A Regional Training and Coordination Meeting of Experts and Focal Points for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in West Africa – African Business

The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through the Department of Human Development and Social Affairs is organising a regional training and coordination meeting of the region’s experts, focal points for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in West Africa. The event is set to take place in Accra (Ghana) from 10 to 12 Oct 2022. 

The meeting will provide a framework to strengthen the capacity of focal point for inclusion of persons with disability, on reporting requirements of the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It will equally sensitise the region’s focal points on the importance of the Protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights relating to the rights of Persons with Disabilities (AfChHPR-PWDs).

After the Accra meeting, experts from ECOWAS Member States are expected to develop a framework for the proper means to allow many Member States ratify this important Protocol of AfChHPR–PWDs. Only three of the fifteen Member States have yet to ratify the Protocol.

As a reminder, the ECOWAS Regional Action Plan for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, which was validated by the region’s experts in April 2022, clearly states the measures to be undertaken to strengthen the implementation of international and continental instruments on the rights of persons with disabilities.  ECOWAS will conduct awareness and sensitization campaigns in Member States to promote ratification and implementation AfChHPR–PWDs, and to strengthen the capabilities of actors in those countries.

The action plan was developed from the results of a regional study by ECOWAS about the inclusion of persons living with disabilities. This was done between August 2021 – April 2022. The study found that people with disabilities, particularly those with mental disabilities and hearing or visual impairments, are often stigmatized in the region.

This study led the governments of ECOWAS Members States to commit to taking the necessary measures to promote inclusion of persons with disabilities. They have policies and programmes to support persons with disabilities who experience bias, verbal, or physical abuse related to traditional beliefs that are still prevalent across many African communities.

Distributed by APO Group for the Economic Community of West African States.