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Press Release

Title: The Malaysia Partnership on Children with Disabilities
Date: 02-Sep-2014

The Malaysian Partnership on Children with Disabilities

NEWS RELEASE
Children with Disabilities
Inspiring people, ideas, passion for a Malaysia that includes children with disabilities.

     
                                              © UNICEF Malaysia/2014/Fara Zahri

KUALA LUMPUR, 2 September 2014 - Some 60 individuals - youth and adults with disabilities, parents, paediatricians, teachers, advocates, lawyers, social workers, academicians, law makers as well as government and corporate representatives and journalists - have come together in partnership for a common goal - a Malaysia that includes children with disabilities.

The National Partnership includes Dato' Yasmeen Shariff, executive committee member of the Geneva-based UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and YB Senator Bathmavathi Krishnan from the National Council for Persons with Disability as well as organisations such as the National Early Childhood Intervention Council (NECIC) and the Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar Malaysia (PPBM) who will lead the partnership together with UNICEF in its first year.

An outcome of a two-day Forum in August, the Malaysian Partnership on Children with Disabilities (MPcwd) has been formed to raise the voices of children with disabilities and help promote their rights in Malaysia. During the Forum the partners discussed the current situation experienced by children with disabilities in Malaysia; and agreed to take action to build a society that can lead to a better quality of life for these children and their families. (Click attachment for the complete list of participants).

The Partnership builds on existing networks and mechanisms already in place in the country and creates a unified voice where one did not previously exist. Through networking, advocacy and communication activities, the Partnership aims to:

  • Enable all children with disabilities and their families to advocate for their rights.
  • Ensure the voices of children with disabilities and their families are heard and engage them in raising awareness, by listening to and learning from their experiences.
  • Increase the understanding of inclusion and disability to remove stigma and discrimination children with disabilities and their families face.

Partners have already begun to develop an awareness-raising campaign that will highlight what children with disabilities face in their daily lives, as well as show that they deserve a fun, safe and carefree childhood just like their peers without disabilities. This includes promotional materials, building on the disable2enable campaign in 2013, and training modules for professionals working with children for example.

All MPcwd advocacy efforts will be guided by national and international frameworks, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (post-2015 Agenda), the Asia-Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities (2013-2022) including the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific, and national goals like Vision 2020 and the 11th Malaysian Plan.

The MPcwd is being established under the umbrella of the Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities (GPcwd), led by UNICEF and which globally is made up of more than 575 individuals representing over 240 government and civil society organizations. The GPcwd advocates at the global level for the rights of children with disabilities and has called on countries to develop National Partnerships to create synergy between advocacy efforts.

Enquiries can be emailed to the NECIC at enquiries.necic@gmail.com

..............................................................................................

For more information, please contact:

Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS
NECIC Malaysia
+6012-5235650, amarhss@gmail.com

Sasha Surandran
UNICEF Media, Malaysia
+6019 658 5160, ssurandan@unicef.org


Source:
The Malaysian Partnership on Children with Disabilities
Children with Disabilities: Inspiring people, ideas, passion for a Malaysia that includes children with disabilities



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