The Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Vocational Training and Employment
The social exclusion and discrimination faced by persons with disabilities has increasingly been acknowledged as a human rights issue. A paradigm shift, from a medical and charity based welfare model of disability, to today' s rights based model, acknowledges the movement to link disability issues to a full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Also, evidence already shows that a rights based framework for looking at disability has increased social and economic development.
The human rights framework recognizes citizens with disabilities as having the same rights as citizens without disabilities. A rights based approach also recognizes that equal treatment, equal opportunity, and non-discrimination provide for inclusive opportunities for women and men with disabilities in mainstream society. Furthermore, a rights based approach recognizes that barriers and prejudices are the most disabling for both individuals and society, particularly when these barriers impede access to skill development and decent work.
Global momentum to give effect to the enjoyment of rights has increasingly been based on the human rights principles of equal treatment, equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and full inclusion in mainstream society. These principles have been integrated in International Labour Organization (
ILO) Standards for decades, namely Convention No. 159 concerning the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) which explicitly calls for mainstreaming. The more recent United Nations (
UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 2006, highlight the additional momentum and focused attention given to the issues faced by persons with disabilities.
The
UN Convention explicitly outlines disability issues within a human rights framework, and further, calls upon governments to adapt already adopted laws and policies, and to develop new ones in alignment with the Convention and the human rights framework. The new Convention has provided a strong statement on mainstreaming, explicitly calling upon states to open up opportunities in mainstream workplaces, both in the public and private sectors, whereas in the past, it has been accepted that workers with disabilities were often unemployed or worked in sheltered workshops.
While legislative and policy measures are necessary for change, they are not sufficient to give effect to the enjoyment of rights. Many countries have identified the need for systematic information regarding the effective inclusion of persons with disabilities in vocational training and employment in the open labour market. The need for more information will require countries and international organizations to network and systematically gather the information required to move forward.
At the European Regional Meeting on The Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Vocational Training and Employment, Geneva, 9 March 2007, the
ILO, along the CTNERHI, France, and the Office of the Secretary of State for Families and Persons with Disabilities, Belgium discussed with delegates of a number of European countries, and representatives of employers' and workers' organizations, how to structure and organize applied research, international comparative studies, and the systematic gathering and sharing of information that address the questions regarding equal opportunity and effective inclusion of persons with disabilities in vocational training and employment in the open labour market. The primary objective for this preliminary meeting was to initiate the process, and develop a formal proposal for the applied research, including the organization of an international platform to coordinate and advise the process.
(Introduction)
