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By Nagase Osamu
Council Member
Inclusion International
I have learnt about this very disturbing practice during my recent
assignment as a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) expert
for Asia Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), based
in Bangkok, Thailand from mid-November to mid -December 2007. I
worked on the promotion of self-advocacy and family-advocacy in
Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam.
This sterilization issue is particularly
surprising since Thailand was a very positive and progressive participant
of the negotiations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was adopted December
2006 and Thailand was one of the first countries to sign the Convention
on 30 March 2007. The article 23 of the Convention, on home and
family life, stipulates that “persons with disabilities, including
children, retain their fertility on an equal basis with others”
and prohibits “discrimination against persons with disabilities
in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood” and
guarantees the right to marriage, reproductive and family planning
education. Female sterilization is one of the common means of family
planning in Thailand but if it is done widely for girls with intellectual
disability based on their intellectual disability, it is considered
as a violation of the Convention.
Many persons with intellectual
disabilities around the world do get married, form a family and
have children, with or without proper support. It is a real tragedy
if their potential is denied because of their intellectual disability
early in their adolescence. It is true women with intellectual disabilities
often have been victims of sexual abuses. Semi-automatic sterilization
of girls with intellectual disabilities, however, is taken to be
a serious human rights violation. It is encouraging to note there
are Thai voices that consider this practice as a discrimination.
Inclusion International is prepared to work with those who respect
the reproductive rights of persons with intellectual disabilities
in and outside of Thailand, which is a beautiful country
[Last updated by rg, Tuesday, January 8, 2008]
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