The 10th Volume of the African Disability Rights Yearbook features an article by Zahra Hosaneea, co-founder of the YWDEP, entitled "Reservations on the CRPD from a Mauritian perspective".
Drawing inspiration from the European Yearbook on Disability Law, the African Disability Rights Yearbook is the first publication of its kind which focuses on the African continent. It aims at bringing into prominence areas of concerns traditionally neglected by governments and/or academics.
Following the wake of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the ADRY is also the first peer-reviewed journal to focus exclusively on disability rights in Africa.
Zahra's article highlights the three reservations which have been placed by the Mauritius on the CRPD, namely on the duty to take appropriate measures to provide signage in Braille and in easy-to-read forms in buildings and other facilities open to the public; the situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies; and on the right of persons with disabilities to access an inclusive, quality and free education, on an equal basis with others, in the communities in which they live.
It analyses how the reserved provisions, from a Mauritian perspective, are not in line with the object and purpose of the Convention, and why they should not prevail, especially in light of the fact that persons with disabilities in the country already face numerous prejudices and stigmas. In a nutshell, it contends that maintaining reservations on these three critical provisions represent additional obstacles to an already challenging situation, as Mauritian laws are not sufficient in themselves to afford the protection envisaged by the CRPD to persons with disabilities inasmuch as they fail to adequately consider the paradigm shift and have not been drafted to accommodate the diversity of persons with disabilities in the country, the more so that a whole decade has passed since the ratification of the CRPD in Mauritius.
The full contents of the ADRY 2022 are available at:
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