Zim plots watertight PWDs Bill, outdated Disabled Persons Act to be scrapped
By Staff Writer
ZIMBABWE is currently plotting a watertight Persons With Disability (PWD’s) Bill which will which will go a long way to protect the sector’s rights.
Details on the impending legislative piece were shared in Parly by the Labour and Public Service Deputy Minister, Mercy Dinha recently.
“The name of the current Act, that is, the Disabled Persons Act alone is now regarded as derogatory, outdated and no longer has a place within the current context of human rights approach, hence the Bill carries a different yet progressive title or name, Persons with Disabilities Bill.
“This perspective, which is used in the title throughout the Bill, places emphasis on the person and their identity first rather than describing a person with a disability first.
“This perspective has ensured that the Bill carries a human rights-based approach to disability and lay out fundamental rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe,” Dinha said.
Dinha underscored the piece adopted a human rights-based approach, aligning with international conventions such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“This Bill will ensure that Zimbabwe incorporates the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which obliges State parties to change and do away with laws, regulations, customs and practices that discriminate against persons with disabilities and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which mandates State parties to modify, outlaw, criminalise and campaign against any harmful practices applied to persons with disabilities,” Dinha said.
“This Bill will replace the National Disability Board established in terms of the Disabled Persons Act [Chapter 17.01] with a Commission for Persons with Disabilities,” she said.
She said the Commission for Persons with Disabilities shall be tasked with important functions such as advising the minister on all matters relating to persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe, preparing and coming up with the national disability policy, issuing adjustment orders among other functions.
