People with disabilities are a strong force in Nepal. According to various estimates they are between 5 and 10% of the population - depending on the definition used, there could be as many as 2.2 million persons with disabilities in Nepal.

The time has come for Nepal to acknowledge the situation and move forward with disability rights. Signing and ratifying this Convention would give a strong signal as it would mean the end of welfare system and the beginning of a new paradigm focusing on rights and restoring dignity. The Nepal Government, donors, international and national NGOs should once and for all move away from considering persons with disabilities as objects of charity or pity and acknowledge their own responsibilities.

This Convention was the fastest negotiated human rights treaty ever and the first of the twenty-first century. It is breaking new grounds for people with disabilities. Nepal must join the countless nations that have signed the Convention and banned discrimination on the basis of disability. If its immediate neighbours India and China have signed, Nepal too can provide an effective response to the long history of discrimination, exclusion and dehumanization of persons with disabilities.

This petition calls on the Government of Nepal to sign the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. It was formally launched on December 3rd, 2007 in Banepa on the occasion of International Disability Day. It will be formally handed over to the new Constituent Assembly once elected and no later than 14 April 2008.

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