International Day of Persons with Disabilities was celebrated on the 3rd of December 2024. While it is true that some strides have been made in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to empower persons with disabilities, significant issues remain that pose serious barriers and restrict progress on the rights of persons with disabilities in Vincentian society.
Many issues can be touched on but for the purpose of this article, I want to highlight SVG’s lack of accession to the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (CIADDIS).
Apart from its domestic laws, SVG is involved in the United Nations human rights system and the Inter-American human rights system. Under these human rights systems, SVG has signed, ratified, and/or acceded to a number of human rights treaties.
In relation to disability rights, under the United Nations human rights system, SVG has signed, ratified, and/or acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
However, under the Inter-American human rights system, which is the regional human rights system governing States that are members of the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate human rights matters from SVG and SVG has still not signed, ratified, or acceded to the CIADDIS.
Adopted on June 7th, 1999, by the OAS General Assembly in resolution AG/RES. 1608 (XXIX-O/99), during its 29th ordinary session in Guatemala, the objectives of this Convention are to prevent and eliminate all forms of discrimination against persons with disabilities and promote their full integration in all spheres of society through legislation, social initiatives, and educational programs developed within each State Party of the OAS.
Through the accession of the CIADDIS and also by giving the Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisdiction to adjudicate human rights matters from SVG, we will know if SVG holds itself to greater accountability to not only persons with disabilities but also the high standards and mechanisms of the Inter-American human rights system that promote human rights, including disability rights, in the OAS and this region.
SVG must not only talk the talk about disability rights but it should also walk the walk and be an example for other independent Anglophone Caribbean States.
Author: Jeshua Bardoo is a Vincentian Lawyer with an LLM in International Human Rights Law. He is also the Founder and President of Equal Rights, Access and Opportunities SVG Inc. He can be contacted via email at [email protected]