On formally launching the aptly-titled ‘Freedom to Live’ 2021-2030 National Strategy for the Rights of Disabled for public consultation last Tuesday, I had this unique sense of fulfilment mixed with a feeling of anticipation as we set the ball rolling.
A 13-objective, 63-action strategy requires a great deal of streamlining and dedication to be implemented within the stipulated period of time but I know the groundwork has been covered, right up to the highest levels, while the foundations are set in stone.
The strategy sees to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which Malta ratified and, over recent years, this document has been developed by the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) within the Office of the Permanent Secretary, thanks to the work and support of top experts in the sector.
Initial consultations led to the drafting of a document attaching the UN convention’s main articles to the various objectives of the strategy that need to be addressed and accomplished. Aside from Malta’s international obligations, these objectives are also part and parcel of the UN’s 2030 17-goal Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted six years ago as a shared blueprint “for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”, hence, the end date on Malta’s strategy launched this week.
Those same obligations are tied to the UN’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which outlines clear targets and priorities for action, to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks and, in terms of which, the EU also set its own targets as part of its European Disaster Risk Management framework.
In so doing, Malta is determinedly addressing a precious freedom among many other freedoms. All objectives and actions in the strategy are frameworked into specific time schedules. The strategy seeks to ascertain that major issues are implemented within the domestic scenario in line with the UN convention, with particular attention to Malta’s specificities, strong points and major challenges.
A fundamental prerequisite in the strategy is the need for disabled persons to actually be its very motor and this in conformity with the UN convention’s clarion call of ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us’, as well as the realisation of the Agenda 2030 undertaking ‘Leave No One Behind’.
The strategy sees to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities- Julia Farrugia Portelli
One should add that these principles are also incorporated in the strategy document, backed up by the 2021 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, which is currently undergoing a process of public consultation. The bill would lead to the eventual creation of a permanent forum, with civil society participation in harmony with political views and practices on the issue of disability in Malta while contributing to the continuous implementation of the strategy.
The final implementation of the strategy will not only cement a frontline role for disabled persons but also make use of a national coordination network, in line with the provisions of the UN convention, created further to the bill just mentioned. The strategy, in fact, guarantees a simplified form of collaboration among state entities and ministries, whether specified in it or not, to come up with a plan of action that would see to the implementation, in a holistic manner, of all objectives.
Needless to say, all this requires constant monitoring as the implementation process unfolds and the responsibility for it all will fall on the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), an independent entity within the sector which is duly being strengthened, thanks to amendments currently being discussed, to the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act and other related legislation.
As part of the public consultation exercise in respect of the strategy, interested organisations and members of the public have until July 7 to submit their views on this document. Equity and social inclusion are an integral part of the development and practice of democracy within any modern nation. Further participation will, no doubt, help Malta in its aim to turn ideals into democratic realities, in which the most precious of freedoms – the ‘Freedom to Live’ – is attained.
Julia Farrugia Portelli, Minister for Inclusion and Social Well-being