The National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) Executive Secretary, Ms. Esther Akua Gyamfi, stated that Ghana is on track to adopt the Persons with Disabilities Re-enactment and its associated Legislative Instrument by 2023.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities contains duties that are not met by Act 715 in its current form, according to the speaker.
She said, for example, that "the interpretation under Section 59 gives a definition of disability which is based on the medical paradigm and excludes other kinds of individuals with impairments."
Ms. Gyamfi asserted that the amended statute, which was presented to the Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 14th, addresses 70 of the problems mentioned in the 2022 shadow report on Ghana's mental health status and closes these gaps.
She stated, "The government's commitment to pass the re-enactment by 2023 as stated in the National Act is great news," in a speech at a national dissemination and validation meeting on the evaluation of Ghana's performance in respect to human rights in the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review.
After conducting a nationwide consultation with stakeholders on the state of the country's human rights, a coalition of non-governmental organisations working in the field of mental health, led by MindFreedom Ghana, developed the country's alternative.
At a meeting with stakeholders earlier this month, Ms. Gyamfi praised the report and emphasised that it reaffirmed the "universality, indivisibility, interdependence, and interconnectedness of all human rights and fundamental freedoms" as well as the necessity that people with disabilities be able to enjoy them fully and without discrimination.
The study also acknowledges that the idea of disability is dynamic and that it arises from the interplay between those who have impairments and social, cultural, and environmental constraints that limit their capacity to fully and equally participate in society, she continued.
The objective of the shadow report is to increase understanding of the significance of include disability problems in Ghana as an essential component of pertinent sustainable development initiatives, as stated in the new National Development Policy Framework for the nation.