The Palestinian NGO's Network Rehabilitation Sector presented the shadow report it prepared on the reality of the rights of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip during the special session of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights office via the internet.
This came in the review presented by Jamal Al-Rozi, the Rehabilitation Sector coordinator at PNGO Network, during the session of adopting the list of issues regarding the first report of the State of Palestine towards the International Convention, and before the official review session of the report of the State of Palestine.
Al-Rozi referred to the complex reality of people with disabilities in light of the difficult economic and social conditions that the Palestinian people are living in, especially in the Gaza Strip under the blockade and the repeated attacks of the occupation. He also confirmed that there are great challenges facing people with disabilities represented in the right to obtain education and the right to access health services, protection in times of danger and emergency, and the marginalization of the role and participation of people with disabilities in political and public life.
Al-Rozi stressed the need to harmonize the Palestinian legislation, decisions, and policies by the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the importance of adopting a comprehensive, unified, and inclusive national strategy in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities, in full and effective partnership with persons with disabilities and institutions working in the field of disability, as they are the most capable to understand barriers and forms of discrimination.
It should be noted that the Rehabilitation Sector of the PNGO network, which includes civil organizations specialized and active in various fields of disability, submitted a parallel "shadow" report on the initial report of the State of Palestine on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued by the Palestinian government in July 2019" to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to monitor the extent of the State of Palestine’s commitment to the provisions of the International Convention and the practical steps taken by the State in implementing its provisions.