Recent cases from Myanmar, India, and Zimbabwe highlight the ongoing challenge of combating sexual violence against persons with disabilities. Although certain cases may garner media attention, many acts of sexual violence against persons with disabilities go unreported worldwide. Persons with disabilities, and particularly women and girls with disabilities, face heightened risk of sexual violence. As Human Rights. Yes! Action and Advocacy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities notes, “throughout the world, women with disabilities are subject to two-tiered discrimination, based on their gender and based on their disability.”[1] These intersecting layers of marginalization make women and girls with disabilities more likely to experience violence and/or exploitation, particularly from those involved in their care, such as family members or caregivers.[2] The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) acknowledges this “greater risk, both within and outside the home” and calls on States Parties to “take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect persons with disabilities.”[3]
The CRPD rightly acknowledges that legal protections alone are not sufficient for combating sexual and other forms of violence against persons with disabilities. Laws that provide specific protections for persons with disabilities against abuse are an important first step, but often there is a lack of implementation on the ground. The alleged rape of a twelve-year-old girl with Cerebral Palsy in Myanmar provides an example of this multifaceted problem. First, according to disability rights groups, Myanmar lacks a strong legal framework to prevent sexual violence. The existing law passed in 1950 does not specifically protect persons with disabilities, and although a reform bill was proposed in May 2011 it has not been submitted to the legislature. In addition to an insufficient legal framework, reports suggest that are significant problems in enforcing the laws that do exist.[4]
Human rights groups and disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) can be part of the solution in Myanmar and elsewhere around the world. International and domestic organizations can serve as pressure groups to advocate for legal reforms and to monitor the implementation of laws and cases in practice. Empowerment initiatives that promote education and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities can help to inform persons with disabilities of their rights and may reduce vulnerabilities to violence. Ultimately, DPOs must also work toward the broader goal of gender equality to address the power imbalance that fosters gender-based violence within society.
[1] “Chapter 16: The Rights to Non-Discrimination and Equality for Women with Disabilities,” in Human Rights. Yes! Action and Advocacy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Human Rights Center, 2012), 186.
[2] “Chapter 16: The Rights to Non-Discrimination and Equality for Women with Disabilities,”186, 191.
[3] “Chapter 16: The Rights to Non-Discrimination and Equality for Women with Disabilities,” 185.
[4] Yamon Phu Thit, “Activists Call for Stronger Laws to Protect Myanmar’s Disabled,” The Myanmar Times, January 21, 2013.
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