The Regional Committee on Disability Affairs (RCDA) this year, is on towards advocating the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), an international covenant that follows after the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.

Regional Coordinator Evelyn Dolencia of the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), who was recently in the region, said that the U.N. Charter “recognizes the inherent dignity and worth and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world; ” hence, it is only right that persons with disabilities be guaranteed their full enjoyment without discrimination.

The purpose of the UNCRPD is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

In the first RCDA meeting held late March at the CAWACSI in Tacloban City, Dolencia requested the DSWD Field Office Eight to follow-up with other member-agencies and local government units for the conduct of orientations on the UNCRPD. The field office, headed by Director Leticia Corillo, chairs the inter-agency committee. She bared that only Tacloban City is done with the orientation; fact is, it will have a re-orientation on July of this year.

The Regional Coordinator also presented to the body the priority human rights agenda identified by the sector of persons with disabilities vis-a-vis the provisions of UNCRPD, namely access to physical environment, economic development, right to education, and habilitation, rehabilitation, and social protection. These priority areas, she emphasized, will serve as basis for planning in 2011.