Mapping the Paradigm of Disabilities in Afghanistan from the Lens of Law and Policy
Asian Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies,
Page 51-67
Abstract
Disability is a cross-cutting issue in Afghanistan. After four decades of armed conflict, it is unknown how many Afghans are disabled, and accurate data are scarce. Afghanistan has over a million people with disabilities, and their situation is generally poor. While war and landmines rendered hundreds of thousands of Afghans crippled, many more suffered birth defects, accidents, hunger, and diseases that could have been avoided but the inner lives of those with impairments do not concern most the others in an armed conflict state. The interactions with people who have disabilities have been a brief “Salam Alaikum” (Hello) and a respectful “Tashakor” or “Manana” (Thank you). However, many people with disabilities experience stigma, prejudice, and exclusion from society. Still, neither the government nor the international non-governmental organisation has disclosed the statistical information and challenges that differently-abled persons face in Afghanistan it could be male or female. This article looks closely at the legal system in Afghanistan that protects the people with disabilities that they need to engage in public life on an equal footing with other people. The current study uses a doctrinal approach with an emancipatory perspective on impairments to suggest possible solutions to alleviate and improve their situations. The study is limited to drawing the attention of NGOs and policymakers to mid the condition of people with disability from the breath and the length of Afghanistan. In this article, the study has focused mainly on the legislative framework and the issues that smoke screens the overreach of the law for the protection of disabilities and prohibit discrimination in public life, also exposing obstacles that impediment people who are physically or mentally challenged.
Keywords:
- Afghanistan disability
- person with disability
- differently abled person
- inclusion
- exclusion
- and discrimination
How to Cite
Hashimy, S. Q. (2023). Mapping the Paradigm of Disabilities in Afghanistan from the Lens of Law and Policy. Asian Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies, 6(1), 51-67. Retrieved from https://ikpresse.com/index.php/AJAHSS/article/view/8134
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Trani JF, Ballard E, Peña JB. Stigma of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan: Examining the pathways from stereotyping to mental distress. Social Science & Medicine. 2016;153: 258.
‘“Disability Is Not Weakness”’ [2020] Human Rights Watch Available:https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/04/28/disability-not-weakness/discrimination-and-barriers-facing-women-and-girls Accessed 19 February 2023
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Arjomand SA. Constitutional developments in afghanistan: a comparative and historical perspective. Drake Law Review. 2005;8.
Afghanistan’s Constitution of 2004.
‘Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012 : Biwako Millennium Framework for Action : Towards an Inclusive, Barrier-Free and Rights-Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific.’ (ESCAP). Available:https://www.unescap.org/resources/biwako-millennium-framework-action-towards-inclusive-barrier-free-and-rights-based-society Accessed 28 January 2023
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Accessed 28 January 2023
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Accessed 28 January 2023
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Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ (OHCHR). Available:https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/optional-protocol-convention-rights-persons-disabilities Accessed 28 January 2023
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Bakhshi P, Dubois JL, Trani JF. Enhancing security and social sustainability, strengthening capabilities’: University of Pavia, Italy; 2004.
Trani JF, Bakhshi P, Nandipati A. Delivering” education; maintaining inequality. The case of children with disabilities in Afghanistan. Cambridge Journal of Education. 2012; 42. Available:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305764X.2012.706259 Accessed 26 January 2023
Trani JF, Bakhshi P, Rolland C. Capabilities, perception of well-being and development effort: Some evidence from Afghanistan. Oxford Development Studies. 2011;39. Available:http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13600818.2011.620089. Accessed 26 January 2023
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Glinski S. Normalising special needs: The Kabul School offering hope’ The Guardian (27 April 2021).
Available:https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/27/normalising-special-needs-education-children-kabul-fatima-khalil-school-hope Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Afghanistan | INCLUSION | Education Profiles’. Available:https://education-profiles.org/central-and-southern-asia/afghanistan/~inclusion> Accessed 28 January 2023
Rahyab School for Children with Disabilities; 22 March 2018. Available:https://actfordev.org/rahyab-school-for-disabled-children/ Accessed 28 January 2023
The Kabul Blind School. Available:https://www.rferl.org/a/24700288.html
Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Needs & Rights Assessment: Inclusive Education in Afghanistan - UNESCO Digital Library’. Available:https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000189011 Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Afghanistan National Association of the Deaf’ (WFD, 20 February 2011) Available:https://wfdeaf.org/news/afghanistan-national-association-of-the-deaf/
Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Afghan Landmines Survivors Organization (ALSO)’ (IANSA). Available:https://iansa.org/member/afghan-landmines-survivors-organization-also/ Accessed 28 January 2023
The comprehensive national disability policy in Afghanistan : Submitted to minister of martyrs and disabled Kabul’ (Source, 10 April 2014). Available:https://asksource.info/resources/comprehensive-national-disability-policy-afghanistan-submitted-minister-martyrs-and> accessed 28 January 2023
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‘Afghanistan: Women with Disabilities Face Systemic Abuse’ (Human Rights Watch, 27 April 2020). Available:https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/27/afghanistan-women-disabilities-face-systemic-abuse
Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Afghanistan: Disability in Warzone - a Constant Fight for Survival and Dignity’. Available:https://www.icrc.org/en/document/afghanistan-disability-warzone-constant-fight-survival-and-dignity Accessed 28 January 2023
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Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Model Disability Survey of Afghanistan 2019 - Afghanistan | ReliefWeb’; 14 May 2020. Available::https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/model-disability-survey-afghanistan-2019 Accessed 28 January 2023
‘2.13. Persons Living with Disabilities and Persons with Severe Medical Issues’ (European Union Agency for Asylum)
Available:https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-afghanistan-2021/213-persons-living-disabilities-and-persons-severe-medical-issues Accessed 28 January 2023
Trani JF, others. Poverty, vulnerability, and provision of healthcare in Afghanistan. Social Science & Medicine. 2010;70: 1745.
Nations U. Universal declaration of human rights. (United Nations) Available:https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
Accessed 28 January 2023
Alidadi K. Anti-discrimination rules and religious minorities in the workplace’ in Marie-Claire Foblets and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Law and Anthropology (1st edn, Oxford University Press 2020). Available:https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/35467/chapter/303637708 Accessed 20 January 2023
Crock M, Ernst C, Ao RM. Where disability and displacement intersect: Asylum seekers and refugees with disabilities. International Journal of Refugee Law. 2012;24. Available:https://academic.oup.com/ijrl/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ijrl/ees049 Accessed 21 January 2023
Rangarajan SK, others. Reasonable accommodation at the workplace for professionals with severe mental illness: A qualitative study of needs. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2020;42:445
Altenbaugh RJ. Disability rights and religious liberty in education: The story behind Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District’. 109 Journal of American History. 2022;198.
Trani JF, Bakhshi P. Challenges for assessing disability prevalence: The case of Afghanistan. 2008;2 Alter 44.
Arstein-Kerslake A, Flynn E. The general comment on article 12 of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: A roadmap for equality before the law. 20 The International Journal of Human Rights. 2016;471
Introducing a human rights-based disability research methodology. 20 Human Rights Law Review. 2020;412.
Arstein-Kerslake A, others. Human rights and unfitness to Plead: The demands of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Human Rights Law Review; 2017. Available:https://academic.oup.com/hrlr/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/hrlr/ngx025 Accessed 20 January 2023
Adamo P, others. Gender equality in soil science in Italy: Wishful Thinking or Reality?’; 2022.
Spanish Journal of Soil Science Available:https://www.frontierspartnerships.org/articles/10.3389/sjss.2022.10560/full Accessed 19 November 2022
Nasir, others. Investigation of the probable causes of specific childhood disabilities in Eastern Afghanistan (Preliminary Report)’. Cent Eur J Publ Health. 2004;12. Disability_Assistance_in_Afghanistan.Pdf. Available:https://www.gichd.org/fileadmin/GICHD-resources/rec-documents/Disability_Assistance_in_Afghanistan.pdf Accessed 28 January 2023
14% of Afghans Live With Disabilities: AIHRC | TOLOnews. Available:https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-171055 Accessed 28 January 2023
Faramarzi S, others. A study on the causes of intellectual disability in children and adolescents of Kabul City of Afghanistan INTRODUCTION’. 2014;4:503.
Disabled in Afghanistan: A taboo subject. Available:https://www.tdh.ch/en/news/disabled-afghanistan-taboo-subject Accessed 28 January 2023
‘Disability Rights under the Taliban – UAB Institute for Human Rights Blog’ Available:https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2021/10/27/disability-rights-under-the-taliban/ Accessed 28 January 2023
Trani JF, Ballard E, Peña JB. Stigma of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan: Examining the pathways from stereotyping to mental distress. Social Science & Medicine. 2016;153: 258.
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