Mary Francis, Director of the National Centre for Legal Aid and Human Rights Inc., has commended the government’s disability awareness efforts, while renewing her call for establishing a National Human Rights Commission in Saint Lucia.
Francis emphasised the urgent need for mechanisms to protect the rights of vulnerable populations, particularly persons with disabilities.
“I think it’s a very good thing, a good approach that has been taken in terms of increasing awareness about the rise of persons with disabilities, persons with disabilities in Saint Lucia,” she said. “For some time now, there’s been lots of advocacy done by the organisation for persons with disabilities. And I think for the longest—over 20 years the policy was supposed to be in the making. Now there’s a policy.”
Francis highlighted progress made in the development of regulations and Saint Lucia’s adherence to international standards such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, she stressed that without mechanisms for redress, policies alone are insufficient to protect human rights.
“What is really missing in Saint. Lucia is a redress mechanism,” she told St. Lucia Times. “There should be a network. There should be an umbrella body. And for years, I’ve been calling upon the government to set up a National Human Rights Commission… All those various bodies and persons can come within [it], their rights can be overlooked, but the rights can be monitored.”
Francis expressed concern that public servants responsible for implementing policies often lack the oversight needed to ensure compliance and accountability. She pointed out the barriers citizens face when seeking justice, especially when the court system is the only avenue for redress.
“When people’s human rights are abused by the state, I don’t think the avenue is the court. The court is expensive. There should be a commission looking at those cases and bringing compensation to those people,” she said.
While Francis commended the government for raising awareness and creating a ministry portfolio for persons with disabilities, she noted that more action is needed. “The time has come. It’s more than time for us to have this organisation in Saint Lucia to ensure that we have human rights properly monitored and promoted.”
She reaffirmed her belief that all individuals, regardless of ability, deserve equal treatment under the law. “Everybody has equality before the law, never mind that they are differently abled people. They are not disabled; they’re just differently abled.”
The outspoken Attorney at Law’s comments followed Tuesday’s global observances of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Saint Lucia observed the day with a local theme: Disability is Everyone’s Business.
At a mini concert to mark the occasion, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre disclosed that from the next budget organisations dealing with differently-abled individuals will get a government subvention increase.
