COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ADOPTS CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE INITIAL REPORT OF PERU
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Peru (CRPD/C/PER/1) today after concluding its one-week seventh session on 20 April 2012.
The Committee commended the State party for the written replies to the list of issues raised by the Committee (only available in Spanish: CRPD/C/PER/Q/1). The Committee also commended the high-ranking delegation, which included the Vice-Minister of Women and Vulnerable Populations, and the President of CONADIS (National Council for the Integration of Persons with Disability), the latter an expert with disabilities, among its honourable members. The Committee noted with satisfaction the efforts made by the State party to implement the Convention through the adoption of laws, policies, plans and programmes, including definition of offences and establishment of penalties for breach of the General Act on Persons with Disabilities; adoption of the Plan on Equality of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 2009-2018; adoption of a pilot programme on psycho-social integration of persons with disabilities in the region of Tumbes; a draft bill on the rights of persons with disabilities; adoption of a law on sign language; and an increase in funding for programmes for persons with disabilities.
Despite the positive aspects noted, the Committee expressed deep concern that persons with “mental incompetence” could be sterilized without their free and informed consent, as a method of contraception, and urged the State party to abolish administrative directives that allowed forced sterilization of persons with disabilities. The Committee was further concerned that no rehabilitation services existed for 81 per cent of the population with a disability, and only 1.42 per cent of persons with disabilities were covered by social security programmes. It further regretted the lack of early detection programmes of deafness for children in order to minimize and prevent further disabilities. The Committee urged Peru to elaborate comprehensive health programmes to ensure that persons with disabilities were specifically targeted and had access to rehabilitation and general health services, and also to provide services for early identification of disabilities, in particular deafness, in order to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children.
The Committee expressed concern at consistent reports of the use of continuous forcible medication, including narcoleptics, and poor material conditions in psychiatric institutions, such as the hospital Larco Herrera, where some persons had been institutionalized for more than ten years without appropriate rehabilitation services. The Committee urged the State party to promptly investigate the allegations of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in psychiatric institutions, to thoroughly review the legality of the placement of patients in those institutions, as well as to establish voluntary mental health treatment services, in order to allow the persons with disabilities to be included in the community and release them from the institutions. The Committee was concerned at the reports that a number of persons with disabilities, especially those living in rural areas and in long-term institutional settings, did not have identity cards and, sometimes, had no name, and urged Peru to promptly provide identity documents to persons with disabilities, including in rural areas and in long-term institutional settings, and to collect complete and accurate data on people with disabilities in institutions who were currently undocumented and/or did not enjoy their right to a name.
The full text of concluding observations can be viewed here: (CRPD/C/PER/CO/1).
The next session of the Committee will take place from 17 to 28 September 2012, during which it will review the initial reports of China, Argentina and Hungary and adopt a list of issues for Paraguay.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CRPD12/004E