April 27, 2020 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Faith Lemon, Program Director
Email: flemon@disabilityrightsfund.org
DRF Website: www.disabilityrightsfund.org
DRAF Website: www.drafund.org
This month, the Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) publicized its list of issues for Indonesian government response before Indonesia’s review in 2021.
The List of Issues includes inquiries into Indonesia’s plans to harmonize laws and policies at all levels of government to align with the CRPD, ensuring that the concept of disability is consistent with the Convention; the status of Indonesia’s national Disability Act, Law No. 8/2016, and measures to ensure its implementation; the mechanisms established and the human and financial resources available for meaningful government consultation with persons with disabilities; and the steps taken to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention. The list of issues also asks about implementation of various CRPD articles including article 6 on women with disabilities and article 11 on the situation of risk and humanitarian emergencies, key questions as Indonesia handles the current pandemic.
These, and other questions, were influenced by alternative reports submitted by Indonesian organizations of persons with disabilities (DPOs), many of which received funding and technical support from the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund (DRAF). These reports included:
- an alternative report by a broad DPO coalition led by DRAF grantee, Perhimpunan Organisasi Harapan Nusantara (OHANA), which was supported by the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) and reflected issues of marginalized disability groups in Indonesia;
- an alternative report focused on women with disabilities by DRAF grantee, the national organization of women with disabilities, HWDI-National, and involving women with disabilities from 11 provinces across Indonesia; and
- an alternative report focused on the situation of persons with psychosocial disabilities who still live in shackles and face degrading treatment in institutions, by DRF grantee, Perhimpunan Jiwa Sehat, the Indonesian Mental Health Association, an organization of persons with psychosocial disabilities.
These reports added to an alternative report by the “Disco Team,” a coalition of DPOs from national to local levels, led by Perkumpulan Sehati Sukoharjo (SEHATI), that was submitted in April 2017.
Though a planned DPO delegation to Geneva had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DPO representatives held an online meeting March 30th with the Vice-Chair of the CRPD Committee, Ms. Rosemary Kayess, to discuss recommendations for the list of issues.
DRF and DRAF congratulate these DPOs and the broader Indonesian disability community on their work to advance the human rights of Indonesians with disabilities. Their submissions to the CRPD Committee will help hold Indonesia accountable, especially to marginalized persons with disabilities, including women with disabilities and those with psychosocial disabilities – two populations that face severe human rights violations and now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, are even more at risk.
Since 2010, DRF and DRAF have given 3.2 million USD in grants to 157 projects run by DPOs across Indonesia. DRF donors include: The Ansara Family Fund of the Boston Foundation, the Ford Foundation, The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation, the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, the Foundation to Promote Open Society, part of the Open Society Foundations, and U.K. aid from the U.K. government (DFID). DRAF is supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and U.K. aid from the U.K. government (DFID). The views expressed in this communication do not necessarily reflect the official policies of any of our donors, or the governments they represent.
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