Convention of Rights 24: Respect for home and the family

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 23 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs should not face discrimination in marriage, family, parenthood and relationships:

• It is the right of PWDs who are of marriageable age to make a family on the basis of free and full consent. 
• It is the right of PWDs to decide the number and spacing of their children. PWDs should also have access to age appropriate family planning education which is recognized as the way to achieve this right.
• PWDs should retain their fertility at all stages throughout their life.

2, PWDs have the same rights over children in their care as anyone else, in all cases the best interests of the child is of utmost importance. PWDs should be given appropriate assistance with their child rearing responsibilities. 

3, children with disabilities (CWDs) have equal rights in family life. Concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation should be prevented for the realization this right. The government undertakes to provide early and full information, services and support to CWDs and their families. 

4, children should not be separated from their families against their will except there the appropriate rules have been followed. In no case shall a CWD be separated from their family because of the disability of the child or the parents. 

5, where the family is not able to care for the child alternative care should be found in the wider family or within the community in another family.

There is no definition of the term family, but it is accepted to be the natural and fundamental group unit of society. The rights of the family given in this Article are summarized by the education book Human Rights: Yes! in the following way:

• The right to marry on the basis of the full and free consent of both intended spouses, assuming partners are of “full age”;
• The right to have equal rights with their spouses during their marriage, during legal separation, or if the marriage is dissolved;
• The right to “found a family,” meaning the right of people to live together, to have children, and not to be subjected to discriminatory or compulsory State family planning policies;
• The right to be reunited with their family if they are separated because of political, economic, or other reasons; and
• The right to have the family protected by society and the State.

This 2014 report “We have a right to love”: The Intersection of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Disability for Urban Refugees in Kampala, Uganda discusses the sexual rights of refugee women with disabilities (WWDs). The report focuses on the health rights of WWDs, it has some interesting things to say about the perception of the rights of the family and the right to family planning education:

• Researchers found that persons with disabilities, depending on the degree and nature of their impairment, were often denied the right to establish relationships or were forced into unwanted marriages.
• RLP (Refugee Law Project) has installed screen-reader software for persons with vision impairments in its resource center and has piloted the Global Disability Rights Library, providing refugees with disabilities, their families and many others with access to resources on disability rights.
• Regarding SRH (sexual and reproductive health) services, an adult male participant in a Swahili-speaking physical, vision and mental impairment group complained, “Health workers think persons with disabilities do not have a right to sex, yet they are also normal like other people.”
• Only one person among all consulted in group activities felt “It’s no problem if she [unmarried girl with disabilities] becomes pregnant;” no one else shared the assumption that the pregnancy could have been a result of love. Further, only one group—Swahili-speaking women with mild intellectual impairments—defended refugees with disabilities and their ability to have subsequent pregnancies, claiming: “No one can stop because it is her rights. Although she is a person with a disability, she has a right to produce.”
• On the other hand, surprising comments of typically acceptable behavior scenarios included comments such as: “Persons with disabilities in a safe, happy romantic relationship is unacceptable because if you have a physical disability and you have to get married and you get pregnant, you are increasing your problems.” However, all participants except for one group of Swahili-speaking women with mental impairments agreed that persons with disabilities have “a right to love.”
• Scenarios around an unmarried pregnant woman with disabilities also showed little belief that persons with disabilities could have become pregnant as a result of love, despite most groups agreeing that they have a right to equal, romantic relationships.

If you are a PWD you have the right to have a family the same as any other person.

Little People Uganda's (LPUs) programmes are inspired by the many challenges little people face, which impede them from exploiting their full potential as valued citizens. Some of these challenges include the following:

1. Discrimination in families, disability community and society in general
3. Stigma – based on misconceptions like little people are from Congo not Uganda, they are subhuman, they have personality disorders, are a bad omen in the family, are clowns and only good for entertainment, are a burden, who cannot live independent lives etc.
4. Death at the hands of parents and caregivers
5. Paternity denial
11. Exploitation and abuse in relationships, employment etc

This is written in Article 23 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 23 

Respect for home and the family

1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, on an equal basis with others, so as to ensure that:

(a) The right of all persons with disabilities who are of marriageable age to marry and to found a family on the basis of free and full consent of the intending spouses is recognized;

(b) The rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to age-appropriate information, reproductive and family planning education are recognized, and the means necessary to enable them to exercise these rights are provided;

(c) Persons with disabilities, including children, retain their fertility on an equal basis with others.

2. States Parties shall ensure the rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities, with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship, adoption of children or similar institutions, where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the best interests of the child shall be paramount. States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities.

3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have equal rights with respect to family life. With a view to realizing these rights, and to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of children with disabilities, States Parties shall undertake to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families.

4. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents.

5. States Parties shall, where the immediate family is unable to care for a child with disabilities, undertake every effort to provide alternative care within the wider family, and failing that, within the community in a family setting.