The Committee expressed concern about disability-based stigma, degrading treatment and harmful beliefs affecting people with disabilities, including people with albinism, which continue to cause abandonment, exclusion and dehumanising treatment. It also raised concern about the legal provision allowing termination of pregnancy on the basis of foetal impairment, which reinforces discriminatory stereotypes that devalue the lives of people with disabilities. The Committee recalled recommendations made by the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism and recommended that Lesotho strengthen human rights awareness nationwide, adopt a national strategy on albinism, and provide rights-based counselling and support to challenge harmful beliefs and uphold dignity.
The Committee highlighted that children with disabilities are still not benefitting from free and compulsory primary education as the Education Act 2010 exempts children with disability from registration and attendance on the basis of disability and because of high drop-out rates. It also underscored concern about the prevalence of special education that excludes students with disabilities from mainstream regular education. It recommended that the State Party repeal discriminatory provisions in the Education Act, phase out special education in favour of a quality inclusive system, remove barriers to access, and ensure reasonable accommodation, individualised support and accessible pathways to tertiary and vocational education for all learners with disabilities.
Liberia
The Committee was concerned about the lack of specific allocations in the national budget to ensure access to health services for people with disabilities. It highlighted that people with disabilities, particularly women and girls, people with albinism, and those with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, continue to face barriers to healthcare, including inaccessible facilities and information, lack of reasonable accommodation, and prejudice across the health sector. It recommended that Liberia allocate dedicated budgetary resources and ensure quality, gender-sensitive healthcare services for all persons with disabilities by implementing accessibility standards, providing reasonable accommodation, and training public and private healthcare providers.
The Committee voiced concern about the high number of people with disabilities living in extreme poverty who neither have a regular source of income nor benefit from a comprehensive social protection system guaranteeing access to an adequate standard of living. It called on the State Party to implement a robust social protection system to ensure an adequate standard of living, particularly for women, children, and older persons with disabilities, including those living in rural areas, and ensure their access to appropriate and affordable mainstream social programmes and services.
Marshall Islands
The Committee expressed concern that the 2019 Consequential Amendments Bill to harmonise 94 laws with the Convention remained unadopted, and that no action has been taken to extend the National Policy on Disability Inclusive Development beyond 2018 or to implement the Convention and regional strategies effectively. It therefore recommended that the State Party accelerate adoption of the 2019 Bill, adopt a new national disability policy implementing the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2015, allocate dedicated disability funding across ministries, and strengthen the Disability Desk within the Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs to improve coordination, collaboration and monitoring.
Concerning the continuing effects of the United States nuclear testing programme conducted from 1946 to 1958, and its disproportionate intergenerational health impact on the Marshall Islands' population, the Committee recommended that the State Party act beyond research and address the long-term effects of nuclear testing on people with disabilities. It also called for equal access for people with disabilities to affordable, accessible and quality health services.
Pakistan
While recognising Pakistan's legislative reform on the rights of persons with disabilities following the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010, the Committee was nevertheless concerned about delays in adopting the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Bill. It also voiced concern about the prevalence of the medical model in defining and assessing disability, notably the medical assessment boards' exclusive authority to determine eligibility for disability certificates and related documents, including the Himmat Card. The Committee recommended that Pakistan expedite the adoption of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Bill. It also called for applying the human rights model to the definition and assessment of disability, including through multidisciplinary teams that can identify environmental and attitudinal barriers hindering persons with disabilities from exercising their rights.
The Committee noted with concern that the Police Gender Strategy, designed to guide police conduct toward women in cases of gender-based violence, has not been developed in a crosscutting manner that takes into account women and girls with disabilities. It also highlighted that the Punjab's 1043 helpline is not accessible to deaf persons and those with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. It called on Pakistan to ensure that all police strategies, hotlines, and any other support mechanisms for preventing exploitation, violence and abuse are disability-inclusive, particularly for women and girls with disabilities, and people with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities.
Samoa
The Committee noted with concern that the Constitution and other laws retain derogatory and stigmatising terminology, including language equating disability with disadvantage or restriction. It also underlined the absence of a coherent legal and policy framework to implement the Convention as reflected in fragmented references to disability and continued medicalised language. The Committee recommended amending the Constitution and other relevant laws to remove derogatory and stigmatising terminology, adopting a comprehensive legal and policy framework on disability, and expediting the issuance of the Disability Bill.
The Committee expressed concern that people with disabilities, especially women and children, were underrepresented in disaster risk reduction, climate and emergency governance, and that disability inclusion was limited in climate change policymaking, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement and reporting of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). It also highlighted that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by climate displacement while disability-inclusive disaster preparedness and response mechanisms remain inaccessible. The Committee asked Samoa to systematically involve people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction, climate change and emergency governance frameworks. It also recommended mainstreaming disability across climate policies and plans, guaranteeing that displacement and emergency measures are disability-inclusive, and promoting disability leadership and representation in climate change advocacy.
The above findings, officially known as Concluding Observations, are now available on the session page.
