Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] sent Moroccan officials a letter [text] Monday claiming that a draft framework law before the country’s parliament [official website] is in conflict with obligations to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [text]. Although the draft framework law seeks to protect the rights of disabled persons, HRW identified four areas for improvement before ratification, including taking a rights-based approach to drafting, strengthening the right to “legal capacity” and expanding the right to education for disabled persons. HRW also recommended Morocco include persons with disabilities and representative organizations in the law-making process. In a press release [text], Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director for HRW Eric Goldstien said:

People with disabilities in Morocco have been treated as objects of charity rather than as equal citizens, leading to stigma and discrimination. This draft law gives the government an opportunity to begin to change this perception and make Morocco a regional leader on disability rights, but it needs to be fully grounded in human rights standards.

This is the first disability rights-based legislation to be considered by Morocco since it ratified the treaty in 2009.

In September 2014 HRW urged [JURIST report] the Jordanian government to reform its penal code to better protect human rights, including increased penalties for those who commit crimes against people with disabilities. That same month the UN welcomed [JURIST report] Guyana as the 150th nation to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The convention first entered into force [JURIST report] in May 2008, with 127 countries having signed and ratification by 25. The landmark disability rights treaty [JURIST report] protects the 650 million persons living with disabilities worldwide [UN fact sheet] and holds that all disabled people should be treated as full-fledged citizens and completely integrated into society.