Lalitpur, March 24:

Speakers at a programme here today lauded the spirit of the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Persons with Disabilities and appealed to the government of the SAARC countries to ratify it (convention) to ensure the rights of the disabled.

The United Nations adopted the convention on December 13, which has 50 articles based on the principles of inherent dignity and participation of the persons living with disabilities.

Presenting a paper on the UN Convention at ‘Advocacy Workshop on UN Convention on Rights of the Persons with Disabilities’, Birendra Raj Pokharel, president of the National Federation of Disabled Nepal (NFDN), said: “The existing law on the disabled is based on charitable prospective while the convention has ensured the right-based perspective of the disabled. The ratification of the convention would help to pressurise the authorities concerned to ensure the rights of the disabled.”

The government has already adopted a policy to allocate Rs 25,000 to 3,915 village development committees for the well-being of the people living with disabilities. “Since the government has a policy and budget for the disabled, the implementation of the ratification would not be an extra burden,” said Pokharel.

He added that the NFDN would start lobbying with the authorities concerned to ratify the convention.

The speakers said approximately 10 per cent of the total population are living with disabilities, and the decade-long conflict in the country has increased the number.