally, there are a total of seven international treatises for states to ratify and at this point in time Singapore has ratified two –the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Committee on the Elimination of all Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Given that Singapore has indicated that it will ratify the CRPD in 2012, this public consultation was a chance for those with disabilities and those without disabilities to come together to look at the Articles of the CRPD. The consultation focused on determining to what extent Singapore’s current disability policies comply with the Convention and identifying areas where there is yet more work to be done in order to do so.
At the consultation, a draft of a position paper on the CRPD in the Singapore context was presented to all attendees for feedback. That feedback was recorded and incorporated into a final position paper that was later sent to the relevant stakeholders and Government agencies.
 Mr Ron Chandran-Dudley, Ex-DPA President, and Mr Nicholas Aw, DPA President, discussing the CRPD |
