Making rights a reality: What the Australian Government does (Article: 49)
Making the paper Convention a reality takes commitment, and the Government, the United Nations, and everyday people each have a role to play in facilitating change.
The Government’s role is a big one. It includes making the text of the Convention available in accessible formats–such as Braille, Audio and sign language – like this video!
Australia has signed the Convention, but that doesn’t mean it has become a law that everyone must follow.
The Australian Government agrees with the ideas and principles in the Convention, but implementing everything will take time and may not always be possible.
The Convention is a guide to be used as best practice wherever possible.
If you feel that an organisation or a person has not followed the Convention, it does not necessarily mean they have broken the law.
For example, if a doctor tries to sterilise a person just because they have a disability, that is against the law.
If a hospital does not provide information for a patient in Auslan this is not against the law, but the hospital should provide an Auslan Interpreter for Deaf patients.
However, the Convention outlines that a signed language format is best practice and so the Government encourages hospitals to aim to update their documents into an accessible format.
Making rights a reality: General obligations (Article: 4)
Australia must make sure that people with disability enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination of any kind because of disability.
How does the Australian Government apply the rights in the Convention?
- by removing or changing laws, policies or ways of doing things that discriminate against people with disability;
- by taking into account the rights of people with disability in policies and programs;
- by ensuring that government officials act consistently with the obligations in the Convention;
- by removing discrimination because of disability caused by any person or organisation;
- by carrying out or promoting research and development of goods, services and facilities that can be accessed by people with disability at the lowest cost;
- by providing accessible information on new technologies which assist people with disability;
- by promoting training in the rights of people with disability for people who work with people with disability;
- by immediately implementing the parts of the Convention that apply according to international law; and
- by ensuring people with disability, including children, have a say in the way the Convention is carried out, through organisations that represent them.
Although many countries around the world have ratified the Convention, some countries with better resources, like Australia, will have more set up compared to other countries.
Even so, it is impossible to implement everything in the Convention immediately, so individual Governments work towards best practice at different paces.
Making rights a reality: Awareness raising (Article: 8)
Countries are to take immediate appropriate steps to educate the general community about the rights of people with disability and about what people with disability can do.
Things that countries can do to achieve this include:
- running public awareness campaigns;
- using the education system to teach people to respect people with disability;
- encouraging the media, including television, newspapers and radio, to show what people with disability can do; and
- promoting training about disability, such as deaf awareness training or Auslan classes.
Making rights a reality: Monitoring the Convention (Article: 31,32,33)
Countries agree to collect appropriate information to:
- help put this Convention into practice;
- help measure how well this Convention is being put into practice; and
- find and fix problems faced by people with disability in exercising their rights.
Australia works with other countries to help each other by sharing information, experiences, training, best practices, research and access to scientific and technical information.
Here in Australia we have a government department responsible for monitoring the Convention – that is the Attorney-General’s Department.
This process has to be independent, and take into account the way other human rights institutions in the country work.
Members of the community, especially people with disability and organisations that represent them, can take part in this monitoring process.
This video was funded by the Australian Government. © DSS 2014
This video accompanying this text was endorsed by Deaf Australia. Category 1: Auslan signs, Auslan grammar. Deaf Australia Inc website.