Rights for the Disabled

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said she hoped a new convention, which will be open for signatures on Friday, would be a catalyst for change since the disabled in many countries often suffer from marginalization and discrimination because policymakers seldom consider their needs.

"There's no doubt that the existing human rights system was meant to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities," she said. "There's also no doubt that the existing standards and mechanisms have in fact failed to provide adequate protection to the specific cases of persons with disabilities."

There are some 650 million people with disabilities in the world right now, according to UN statistics. While that makes up about 10 percent of the global population, 80 percent of the disabled are believed to live in developing countries with limited or no access to services they need to cope better with their physical handicaps.

Small step for UN

Arbour said she hoped to elevate the profile of the issue of the rights of people with disabilities, and her office would take the lead in establishing partnerships with non-governmental organizations and nations.

Even in western, industrialized countries, such as Germany, the disabled still have to overcome discrimination, despite the legal rights they have obtained, according to Karin Evers-Meyer, Germany's commissioner representing the right of disabled people.

She said that while the convention represented a small step for the UN, it could lead to a major improvement for people with disabilities by mandating that signatories work against stereotypes and prejudices and grant better access to public spaces, buildings and transportation.

German schools need improvement

German schools, in particular, need to do more to integrate the handicapped into traditional classes, Evers-Meyer said.

"The integration of young disabled people in the school system here has largely failed," she said. "Despite numerous declarations of intent to change for the better, our integration rate has been a meager 12 percent for many years now."

Other European countries have integrated 80 percent of their disabled students into mainstream classes, while Germany sticks to a system of keeping handicapped students in special schools created after World War II, she added.

"After the Nazi period, in which so many disabled people were killed, there was a huge, well-meant drive to create a special school for every kind of disability," she said. "My colleagues in other countries look at me in disbelief when I tell them that we have eight or nine different types of schools for the disabled."

German education experts have been debating whether changes should be made to the country's school system after a UN study last week criticized Germany for doing a poor job of integrating children with disabilities and immigrants into mainstream classes.