Convention of Rights 28: The right to work

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 27 of the CRPD says 1, PWDs have the right to work the same as anyone else. That includes the right to earn a living by work freely chosen in a work environment that is inclusive and accessible. The right to work should be safeguarded and promoted, including for those that become disabled whilst working. This should be done by laws that:

a, prohibit discrimination in all matters relating to employment.

b, protect the rights of PWDs to be treated equally regarding pay, safe and healthy work conditions, not being harassed and the redress of grievances.

c, ensure PWDs can exercise their labour and trade union rights equally with others.

d, enable PWDs to have access to technical and vocational guidance and continuing training.

e, promote work opportunities and advancement for PWDs as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment.

f, promote opportunities for self employment, entrepreneurship, cooperatives and starting businesses.

g, encourage employment of PWDs in the public sector.

h, promote the employment of PWDs through policies and measures like affirmative action, incentives and other measures.

i, ensure work spaces are accessible.

j, promote the acquisition by PWDs of experience in an open labour market. 

k, promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for PWDs.

2, PWDs should not be held in slavery or servitude and and protected equally from forced or compulsory labour.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) highlights the following trends that negatively affect PWDs in their work. The report, Study on work and employment of persons with disabilities: Human Rights Council in March 2013, ILO contribution, lists the following:

• People with disabilities are less likely to be in full time employment than non-disabled persons; 
• The unemployment rates of persons with disabilities are up to twice as high as for non-disabled people, in countries for which data is available 
• The labour force participation rate of people with disabilities is significantly lower than among the population as a whole, with almost half of working age people with disabilities neither in employment nor actively looking for work in countries in Europe – and also in OECD countries. Many people with disabilities are not registered either as employed or as unemployed, and are thus invisible in the labour market, surviving either through the support of their families or through social security payments; this represents a serious bank of untapped potential in these countries. 
• Where they are employed, workers with disabilities are more likely to be in low-paid jobs with poor promotional prospects and working conditions.
• Disabled women are less likely to have a decent job than either non-disabled women or men with disabilities. 
• People with certain types of disability – such as intellectual disability and mental health disabilities are reported to face greater difficulties in finding decent work.
• Linked to their low labour force participation in higher income countries and their concentration in low paid work with poor prospects, often in the informal economy - people with disabilities and their families are more likely to be among the poor in society, due to a bi-directional link between disability and poverty.

Article 27 is designed to redress the imbalance and inequality in the labour market for PWDs. Article 27 is about creating a labour market that is open, inclusive and accessible to everyone equally. It is about the right to the opportunity to work and not the right to a job. The 2017 book, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A commentary has this to say about disability in the work place:

Practically, all people experience periods in their lives with reduced working capacity linked to health problems or to familial obligations. Also, disability may in some instances be associated with reduced working capacity. A labor market that allows for flexibility for employees will therefore permit all other things to be more inclusive to persons with disabilities. Some labor markets have stronger traditions for allowing employees to choose to work part time. Flexibility also concerns the possibility for receiving pay while being on sick leave. The rules governing flexibility of working hours and access to leave from work are not just governed by private agreements between the employee and employer but are also governed by public laws and policies, as well as by collective agreements. Consequently, the State should play an active part in promoting flexible working hours for employees in the labor market.

The 2014 National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU) report Alternative Report to the UN Committee of Experts on the Implementation of the CRPD gives the following criticism of the right to work:

132. Whereas Section 13 (3) of the Persons with Disabilities Act (2006) gives the Minister authority to determine a quota or percentage of PWDs to be employed; this has not been enforced by statutory instrument. The State Report does not provide any policy to support the employment of PWDs in the informal sector; although this is where majority of PWDs are employed.

133. The Persons with Disabilities Act (2006) initially provided for a 15% tax deduction to private companies that employed 10 or more PWDs. This has been reviewed to 2% tax deduction for any employer whose workforce comprises of at least 5% of PWDs, which is no longer sufficiently attractive to employers...

136. Field findings indicated that majority of the people that become disabled while at work are dismissed and are unable to benefit under the provisions of the law on compensation. E.G., a Head Teacher in Arua district who lost her sight was demoted to a class room teacher (UNAB Case Study).Another teacher with psychosocial disability at Okuvu Primary School was dismissed in 2000 and now works as a security guard (MHU case Study).

Many organizations are working to improve the lives of PWDs in Uganda. The Disabled Entrepreneurs of Uganda site says: “When you do not find the accommodations you need among employers - make your own”. The organization aims to teach PWDs the entrepreneurial skills they require to start their own businesses:

There is prevalent chronic poverty among Persons with Disabilities due to institutionalized, discrimination and infrastructural unemployment.

People with disabilities are experiencing various forms of material hardship-including food insecurity, not getting needed medical or dental care, and not being able to pay rent, mortgage, and utility bills-than people without disabilities.

The current National measures of income poverty fail to take disability into account and therefore, underestimate the income people with disabilities need to meet basic needs.

People with disabilities need to be helped to become productive members of society because this will improve the welfare and well-being of the entire community. Sometimes solutions are relatively simple, such as providing reading glasses to those with visual impairments, giving wheelchairs to those in need or making a little contribution to help them start up a small income generating venture or a micro-enterprise in order to live an independent life.

Every PWD has the right to work free from discrimination and on an equal basis with other people.

The right to work is important because it is a the opportunity to escape poverty:
CAN MARKETS HELP ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY?
Susan and her family have always been poor. Living in an area of conflict where large areas of land are strewn with hidden mines, their situation became even more precarious when Susan lost her leg after standing on a landmine.
However, after her accident, Susan joined the self-help group in her village run by the Gulu disabled people’s organisation (DPO) Women with Disabilities and received business training and seed capital to start her own enterprise selling produce at the local market.

This is written in Article 27 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 27

Work and employment

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on
an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to, inter alia:

(a) Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;

(b) Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;

(c) Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;

(d) Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;

(e) Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;

(f) Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives and starting one’s own business;

(g) Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector;

(h) Promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector through appropriate policies and measures, which may include affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures;

(i) Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace;

(j) Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market;

(k) Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.

2. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.