Convention of Rights 19: Liberty of movement and nationality

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) forms the foundation of disability rights laws in Uganda and is the model for the Persons With Disabilities Act (PWDA) 2006. The CRPD underlines and recognizes that persons with disabilities (PWDs) are entitled to all the human rights enunciated in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you are a PWD the rights in the CRPD are your rights, if you do not have a disability it is your duty to uphold and promote these rights.

Article 18 of the CRPD says:

1. PWDs have the right to a nationality, freedom of movement and can live wherever they choose like any other persons. PWDs have the right to change their nationality and not be deprived of their nationality because of their disability. Disability should not be the reason to prevent anyone from getting documentation of nationality or identification. Disability should not prevent use of the immigration system to allow free movement. PWDs are free to leave any country, including their own. PWDs should not be denied the right to enter their own country. 

2. Children with disabilities (CWDs) must be registered after their birth and have the right to name and nationality. CWDs have the right, as far as possible, to know and be cared for by their parents.

Article 18 is about the right to nationality and the right to free movement between countries. 

Free international movement is often prevented by States refusing entry into their country because of disability or by the invisibility of PWDs from legal frameworks and migration policies. Broadly speaking the right to free movement between countries is hampered by immigration policies that view PWDs as being incapable of contributing to the country in which they live, in either an economic or social and cultural sense. 

People who wish to migrate often face stringent laws and policies that are unaccommodating and discriminate against PWDs because they reflect the medical model of disability. PWDs are denied entry because they are seen as a threat to the health and safety of the population or as a drain on the community services. Some countries restrict entry if a person has health problems, a psychiatric disorder or intellectual disability (See Article 18 [Liberty of Movement and Nationality]).

This Article raises the important issue of birth registration by making it mandatory for CWDs to be registered straight after birth. Without this registration CWDs will not be eligible for the services their country provides. In other words they are denied their right to nationality and name.

Is your child registered? It is every child's right to have name and nationality.

The 2016 book, Invisible Children: Reimagining International Development at the Grassroots says:

Mobile registrations are also underway in parts of Uganda, which has more than 5 million children under 5 without birth registrations and an unregistered rate of 70%.

This is written in Article 18 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 18

Liberty of movement and nationality

1. States Parties shall recognize the rights of persons with disabilities to liberty of movement, to freedom to choose their residence and to a nationality, on an equal basis with others, including by ensuring that persons with disabilities:

(a) Have the right to acquire and change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability;

(b) Are not deprived, on the basis of disability, of their ability to obtain, possess and utilize documentation of their nationality or other documentation of identification, or to utilize relevant processes such as immigration proceedings, that may be needed to facilitate exercise of the right to liberty of movement;

(c) Are free to leave any country, including their own;

(d) Are not deprived, arbitrarily or on the basis of disability, of the right to enter their own country.

2. Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.