Mr Mandesi gave the civil society statement at the signing ceremony in New York on behalf of the international disability community. He has been involved in lobbying and negotiation in the drafting process of the Convention since 2004 and attended five consecutive drafting sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Convention in New York. In this interview he explains how he sees the future of the convention and what needs to happen next.

Gidion Kaino Mandesi is a 40 year old lawyer with two degrees in law. He lives in Tanzania with his wife and three children. Mr Mandesi is the chairperson of the International Disability Alliance, Rehabilitation International’s Vice President for the African region and Executive Director for the Disabled Organisation for Legal Affairs and Social Economic Development (DOLASED). He is blind.

How will this Convention make a difference for persons with disabilities in Africa, on the ground?

- It will limit marginalization of people will disabilities, because it will give more equal opportunities in cases of employment and education, and it will provide equality by the law. In addition to that it will awake disabled persons to understand their rights and it will guide the way on how to access their justices. It will also facilitate African Countries to receive technical and financial support under International Cooperation. It will guide African Governments to legislate better laws and policies that guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention will broaden participation of people with disabilities in politics and political leadership as well as in cultural, sporting and tourism activities. Furthermore, data and statistics on disability will be collected and known in Africa.

Will African countries promptly move on to adopt or adapt national legislation in line with the convention? Do we have reason to believe that they won’t ratify it?

- It depends much on the political will of individual nations, especially the ideology of the ruling party in that particular country. There is no genuine reason to believe that they won’t ratify it. However, I would say that some may not ratify on grounds of political instability or because of a change of political leadership. New leaders may have different political will from the ones signing the Convention. Civil society, especially DPOs, have important roles to play by pushing their government to implement the Convention at domestic jurisdiction in good faith.

What do you want to say to those who fear that the new convention is just another piece of paper, that it won’t have any real and positive effects for ordinary people?

- I believe that the convention will receive much support in Africa because the continent is struggling to improve the human rights situation including of course the rights of persons with disabilities. DPOs are gaining momentum in Africa in that they are implementing, with their government, the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities. The fear is due to ignorance. The only solution to solve this is to implement article 8 of the Convention. This article spells out that state parties need to raise awareness to educate people about the rights and obligations to be taken up by persons with disabilities in society. At the end of the day, I believe that the critics will join the efforts and actions to support and implement the convention.

What needs to happen now? Describe what the next steps are for the countries that have signed the Convention.

- Before ratification, the important and immediate step to be taken is advocacy by the communities and members of DPOs on the importance of having the Convention so as to fully exercise the rights of all people. In addition, both rights holders and duty bearers should be provided with capacity building in order to understand the contents of the Convention. Then, the ratification and domestication of the convention into the national laws will be easily done.

How long will it take, on average, you think, for African states to ratify the convention?

- The impression during the signing ceremony was positive. The majority of the countries like Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Kongo DRC and others promised to ratify the convention as expeditiously as possible. I hope within a year from now many countries will ratify and domesticate the convention. 

Only around 50 countries in the world have disability specific legislation. What does that mean for the ratification process of the convention?

- For those who have in place disability legislation and policies it will be easy to ratify, e.g. Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda and Kenya. However, the existing legislation on disability in these countries will also have to be reviewed with the ultimate aim to be amended or modified to suite the demands and accountability under the convention. For those other African countries that have no disability legislation in place, the need first of all is to learn the contents of the convention and use it as a guide and direction to legislate on disability. These governments can get support from those who have developed disability law, under the international cooperation regulations that are elaborated in article 32 of the convention. After having that in place it will be easy for them to ratify the convention and use the national laws to give more rights for their citizens with disabilities.

How can we convince the countries that have not signed it to do so, and what should be the role of DPOs in the process that lies ahead?

- Advocacy and lobbying techniques must be applied within and outside the country concerned to influence decision and policy makers to sign and ratify it. The donor community has an important role to push those countries which have not signed to do so. They are in a good position to influence countries when they are negotiating packages for country assistance. They must do so within the framework of international cooperation under article 32 of the Convention. International bodies like WHO, ILO, UNDP, UNICEF, World Bank and IMF should also play an active role to encourage all countries that have not signed to support the Convention. They can influence this process through their support to those countries. I am saying so because these bilateral agencies are committed to promote human rights within their mandates. DPOs should carry out advocacy campaigns in order to get support for the convention at the domestic level.

Putting the provisions of the convention into practice will be costly. How can we make sure that lack of money does not hinder states to meet the most urgent obligations?

- The convention states that it must be progressively realized by using available resources. Any omission and negligence in taking action to implement the rights of persons with disabilities constitute a discrimination which is forbidden under the convention.
Those countries that consider disability and persons with disabilities in their development agenda must be given more economic support as incentives from developing agencies. An economic incentive is one of the quick strategies to attract countries to support implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities within their jurisdiction.

Finally, what are your expectations for the future of the convention process? The signing was just a new beginning... 

- I strongly expect that this is the new approach supported by governments, civil society and international agencies. I believe that the rights based approach which is fully elaborated in the Convention will greatly help to improve the situation of persons with disabilities in Africa and in other parts of the world. The Convention brings the notion that disability is a cross cutting issue. Hence, disability must be incorporated in every section of governance, at all levels. I hope that this Convention represents the paradigm shift on disability that we have been fighting for. Disability is now officially a human rights issue and needs to be incorporated into every law and policy at the national, regional and international levels. Persons with disabilities should now have opportunities to be heard through national and international arrangements under the Convention. The slogan of the national disability movement, nothing about us without us, is being realized with the Convention. This is a positive end to the negotiation process, and the exciting beginning of the implementation process.

DPO = Disabled People’s Organisations (Editorial Comment)