2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Committee) celebrated this milestone by hosting a symposium during its 46th Ordinary Session held in Maseru, Lesotho. During the symposium, the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (the Centre) partnered with Inclusion Africa to participate in a panel discussion titled ‘Children with Disabilities: Lessons and Policy Directions.’
The panel discussion sought to contribute to the advancement of the rights of children with intellectual disabilities in Africa by creating awareness about intellectual disabilities in children, highlighting the distinct challenges preventing children with intellectual disabilities from realizing their human rights and by exploring the role of various stakeholders in advancing the rights of children with disabilities. Ahead of the panel discussion, the Centre also partnered with Inclusion International to spotlight the same issues during the 27th CSO Forum held on the sidelines of the Committee Session.
Both interventions highlighted the fact that although all children with disabilities experience numerous human rights violations, children with intellectual disabilities encounter heightened levels of discrimination based on the nature of their disability. The stigma and discrimination attached to intellectual disabilities exacerbates the exclusion of children with intellectual disabilities resulting in the violation of various human rights through practices such as infanticide, concealment, and exclusion. The prevalence of human rights violations against children with intellectual disabilities is further fueled by weak implementation of laws and policies protecting their rights. As a result of the confluence of all these factors, children with intellectual disabilities and their families encounter complex challenges including economic hardships and limited access to opportunities and services.
Addressing such a complex combination of challenges calls for a multi-stakeholder approach involving the intervention of government departments, organisations of persons with disabilities, families and the community at large, to implement existing laws and policies. The adoption of a multi-pronged approach encompassing provision of reasonable accommodations in multiple sectors and the provision of funding and support services to children with intellectual disabilities and their families and the presence of political will to address human rights violations against children with intellectual disabilities. The panelists called for a specific and purposive reflection on the unique needs and challenges of children with intellectual disabilities in the implementation of existing national and regional norms and standards to ensure that they can enjoy and exercise their human rights on an equal basis with others.
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