Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

List of issues in relation to the initial report of Liberia *

A.Purpose and general obligations (arts. 1–4)

1.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to review and harmonize all legislation, policies and measures, including the removal of derogatory terminology, to adhere to the Convention and the human rights model of disability;

(b)Steps taken or planned to repeal the discriminatory provisions that permit vacation of elective office based on disability (Constitution of Liberia, art. 64);

(c)Measures taken to ensure that human and financial resources are available at all levels of government for meaningful and close consultation with and the active involvement of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, regarding all legislation, policies and programmes;

(d)Steps taken or planned to ratify the Optional Protocol of the Convention and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, indicating a specific time frame when this will be done;

(e)Steps taken to support the establishment and self-management of organizations of persons with disabilities, particularly organizations of persons affected by leprosy, persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities.

B.Specific rights (arts. 5–30)

Equality and non-discrimination (art. 5)

2.Please provide information on:

(a)The legal and other measures taken to prohibit all forms of disability-based discrimination in accordance with the Convention in national legislation and to include the recognition of the denial of reasonable accommodation as a form of disability-based discrimination;

(b)Measures taken to ensure provision of accessible and effective complaints mechanisms that exist for persons with disabilities who are victims of discrimination and the sanctions provided for in law against perpetrators of disability-based discrimination;

(c)Measures taken to investigate cases of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls with disabilities, persons with disabilities living in poverty and persons with disabilities living in rural areas.

Women with disabilities (art. 6)

3.Please provide the Committee with information on:

(a)Steps taken to address the negative attitudes and multiple and intersectional discrimination that women with disabilities face, to achieve sustainable livelihoods and access to social services;

(b)Measures taken to mainstream the rights of women and girls with disabilities at all stages of implementation of legislation and policies, and to guarantee their inclusion in discourse at the national and local levels;

(c)The extent to which women and girls with disabilities are represented in public life, including their full participation in education, vocational training, career development programmes and employment, and collaboration with organizations of women and girls without disabilities.

Children with disabilities (art. 7)

4.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To address all forms of discrimination, including prejudices against and stigmatization of children with disabilities, including autistic children, children who have or have had leprosy, children with intellectual disabilities and children with psychosocial disabilities, and strategies to modify or eliminate stereotypes and negative cultural approaches;

(b)To ensure children’s views are adequately taken into consideration, including in the Liberia National Children’s Representative Forum;

(c)To ensure the deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities and to provide access to alternative care in a family setting in the community.

Awareness-raising (art. 8)

5.Please provide information on:

(a)Awareness-raising strategies, in consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities, including campaigns and training programmes targeted at government officials, the private sector and the general public, including at the community level, carried out to combat stigma, stereotypes, harmful practices and deep-rooted cultural beliefs against persons with disabilities;

(b)The role played by the media in portraying a positive image of persons with disabilities regarding their contributions to public life.

Accessibility (art. 9)

6.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken and the budget allocated to ensure the effective implementation of article 5 of the Blue Print for the Construction of Public Facilities, the monitoring mechanisms available and the applicable remedies and sanctions in place;

(b)Steps taken to develop and implement minimum standards and guidelines for accessibility, in close consultation with and with the active involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities, including those of women and girls with disabilities;

(c)Strategies put in place to guarantee access to information and communications technology for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, through the provision of information in Braille, Easy Read, sign language and other alternative and augmentative modes and means of communication;

(d)Measures taken to ensure the accessibility, irrespective of impairment, of public and private infrastructure, goods and services open to the public in both urban and rural areas, including transport, media and banking services.

Right to life (art. 10)

7.Please provide updated information on measures, including awareness-raising campaigns, taken since the submission of the State party report to prevent harmful cultural practices, such as infanticide and ritual killings of persons with disabilities.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies (art. 11)

8.Please provide information on:

(a)The efforts made to align the Risk Management Policy and the Incident Management System with the Convention and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030;

(b)Measures taken to actively involve persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the planning and implementation of plans for disaster and emergency response, rehabilitation and recovery;

(c)Measures taken to establish a targeted, sustainable humanitarian emergency framework to ensure the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly women, children and older persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others.

Equal recognition before the law (art. 12)

9.Please provide information on:

(a)Steps taken to replace substituted decision-making regimes with supported decision-making regimes that comply with the Convention, taking into account the Committee’s general comment No. 1 (2014);

(b)Efforts being made to revise and/or review legal and other policy measures that deny legal capacity to persons with disabilities, in particular persons with psychosocial disabilities and persons with intellectual disabilities, to enter into contracts, open bank accounts and exercise rights related to family life.

Access to justice (art. 13)

10.Please describe the measures taken:

(a)To provide procedural and age-appropriate accommodation for persons with disabilities to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, in all legal proceedings;

(b)To equip police stations, courts and prisons with accessible modes and means of communication and make their physical structures and services accessible to persons with disabilities;

(c)To ensure the systematic and continuous training of personnel in the judicial system and law enforcement agencies, including police and prison officers, to promote and ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities;

(d)To ensure adequate resources for the Public Defenders programme to provide legal services to persons with disabilities throughout legal processes.

Liberty and security of the person (art. 14)

11.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure the liberty and security of persons with disabilities and to abolish, under all circumstances, their involuntary placement in the justice system or in mental health facilities on the grounds of their impairments;

(b)Steps taken to prohibit non-consensual treatments, such as forced medication and confinement, in particular for persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities.

Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15)

12.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to end all forms of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including shackling, in health facilities, psychiatric hospitals and other health facilities and residential institutions, faced by persons with psychosocial disabilities when they are admitted to such facilities, as well as in domestic settings;

(b)Steps taken to address the degrading and cruel treatment persons with disabilities face in prayer and healing camps, which occurs under the pretext of healing.

Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16)

13.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to provide persons with disabilities with the appropriate channels to report instances of exploitation, violence, abuse and neglect in any setting;

(b)Whether protection and support services, such as accessible temporary shelters, psychological support and legal aid, for persons with disabilities who are survivors of exploitation, violence or abuse, including of forced begging, particularly women and girls with disabilities, are available across the State party;

(c)Steps taken to collect data on cases of exploitation, violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, against persons with disabilities, disaggregated by gender, age and geographical location, in order to improve the services provided.

Protecting the integrity of the person (art. 17)

14.Please provide updated information on measures taken to protect women with disabilities, in particular women with intellectual disabilities and women with psychosocial disabilities, from being subjected to forced sterilization, female genital mutilation or abortion without their free and informed consent.

Liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18)

15.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that all children with disabilities are registered at birth. Please also indicate the steps taken to ensure that all persons with disabilities acquire national identity documents at the required age, including those in rural areas, and that persons with disabilities, including migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers with disabilities, are not deprived of the right to utilize immigration proceedings to enter the State party based on their disabilities.

Living independently and being included in the community (art. 19)

16.Please inform the Committee about the steps taken to implement and monitor the right of persons with disabilities, including women with disabilities and those living in rural areas, to live independently and be included in the community, including the provision of personal assistance and community-based services.

Personal mobility (art. 20)

17.Please provide information on the existing legal and policy measures that are available to support persons with disabilities in enhancing their personal mobility, including the provision of mobility aids, assistive devices and other assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries, and information and communications technology, particularly in rural areas.

Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21)

18.Please update the Committee on:

(a)Steps taken or plans to officially recognize Liberian sign language in the law and increase the number of qualified sign language interpreters, in close consultation with the deaf community;

(b)Any plans to ensure the provision of audio description, captioning and sign language interpretation in television programmes, by both private and public media;

(c)Measures to improve access to information in all accessible formats, including Braille, large print, Easy Read and other augmentative and alternative means and modes of communication.

Respect for privacy (art. 22)

19.Please provide information on the measures taken to enforce the constitutional provisions mentioned in the State party report to respect the right to privacy of persons with disabilities, including by raising awareness among family members and caregivers, sanctioning any violations and providing remedies.

Respect for home and the family (art. 23)

20.Please provide information on:

(a)Efforts to address cultural and religious beliefs that negatively affect the rights of persons with disabilities to exercise their rights with regard to the home and family, parenthood (including adoptive and foster parents) and relationships;

(b)Measures taken to ensure comprehensive, affordable and accessible sexual and reproductive health education and services to families of persons with disabilities, in particular women with disabilities;

(c)Steps taken to provide parents and families with information services and other social and financial support to take care of their children with disabilities.

Education (art. 24)

21.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure quality inclusive education for persons with disabilities, by ensuring the provision of accessible materials, particularly educational material in Braille and Easy Read, a sufficient number of teachers qualified in sign language and/or Braille, adaptive learning environments and adequate individualized accommodation for students with disabilities at all levels;

(b)The budget allocated, as a proportion of the total education budget, for the training of teaching staff, support staff and non-teaching staff on the core competencies and values required for working in an inclusive education system;

(c)Steps taken to upgrade the education system from a segregated system into a high quality and inclusive education system, through the effective coordination within the education directorate, to ensure that all learners with disabilities have access to education on an equal basis with others, specifying the time frame and budget that is allocated;

(d)Measures taken to promote access to public institutions of higher education for persons with disabilities, including the provision of individualized support;

(e)Plans to extend adult literacy programmes to learners with disabilities.

Health (art. 25)

22.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to ensure in law and in practice the right to free and informed consent of persons with disabilities, including women and girls with disabilities, deafblind persons, persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities, in relation to medical treatment or interventions;

(b)Steps taken to make comprehensive health care, including access to health insurance, affordable to persons with disabilities;

(c)Measures taken to ensure that sexual and reproductive education and services are available, accessible and affordable to women and girls with disabilities;

(d)Steps taken to address the existing gaps in equality of access by persons with disabilities to health care, such as the provision of accessible information and infrastructure;

(e)Any plans to provide systematic training to health personnel and traditional health attendants on the rights of persons with disabilities in accessing health care and services, including women and girls with disabilities, with the involvement of representative organizations of persons with disabilities.

Habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26)

23.Please provide information on the measures taken:

(a)To ensure that habilitation and rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities are based on a human rights-based approach and that services are designed and implemented to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life;

(b)To expand access to comprehensive and community-based habilitation and rehabilitation programmes for persons with disabilities, including in rural areas, and to ensure that the services offered to persons with disabilities are based on their free, prior and informed consent.

Work and employment (art. 27)

24.Please provide information on:

(a)The mechanisms in place to monitor and implement section 5 of the National Commission on Disabilities Act to improve the employment rate among persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in the open labour market, including through the adoption of additional affirmative action programmes and effective training;

(b)Measures taken to prohibit discrimination through recruitment processes and to ensure accessibility, fair conditions of service, career advancement, a safe working environment and equal pay for work of equal value;

(c)Whether disability-based discrimination in employment, including the denial of reasonable accommodation, is prohibited under the law, the sanctions provided for in the law for employers who do not comply with the relevant legislation and the remedies available to victims of such discrimination;

(d)Strategies or initiatives proposed to strengthen the implementation of existing legislation and guarantee equal opportunities for all persons with disabilities in the labour market;

(e)Any targeted measures taken by the State party to protect and support persons with disabilities in the informal economy, to promote and accelerate their transition to the formal economy and to prevent work in the formal economy from becoming informal.

Adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28)

25.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to safeguard an adequate standard of living and social protection for persons with disabilities, in particular children with disabilities, women with disabilities, older persons with disabilities and persons with disabilities in rural areas;

(b)Any plans to establish disability support schemes or a disability fund to improve the standard of living of persons with disabilities, especially those who live at risk of poverty or below the poverty line, to enable them to meet the extra cost of disability-related expenses.

Participation in political and public life (art. 29)

26.Please provide information on:

(a)Plans to amend the voters registration regulation of the National Elections Commission to ensure the right to vote for all persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, in particular persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities;

(b)Measures taken to ensure that electoral infrastructure, processes and information related to elections are fully accessible to all persons with disabilities;

(c)Steps taken to promote the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities, particularly women with disabilities, in political and public life, and ensure that they can exercise their right to stand for election, be elected and effectively hold office and perform public functions at all levels of government, on an equal basis with others.

Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport (art. 30)

27.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Steps taken to increase the availability of accessible spaces of culture, sport, recreation and leisure for persons with disabilities, both in rural and urban areas;

(b)Any plans to ensure that children with disabilities participate actively in play, recreation, leisure and sporting activities, including sporting activities in school, on an equal basis with other children;

(c)Measures taken to better distribute the financial allocations to meet a wider range of cultural, recreational and leisure needs of persons with disabilities and to ensure a more inclusive approach.

C.Specific obligations (arts. 31–33)

Statistics and data collection (art. 31)

28.Please provide information on efforts made to establish a system for collecting data on the situation of persons with disabilities, and to increase the systematic collection of and reporting on disaggregated data and coordination among all public bodies and State agencies, to give effect to the Convention. Please also provide an update on whether the short set of questions on disability of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics and the related methodology were used in the 2022 census.

International cooperation (art. 32)

29.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure that persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, including those of women and girls with disabilities, are included in international cooperation engagements on disability-specific and other policies, with the aim of mainstreaming the human rights model of disability in development policies and programmes;

(b)Plans to meaningfully consult and involve persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

(c)Steps taken to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, which was adopted by the African Union in 2018.

National implementation and monitoring (art. 33)

30.Please provide information on:

(a)The mandate, activities and designation of members of the National Commission on Disabilities and the human, technical and financial resources allocated to it in order to carry out its mandate;

(b)Measures taken to ensure that there is a designated independent monitoring mechanism that complies with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles);

(c)Measures taken to ensure the meaningful involvement of representative organizations of persons with disabilities in the monitoring of the enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities under the Convention.