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Women With Disabilities: Rights and Realities

Employment of Women with Disabilities

A national conference organized byThe Stars of Hope Society for the Empowerment of Women with Disabilities.In cooperation withThe U.S. Consulate General in JerusalemDecember 14, 2010, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Movenpick Hotel, RamallahThis conference was Under the patronage of his Excellency Dr. Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister.

Reem Asmar projects coordinator

3/1/2011

Table of contents:

About Stars of Hope SocietyAbout the ConferenceIntroduction

Opening Session:- Dr. Naeem Abu Alhumus- General Secretary of Dr. Salam Fayyad Office- Esperanca Tillman- public diplomacy officer for U.S consulate in Jerusalem- Ola Abu al Gheib- Chairwoman of Stars of Hope Society.

First Session: Status of Women with disability- Stephanie Legoff- SHS researcher, General &Disability Consultant.- Fatima Welfare- General manager of planning and policies Department at Ministry of Women Affairs.- Ghada Harami- Deputy- Diakonia Middle East Regional Office.

Third Session: Laws.- Arlene Kanter- Professor of Law at Syracuse University- College of Law.- Randa Siniora- Executive Director- Independent Commission for Human Rights.

Third Session: Microfinance.- Anne Leymat- Livelihood Technical Advisor / Technichal Resources Division- Handicap International.- Alaa Sisalem- General Manager- CHF Ryada.- Iyad Al- Deek- Manager of Disabled Fund- Ministry of Social Affairs.

Fourth Session: Recommendations.

Annex one: participants of the Conference.

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About Stars of Hope Society

Stars of Hope Society (SHS) is a leading organisation for women with all types of disabilities in Palestine. The organisation was established in late 2006 and became fully operational in 2007, with its national secretariat based in Ramallah. The organisation is a Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) and is run by women with disabilities for women with disabilities. It is the only organisation of its kind in Palestine and one of only a small number internationally. Stars of Hope Society seeks to ensure opportunities in all walks of life for all women with disabilities.

Stars of Hope Society, was established due to discrimination and prejudice against women with disabilities, in addition to the fact that there was no organisation or program specifically targeting the needs of this group. Stars of Hope Society established itself with the goal of supporting women with disabilities in Palestine to improve the lives of women with disabilities.

Vision – to improve lives and life chances of Palestinian women with disabilities

Mission – To establish a sustainable system that grants full access to all aspects of life for women with disabilities in Palestine, and work diligently towards access, equity, and full participation of women with disabilities. This will be achieved through public education, coalition building, research, self-advocacy, resource development, and information and communication technology.

In order to achieve its mission, SHS is committed to:

Actively promoting the participation of women with disabilities in all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life,

Advocating issues of concern to women with disabilities in Palestine, and,

Seeking to be the national representative organisation for women with disabilities in Palestine by:

Undertaking systemic advocacy

Providing policy advice

Undertaking research, and Providing support, information and education.

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About the Conference

Women with disabilities in Palestine carry a double burden; one is being a woman, the second is being with disability. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the total number of Disabled Palestinians is 46,063, of which 18,148 are females. Despite their significant number, they are the most vulnerable among people with disabilities, yet the least protected. Many women with disabilities are hidden and silent, their concerns are unknown and their voices remain unheard.There are a number of international human rights instruments that delineate the clear and specific responsibilities of governments to address discrimination against women. However, despite the many agreements embraced and treaties ratified by many states and parties around the world, the reality is that in the early 21st century, women with disabilities over the world continue to experience serious violations of their human rights, as well as failures to promote and fulfill their rights.We believe that advocacy and community awareness and mobilization are important ways ofseeking fundamental rights for women with disabilities, and promoting their participation in allaspects of social, economic, political and cultural life. Therefore, Stars of Hope Society is bringing together representatives of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Legislative Council representatives, officials and civil society organizations working on disability and women as well as academics, scholars and internationals to discuss issues related to employment of women with disabilities, and to bring attention to the status of women with disabilities in Palestine as an effort to advancing the status and increase opportunities for employment of women with disability.

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Introduction

On December 14, 2010 and in partnership with Consulate General of USA, under the patronage of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, SHS organized a conference titled “Women with Disabilities: Rights & Realities.” The conference aimed at promoting the financial independence of women with disability through spotting some light on rights and realities of women with disability in Palestine with focus on employment opportunities.

More than 220 people participated in the conference from a wide range of fields; diplomats (Representative Offices, Representatives of Consulate Generals, Embassies, etc), government personals, representatives of the private sector, Palestinian NGOs, International and United Nations Agencies, Civil Society Organization (women, youth and disabled people), etc.

The conference began with a panel on the status of women with disabilities in the Arab World with focus on Palestine where the background paper developed by our focal points and consultant was presented. The panel also discussed general information about participation of women in Palestine and the Palestinian experience in the rehabilitation sector.

The second panel was about laws. International development of relevant laws was outlined, as well as, weaknesses and challenges of the Palestinian disability law. Moreover, SHS presented information about challenges facing implementation of disability laws in Palestine, with particular focus on women with disabilities and employment. Microfinance was the focus of the third panel discussing microfinance experience worldwide for people with disabilities, microfinance general experience in Palestine and experience of the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs in micro-financing people with disabilities. The speakers were also a wide range of international and national experts in those fields.

The conference ended with discussions in three groups to propose recommendations to mainstream women with disabilities in the job market. The three groups discussed recommendations to the private sector and civil society, donors’ community and government institutions. The participants were given the choice to pick their group.

Some of the recommendations to the government were; activate the Higher Council of Disability and guarantee the effective participation of women with disabilities, monitor the disability law and follow up its implementation, as well as, activate the role of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau in monitoring the 5% of employed people with disabilities and ensuring the inclusion of women with disabilities.

Examples of recommendations to private sector and civil society include; unify the efforts of civil society organizations in mainstreaming women with disabilities in all organizations’

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programs and annual strategic plans, and encourage women with disabilities to join private companies through job advertisements and enhancing accessibility of work place.

Participants of the third group emphasized on the importance of donors’ role in gathering concert and comprehensive information about women with disabilities especially in rural areas, and adding conditions of accessibility to contracts between donors and local contractors to ensure participation of women with disabilities.

The participants proposed many more recommendations. SHS is currently working on publishing conference presentations and recommendations, and is discussing follow up plans.

Opening session

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Facilitator of the conference: Rami Mehdawi

The Facilitator of the conference began with welcoming words on the name of Stars of Hope Society that held the conference under the title of Women with disabilities: Rights & Realities.

He announced that this conference is held about women with disabilities in Palestine among several violations to women with disabilities rights in Palestine and Arab world in employment, social integration, marriage, educations and other aspects. From this came the idea of the conference to ensure the right of woman with disability to practice her rights equally to her society members. Mentioning that this conference is the first at the national level in Palestine and on the Arabic region level

The facilitator also expressed on behalf of stars of hope thanks and gratitude to His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad, the sponsorship of the Conference, and the U.S. Consulate representative of His Excellency Mr. Daniel Robin Stein, the American Consul-General on the financing and participation in the conference. Also thank all partners of Stars of Hope Society for their contribution to the success of this conference mentioning; the Swedish association Diakonia, the Norwegian Association for people with disabilities NAD, Kvinna till Kvinna, Handicap International.

The Facilitator inaugurates the conference with the word of the General- Secretary of the Palestinian Council of Ministers, Dr. Naeem Abu al Humus representative of His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad

Dr. Naeem Abu al Humus

The General- Secretary ensured the importance of giving Attention to people with disabilities and the provision of decent work opportunities for them and pointed that it is one of the government priorities, which seeks to support their rights through legislation and laws guaranteeing their right to work. In his word, he stressed that it’s time to open a social discussion on this subject ensuring that there’s a considerable gap in the reality of women with disabilities in the third world countries compared to their reality in advanced countries in terms of rights of people with disabilities guaranteed by their countries in laws to protect them.He added that the first gate for success in this subject is education, which will facilitate the opportunity to get a job especially for a girl who has a disability. And he said that the work of people with disabilities must be necessary to invest their efforts in national development of the Palestinian institutions not a luxury or just for spending time.

He ensured the importance of focusing on governmental programs according to employment, pointing to "the importance of reflecting employment in real programs through institutions

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which employ women and to move from theory to application, this will not be achieved but with the role of society and its institutions and associations, and not the role of the government only. This subject is a responsibility of all institutions of government and civil society.” He also stressed on the importance of giving people with disabilities their rights in all areas, whether educational or social rights, pointing out: "The Israeli occupation left wide range of disabilities among children and young people, in addition to poor economic conditions and lack of social awareness, which exacerbates the suffering of this category of citizens. "

The Facilitator of the conference introduced the representative of the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem to speak.

Esperanca Tillman

Public diplomacy officer for U.S. consulate in Jerusalem

On behalf of U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, Mrs. Tillman expressed their pride to help support stars of hope society with the first national conference on the employment of women with disabilities. Consul Daniel Rubinstein sends warmest regards for such an important conference, expressing very special thanks to Mrs. Ola Abu al ghaib, and Mrs. Rasha Mukbil for the continuous friendship and cooperation with the U.S consulate. With this conference, Ola took an important step to achieve equal opportunities for women in all sectors in the Palestinian society, and empowering them, to be productive and contributive citizens to achieve power for them, and pointed to the visiting American legal expert, Professor Arlene Kanter who will be part of a panel discussion on the legal rights of women with disabilities, her background, experience, and enthusiasm in disability rights law will be a great contribution to the conference.Adding that the Secretary Clinton emphasized that “ Expanding opportunity and supporting human rights are among the most important guideposts in their foreign policy. Discrimination against persons with disabilities is not only an injustice; it is a strain on economic development, a limit to democracy, a burden on families, and a cause of social erosion." Adding that in July 2010, the United States celebrated the 20th anniversary of one of the most comprehensive civil rights bills in its history – the Americans with Disabilities Act. This Act was the result of a people's movement – made up of individuals, groups, and organizations like Stars of Hope – who did not see their disabilities as a barrier to their success, and set out to tear down physical and social obstacles. Mrs. Tillman said that the Americans with Disabilities Act has inspired the adoption of disability rights legislation around the world, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – in which the United States joined 140 other nations – incorporates the core principles and concepts of this groundbreaking act.

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Besides, in July 2009, when President Obama signed this Convention on behalf of the United States, he stated: "Disability rights aren't just civil rights to be enforced here in [the United States]; they're universal rights to be recognized and promoted around the world." The Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and conferences such as the one organized by Stars of Hope – demonstrates commitment to the rights of people with disabilities. And Just as Stars of Hope is focusing on the employment of Palestinian women with disabilities, the U.S. is also renewing its focus to improve employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities. Mentioning that October 2010 was declared" National Disability Employment Awareness Month" in the United States, in which President Obama issued an executive order for U.S. government agencies to increase the number of jobs available to people with disabilities. And through partnerships with organizations like Stars of Hope Society, the U.S. Consulate will continue to support programs that work toward strengthening the rights, status, and economic empowerment of all Palestinians – for equal access, equal opportunity, and independence.

The Facilitator introduced Ola Abu Al Gheib, the chairwoman of stars of Hope Society, to give her speech.

Ola Abu Al Gheib

Mrs. Abu al Gheib showed her pleasure and honor to speak in the conference on behalf of women with disabilities, and announced that this conference is held in order to develop the reality of women with disabilities in Palestine, and that it is a national event.In her speech, Mrs. Abu al Gheib mentioned that the discrimination against women with disabilities still exists in Palestine, as it is the case in many other societies. Where the suffering of Palestinian women with disabilities is two types of discrimination based on gender and disability despite the fact that the view of the Palestinian society for disability because of the occupation is a pride view not negative discrimination. But women with disabilities, whatever the cause of disabilities are still oppressed and marginalized continuously at all levels of life; including employment, education, marriage, family and other areas of life. The society's negative images of women with disabilities led to declining and isolating them from exercising all rights as a Palestinian citizen.

SHS organization was founded to empower women with disabilities in order to change their status and enhance their role to be integrated in society, and involved in the development process, to confirm the right of women with disabilities in practicing their normal lives, and raising their status and develop their reality humanly, socially and economically.Mrs. Abu al Geib called everyone to keep remembering that women with disabilities are women like other women around the world, have feelings, ideas and ambitions. The only difference is

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that they do not have the ability to walk or talk or see, but that does not mean that their rights of education, work, and marriage to be denied. They have the right to go to college, get a job and make a family like the rest of women around the world.

First Session- Status of women with disability

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The Facilitator started the first session by introducing the Session chair to give her speech- Mrs. Stephanie Legoff.

Speaker: Stephanie Legoff- Stars of Hope researcher Gender & Disability Consultant.“Viewing SHS Study: A step forward in the social inclusion of girls and women with disabilities in the Middle East. Multifaceted challenges and combined responses”

Mrs. Legoff introduced the study’s background as a research on the status of Women with Disabilities in the Middle East (Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon & Yemen), May-Dec 2010.Mrs. Legoff explained that the study passed through three phases; Workshops and trainings, Field visits, focus groups and interviews and Finally Desk research and writing.The first overview was on Gender and disabilities as Mrs. Legoff showed different general universal statistics some are:

325 million Women & Girls with Disabilities- 10% of female Population 65 to 70% of them live in rural areas in low and middle-income countries 1% - the literacy rate of women and girls with disabilities worldwide

And she added different statistics according to access to different services such as School, Work and Family planning.Mrs. Legoff concentrated on neglect, violence and denial of rights of women with disabilities showing that marriage and motherhood are not seen as a viable option for Women with disabilities in many countries. Besides, the lack of care to Girls with disabilities leads to higher rate of mortality of Girls with disabilities compared to boys. Adding that Women with disabilities are 3 times more at risk than women without disabilities (United Nations)Mrs. Legoff in Her presentation highlighted the intimate connection between gender and disability, in different ways:

Some environmental factors (social factors, including gender relations) may increase the discrimination towards Women and Girls with Disabilities:

- Harassment can impede the access of Girls with disabilities to school - Discrimination between boys and girls at home and lack of health care for Girls with

disabilities - Sspecific gender relations in societies can lead to disability of women & girls: - Gender-Based Violence, FGM- Non-access to healthcare services (e.g. blindness)

Mrs. Legoff pointed that there are a lot of emerging topics and initiatives such as: Beijing Conference (1995) Article 6, UN Convention on the Rights of People with disabilitiess, 2006

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Some stakeholders and initiatives: International networks of Women with disabilities (INWWD, WILD), donors (USAID), international organisations (ILO), local organisations of Women with disabilities

But Initiatives remain fragmented and still focused on specific regions. And women and girls with disabilities are not included in mainstream programs, disability policies, & gender strategies Main Risk Factors and Causes of Disability in the Middle East are:

Violence and conflict, Poverty and malnutrition, Lack of access to health services, Traffic accidents, Cultural and social traditions, domestic violence .

Disability Context in the Middle East and Palestine :

Progress and political wilingness; UNCRPD ratifications, national legislations, Arab Decade

Institutional obstacles : unstable political context, lack of monitoring, allocation of resources

Services provision systems : weak regulatory mechanisms and lack of qualified professionals

Approaches; medical vs social, charitative vs rights-based approach Weakness of the disability movement

Mrs. Legoff pointed to the Status of Women in the region:

Some progress; access to education and participation in the labour force, but remaining discriminations (salary)

Legislative environment remains discriminatory GBV remains an acute issue, not sanctioned by law Integration of women in society in its formative stageAnd showed in her presentation different Facts about women and girls with disabilities in the Middle East 

And In a General View, Mrs. Legoff subtracted some statistics and facts about Persons with Disabilities and Women and girls with dsaibilities in Palestine and highlighted main Impact points of the Conflict and the Occupation on Palestinian Women .

Mrs. Legoff considered Women and Girls with Disabilities Invisible in national disability legislation and policies, as well as in actions and policies of women stakeholders. Reviewing of the Legislative Framework :

Disability Law: Article 10 Labor Law N°7 CEDAW

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At the heart of the subject, Mrs. Legoff touched the main facts and questions regarding the case of the employment of women with disabilities in Palestine pointing that Women with disabilities are not targeted by stakeholders, Employment quota imposed by the law (5%) not respected by employers (private and public) as most of active Women with disabilities work in charity organisations and/or in the disability field (Red Crescent, BASR).

And to highlight the main challenges of the employment of women with disabilities and Mrs. Legoff presented these main points:

Physical and architectural barriers Communication barriers Lack of adapted tools, as well as specific skills to use these tools: e.g. Speaking

computers. Unsafe context and occupation consequences, with impact on women Lack of education and vocational training, as well as inadapted vocational training Lack of self-esteem, and pessimism, mainly for women with speech/hearing impairment Attitude of the family; gender discrimination and/or overprotection (mainly for

WOMEN ANDG with mental disability) Community misconceptions on disability Lack of implementation of the legislation, and lack of legislative framework for the

rights of Women & Girls with Disabilities

Mrs. Legoff concluded these main Points:

Triple discrimination of women & girls with disabilities in Palestine Restricted access to services and deprived of their rights Invisibility of women and girls with disabilities in stakeholders policies and programs

And Finalized with several Tips for Actions for mainstream and Disability stakeholders and or women’s empowerment and rights stakeholders:

The Facilitator of the conference introduced the Second Speaker of the first session- Mrs. Fatina Wathaefi.

Speaker: Fatina Wathaefi- General Manager of Planning and Policies Department at Ministry of Women Affairs

“The reality of Palestinian women in the labor market”

Mrs. Wathaefi said that the participation is a basic mechanism for personal and social development which are linked intrinsically, as strong personality share and participate in social, economical and political development after having the right to participate without discrimination.

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Data and official statistics shows that participation of palestinian woman in labor market is low, compared to regional and international level, as the proportion of women in labor force 15.2% versus 66.8% for males in 2008. Education is directly linked with the participation level in labor market as it increases with increased number of education years :

13 years of schooling and above 42.8% 7% for Women completed 10-12 years 6.5% for women completed 7-9 8.2% for women who did not complete any of the years of schooling.

Which reflects the positive relationship between education and participation in the labor market.

Looking at statistics of 2008, proportion of Women increase between age 25-54 years. Higher proportion of age 35-44 years with 23.3%. Followed by group age 25-34 year with 22.3% and lower for age 15-24 years. Proportion of Women outside labour market is higher than in males which rises in both sexes for the age group (25-24). The unemployment rate in the Palestinian territories

26.5% for males and 23.8% in females. The unemployment rate highest in both males and females age group between 15-24

years (the youth group), 34% for males 42.5% females. Age group 25-34 years 22.1% in females and 19.8% among males Unemployment ratio among women with more than 13 years of study reaching 18.6%

for males and 34.9% for females. statistical and data show for the year 2007, that there is still a traditional division of job, as Women work is concentrated in services sector and agricultural sector larger than the rest of other productive sectors. Where the employment of Women in the services sector and is 46.2% and 36% in agriculture sector, whereas in the mining and quarrying sector 9.5% for the year 2007. there’s absence of Women in building, construction, transport, storage and communication sectors, while males stationed in all sectors to varying degrees and more balanced than Women.Women trends to Works in careers with less physical efforts, with more administrative Works (40.5%). While men are distributed to different professions, which may not require qualification as much as need more physical effort such as crafts, industrial and construction works (35.5%)

Women are less paid in work than men as the share of men is 94 NIS while it is 76.6 NIS for females. The low participation of women in the labor market is due to several factors including :

slow economic growth weak capacity of the labor market, legal frameworks, and social and cultural systems.

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Imbalances occurring in the structure of economic and social infrastructure, resulting from Israeli policies and practices in the Palestinian territories

Customs and Traditions that drive men to work and earn living, while women role is to take care of home and raising children.

the community infiriority vision to women’s work contribute in the weakness of their participation in the labor market, as it defines the roles that can be played by both men and women in public and private sectors

Finally, Mrs. Wathaefi recommended the following :• Increased participation of women in the labor market, through taking into account the household activitties, and the adoption of policies that help in the division of labor between males and females.• Reduce the unemployment rate among women, by creating job opportunities for them, in paid and non-traditional professions. • Alignment between outputs of universities and labor market needs of the workforce of women's category. • Review and amend laws related to employment, and activation of the Pay Commission in order to determine the minimum wage, and to ensure decent work for women in the labor market.

The facilitator introduced the last speaker of the first session- Mrs. Ghada Harami.

Speaker: Ghada Harami- Deputy – Diakonia Middle East Regional Office

“A Community Based Approach to Development- A Palestinian experience in the rehabilitation sector”

Mrs. Harami expressed her pleasure to be invited to this important conference to talk about the experience of the CBR program in Palestine. Representing the broad base Palestinian NGOs who are implementing this program as well as the Swedish INGO Diakonia and the Norwegian NAD.

And she mentioned that the cream of their experience from 20 years of work on the ground working in partnership with the Palestinian Civil Society to promote the rights of marginalized groups with a special focus on women and children. And she told a story of Naeemeh, a young woman from Tubas who was born with a visual disability in one eye. Mentioning different challanges that a Girl may face in several aspects ; education, adolescent, marriage, and different social aspects.

Mrs. Harami Commented that that our society is more disabling than the loss of a function for a person, besides the situation of women within our society and how they are discriminated against and the double discrimination that women with disabilities face.

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About services provided to People with disabilities, She said that the few services that exist are unaffordable, hardly accessible and not well coordinated by the government yet into systems. Adding that few disabled persons today have the opportunity to reach to different services. For example, Mainstream schools, until recently did not believe that it was their business or role to equally include children with disabilities to education. Special schools are few and can hardly meet the need as their demand seems huge. The reason is that disabled students get stuck in special schools for all their life and do not move forward to benefit from mainstream education. In Palestine Mrs. Harami expressed her pride to say, the MOEHE in cooperation with Diakonia/NAD has since some years launched an inclusive education policy in all its public schools. And today all public schools are welcoming children with disabilities who are able to benefit from mainstream education rather than having them stuck in special schools.. Palestine is pioneering in the Middle East Region.

Mrs. Harami talked about the CBR program pointing that the CBR program in Palestine operates in hundreds of local communities. It is planned and implemented by a large number of NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza. It was initiated in the early nineties and has , in the meanwhile undergone major changes within the political context. Its ability to adjust during the several changes has indeed been remarkable. Today the program is of a national size and combines service provision at the community level and policy work at the national level. The approach is a social one to disability rather than a medical one, because as the CBR program believes, disability is more of a social problem than a disease.

Mrs. Harami raised an impact study conducted by Diakonia NAD, which assessed the change achieved by the CBR program, it has been impressive, strong and real. By working in the bottom up approach, the intervention of the community based development program has been relevant and has addressed real issues and most importantly in a participative manner with the target group themselves.

Diakonia NAD makes sure that the progress is measured with scientific indicators available for all to look at. In addition, they have conducted a user satisfaction study, a one of its kind in Palestine, to assess the opinion of the beneficiaries to their development work. This has been done in order to make sure that the beneficiaries and stake holders are benefiting from the program and confirm that they see a positive change in their lives. The study is available in both English and Arabic if anyone is interested to get a copy.

Finalizing with «   Development is about taking one’s future in their own hands and shaping it. Isn’t that the ultimate goal for what we all work for? When that happens, we are not needed !!”

Second Session- LAWS

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The Facilitator started the second session by introducing the Session chair to give her speech- Mrs. Arlene Kanter

Speaker: Arlene Kanter – Professor of law at Syracuse University College of law

“The rights of Women with Disabilities: International and Domestic Legal Development.”

Mrs. Kanter presented some figures about people with disabilities in general worldwide, and women with disabilities in Specific, mentioning that there are 325 million Women with disabilities in the world. And she showed the cycle of disability and poverty which are linked together such as lack of education which is one of the factors that lead to disability as illiterate women are still getting married to close relatives…etc.

Mrs. Kanter also talked about unemployment, as 84.2% of women in West Bank, and 93.1% in Gaza Strip do not form a part of the official, paid workforce.

In the Subject of discrimination, Mrs. Kanter said that Women and Girls with disabilities face multiple discrimination:

History of discrimination and mistreatment of people with disabilities History of discrimination and mistreatment of women

Gender+ Disability+ Poverty+ Unemployment= Multiple Discrimination.

Mrs. Kanter Discussed the issue of physical and attitudinal Barriers. And the inclusion of women with disabilities in employment. Besides, she discussed these articles in the Plaestinian Disability Law (article 2, article 4- Employment), Finalizing with the Progress in the region mentioning Beirut, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine.

At the End, Mrs. Kanter presented several recommendations:

Raise awareness about disability = human rights. Mainstream women with disabilities in development efforts and at all levels

(beneficiaries AND managers) Capacity Building for women with disabilities and their organizations (support,

empowerment, self-advocacy). Enact and enforce laws prohibiting employment discrimination and reasonable

accommodations. Enact and enforce laws that include Affirmative Action for hiring women with

disabilities. Provide incentives and subsidies to employers in the form of grants for workplace

accommodations, transportation, vocational and on the job training Develop programs to challenge stereotypes.

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Develop programs to eliminate violence against women in the workplace. Eliminate wage gap between men and women Access to sexual and reproductive health and counseling Access to education and vocational training Accessible environment (buildings, transportation, services.

The facilitator introduced the Second speaker of the session Mrs. Randa Siniora

Speaker: Mrs. Randa Siniora- Executive Director- Independent Commission for Human Rights.

“Palestinian Disability Law; Challenges for implementation and weakness in bylaws”

At the beginning, Mrs. Siniora noted that the interest at international level for people with disabilities increased lately, as the United Nations approved the Convention on the rights of people with disabilities and its optional protocol on the 13 th of December 2006 and went into force in 2008, As it received a clear interest by countries through ratifying and signing. And referred to the text contents of the CRPD and the optional protocol found to protect the rights of people with disabilities, and convert them into active persons within community and contributing in its construction, as it concentrated on the right of employment in particular “article 6”.

Mrs. Siniora added that the concentration on employment of people with disabilities came to implement goals, some of them are prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability according to all aspects related to employment, including terms of employment, appointment, work, continuity of work, career advancement, Secure and healthy work circumstances, and protecting the rights of people with disabilities in a fair and suitable work circumstances in equal to others. This include equal opportunities and equal payment for equal job, and safeguarded and healthy work circumstances including protecting from abuse and guaranteeing empowering people with disabilities to practice their labor and union rights in equal to others. Also, empowering people with disabilities to get general programs for technical and professional counseling, empowerment services, continuous vocational training, promoting job opportunities and job advancement for people with disabilities in labor market.

Mrs. Siniora pointed that The Palestinian authority adopted the Palestinian law number (4) for the year (1999) on the rights of people with disabilities. And it published implementing regulation for it in the year (2004). Although the publication of the law is considered important in giving this category its rights and protecting them especially if it is implemented from the principle of equality and non-discrimination provisions by article (9) of the main Palestinian law which came in parallel to other related national conventions. But it’s articles came empty from positive discrimination for people with disabilities in general but all articles pointed to

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non-discrimination among people on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, politic views or disability.

The publication of the law from the authority represents the existence of political will of the Palestinian stakeholder to the importance of providing legal protection for people with disabilities. But despite publishing the law, there were a lot of problems represented in that the law doesn’t have a specific article for women with disabilities, at the time that the CRPD texted in the article (6) “states parties recognize that women and girls with disabilities are exposed to different types of discrimination, and she will take necessary procedures to ensure their full access to their rights on an equal basis to all human rights and political freedoms”.

Mrs. Siniora said: despite that the Palestinian law talked about the right of work, but its provisions were more with services type rather than rehabilitative while the implementing regulations texted clearly the mandatory of privet sector institutions to appoint a number of people with disabilities and when not, it should pay a salary for one person with disability put in the disability fund. And we find that the article 13 of the Palestinian labor law committed institutions to employ 5% of people with disabilities as to make them work on the basis of their abilities not disabilities, but the law as well didn’t mention to their rights to vocational rehabilitation that meet their needs.

As a negative impact on people with disabilities, deprivation from work affect the person him\herself first and the society secondly. Mrs. Siniora commented that a decent life couldn’t be achieved but with letting him\ her earning living by oneself, and couldn’t be integrated in a society without feeling productive and not being a bear on his or her family. And employing higher rate of people with disabilities help increase development of society as a large number of this category transform from being consumers to producers.

Mrs. Siniora added that legislations must be comprehensive, so it should include balance in providing protection and services for people with disabilities from one side, and enjoyment of rights and participation in policies and legislations that affect lives of people with disabilities.

Mrs. Siniora pointed that there is a contradiction between the law that provides the employment of 5% of people with disabilities and the Palestinian Civil service act which requires the candidate for a governmental vacancies to be free from any disease or disability. Besides, there’s a defect in the identification of actors to implement the law, as the Palestinian legislative specified the ministry of social affairs to be in charge of implementing most of the rights related to people with disabilities even if it’s not related to its duties and specialties which made her fail to deliver the rights for people with disabilities.

It is expected from the Palestinian legislative when issuing the law to take into consideration the real financial costs expected for implementation, which is essential to guarantee its implementation. To add, the implementing regulation didn’t include any text related to the rights of women with disabilities specifically.

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Mrs. Siniora commented that legal challenges and problems affected the practical sides of it, as the rights of people with disabilities were affected in many aspects such as equality in front of the Law and non discrimination. Adding that it is clear that people with disabilities in Palestine suffers two kinds of discrimination; first is on the aspect of private and governmental authorities obligations, and secondly on the aspect of social treatment, health, accommodation, transportation, education, rehabilitation, employment and participation in cultural, entertaining and sport activities.

Finally, Mrs. Siniora Ended her speech by pointing that it is important to edit the Law that is practiced in the area of the Palestinian authority according to what came in the international standards especially the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities, and especially articles related to employment and women with disabilities.

Speaker: Anne Leymat- Livelihood Technical Advisor/ technical Resources Division- Handicap International.

“Microfinance and disability: building responsible partnership”

Mrs. Leymat showed the relation between Poverty and Disability:

10% of the population has a kind of impairment = 600 Million people 82% of disabled people live with less than 2 dollars a day.

And discussed Legal and policy framework: UN CRPD, article 27 and 28 ILO Convention 159 CBR Guidelines WHO / ILO MDG (on poverty alleviation, and on women)

Mrs. Leymat Started to present the Project of Microfinance- Self Employment and its objectives:

To improve economic inclusion practices and, by doing so, the livelihoods of people with disabilities

To ensure that People with disabilities have better access to financial services for self-employment

Mentioning the project’s three phases: First phase: Identification Second phase: Field visits Third phase: Analysis

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The Major findings and challenges: People with disabilities are underrepresented among the clients of MFIs

The Main challenges that Mrs. Leymat pointed to are two main kinds of barriers:1. Internal presented in self exclusion from services due to lack of self esteem, motivation…etc) lack of skills, self confidence, and overprotection.

self-exclusion from services (lack of self esteem, motivation, lack of knowledge on rights),

lack of know-how, skills, formal education Lack of self confidence Over protection by family members

2. External Attitudinal barriers / discrimination Financial products / services design, Accessibility (physical and communication

Concluding, Women with disabilities are willing and able to manage business and credit successfully Most successful strategy: work towards an inclusive society, while empowering women

with disabilities.

The facilitator introduced the Second speaker of the Second session Mr. Alaa’ Sisalem

Speaker: Mr. Alaa’ Sisalem- General Manager- CHF Ryada

“Microfinance in Palestine, and social responsibility of financial institutions and their roles”

Mr. Sisalem began his speech with welcoming words and expressed his pleasure to be part of the important conference which highlights a very important subject that needs the integration of efforts of different sectors to support it as people with disabilities constitute 5-10% of Palestinian population. Taking into consideration that disability isn’t the obstacle but it creates motivation to creativity and specialty in different aspects.Mr. Sisalem went through different subjects such as social responsibility as he considered it as a correlation between different institutions and surrounding communities to take responsibility towards their communities and taking into consideration putting the category of people with disabilities in their priorities. Adding that social responsibility isn’t only providing services, but the most important is to provide ways and different products to help them live without depending on others as it’s better to teach someone how to fish rather giving him a fish.The second subject that he went through was the sector of small loans and its important role in the Palestinian community, as studies showed that:

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- The Palestinian economy depends 90% on informal small and micro projects, which Are projects in themselves cannot provide the minimum requirements for obtaining bank loans and a higher degree of risk which makes microfinance sector the door and the only and principle port for lending and supporting the owners of these projects and developing them and this is the main supporter of these projects for its development and growth and to be transferred to the formal sector.

- As a result of the importance of microfinance sector in the recent period the Banking Act issued, which includes organizing the process of micro-lending by financial institutions.• and as a formal steps toward the sector organizing and the work of the Palestinian lending institutions there have recently been issuing the new Banking Act through the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which will include supervision and regulation operations of the financial sector in general in Palestine

Mr. Sisalem introduced another subject, as he talked about small loans and micro loans sector, defining them:An emerging sector, has been existing for less than 20 years, where the number of lending institutions is now 12 institutions that has existing loans portfolio that reach 65 million dollars, and the number of loans reach 33000 borrowers of whom approximately 50% of borrowers are women (15000 women borrowers), making this sector a powerful tool to support and assist the poor and marginalized classes in our society and support it to find its way to build a promising and a successful future and live in dignity.

In addition, organizing this sector was started during the last ten years through the establishment of the Palestinian Network for small and micro lending a partnership) to be the umbrella that regulate and coordinate lending programs operating in Palestine, and trying to develop this sector, and representing it in front of all local and international actors aimed at protecting and developing it and distribute best global practices to ensure optimum delivery of services to beneficiaries. Besides, what distinguish the small and micro lending sector is the ability to access to various segments of society, wherever their presence and the design of diversified financial services which commensurate with the needs of these segments, which remain a continuing need for it as an effective tool to fight poverty and reduce unemployment rates, which calls for different parties to provide more attention and support to this sector in order to ensure its continuation and to achieve social and development goals for which it grew up and that makes it different from other financial sectors.

Finally, Mr. Sisalem Recommended different points to make Women with disabilities a part of productive community through:

- The importance of studies to include a part that specialize in collecting data about the potentials and abilities of women with disabilities, and what could be provided from

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guarantees to help support lending institutions in producing products which suite needs women and especially women with disabilities based on market needs.

- Supporting projects and programs that can provide technical services and training in parallel to the process of granting loans for new and emerging projects which increase the succeed possibility of funded projects.

- Supporting some institutes and centers of vocational trainings to provide all the requirements to generate special parts for training and developing skills of people with disabilities which increase the opportunities for employment or their abilities to start their own projects.

- Supporting projects that assist in marketing process for the products of small and individual projects especially for people with disabilities as they lack marketing experiences and communication channels with market.

The facilitator introduced the Last speaker of the Second session Mr. Iyad Al-Deek

Speaker: Mr. Iyad Al-Deek- Manager of Disabled Fund- Ministry of Social Affairs“Loans to People with Disabilities- Experience of Palestinian”

Mr. Al Deek Said that the total of Projects provided in the west bank governorates are 189 Loans, 30 of them are for women. And the fund is financed by the UAE Red Crescent with a capital of one million six thousand and two hundred USD as the projects varies between agricultural, industrial Projects between a variety of agricultural, breeding and industrial projects.

The objectives of the Fund are: Rehabilitation of persons with disabilities who are able to work in an income-generating

project. achieving social and economic security for persons with disabilities through economic

security. ensure the participation of people with disabilities in the production and development

process To achieve social integration in society and change the stereotypical view towards them.

Standards and criteria of the Fund's work:Fund gives loans to people with disabilities, males and females according to the conditions and the following criteria: 1 – person with disability must be at least 18 and not more than 60 years old. 2 - Possess some basic skills of management and implementation of the professional and administrative and financial requirements of the project. 3 - To provides credit guarantees for the project. 4 - To present feasibility study for the project from a formally adopted side and approved by the

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Technical Committee. 5 – The applicant must not have a fixed source of income more than the extreme rate of poverty adopted by the Palestinian Center for Statistics. 6 - To contribute with not less than (2%) of the cost of the project.

Loans for families of people with disabilities:Mr. al Deek showed different criteria for this subtitle as the family should have a person with mental or physical disability aging no less than 18 years old, and the guardian must be committed to all project’s legal conditions.

The combined project:Mr. al Deek referred to the combined project as if more than one person with disability will Participate in one project under these conditions:

- Must submit for the project and the combined study by filling the specific form in the ministry of social; affairs in his/ her governorate.

- Submit the needed guarantees for the project.- The project contract will be signed according to this system.

Guarantees are: determined by the Council and they include ensuring the project itself as well as the following:

1 – Guarantee by an employee in the governmental sector or privet sector with a full job- salary no less than 1500 NIS.

2 – Guarantee by an institution registered in the chamber of commerce and Industry3 – Submitting checks or promissory with monthly installments4 - Any other guarantees deemed necessary by the Board.

Mr. A-Deek ends by referring to Available facilities of the loan:- Loan value must be in the line of the budget approved by the Board of Directors of the

cost per project.- The person with disabilities will have six months after receiving the loan to start

repaying it.- The value of monthly payments to repay the loan will be determined when signing the

project contract. - The person with disability will pay the premium amount in the bank, which has been

adopted, and submit a written receipt to integration and disability consultant in the Directorate to which they belong, which in turn raise it to the accountant of the project through field coordinators.

Fourth Session: Focus Groups & Recommendations

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The facilitator guided the three groups to develop recommendations for integrating women with disabilities presented for different sectors including: public Authorities and policy makers, Civil Society and Private sector, national and international donors and INGOs.

Recommendations for public Authorities and policy makers Develop a clear mandate for disability, a disability policy and a time bound

implementation strategy with measurable targets and outcomes Gather more accurate and reliable data on the situation of persons with disabilities living

in the poorest communities on the country. DPOs must be involved in gathering data at local level, and engaging with the Government;

Systematically include a disability perspective, and gather information on the status of persons with disabilities, in all ministries analyses and planning.

Build the capacity of disability NGOs, empower persons with disabilities, invest in partnerships of DPOs and systematically involve them in related consultation processes at all levels.

Use Article 4 in the UNCRPD (requiring active consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations), Article 32 (International Cooperation) and Article 28 (Adequate standard of living & social protection) when developing country disability Strategies

Promote systematic compilation of disaggregated data on women with disabilities Pro-actively involve women with disabilities in the consultation processes between

international donors, Government and civil society. Women with disabilities know their problems best and should therefore be given opportunities to participate in the identification, formulation and implementation of strategies and approaches to address the problems and challenges they experience.

Make information on the legislation/ policy available in user friendly formats in local language.

Women with disabilities demands from the official government bodies to activate the role of the Supreme Council and to ensure women’s with disabilities active participation in its new structure.

For the Supreme council to develop strategies that bind all funding bodies in accordance to the Supreme Council and are classified within the national strategy as a national demand where everyone is bound to it and all strategies are inclusive to issues related to women with disabilities.

Called as well for the monitoring, follow ups and bindings of the law, where its decisions are respected, taking into account all those who breaks the law in which the employment ratio of 5% for people with disabilities is a real percent and ensures the equal opportunities for women with disabilities, where it includes all ministries, public and private sectors, taking into consideration their abilities and qualifications to multiple functions available in the Palestinian labor market.

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To work on a data base that includes qualified women with disabilities who are qualified to enter the Palestinian labor market, and for the ministry of media to spotlight the rights of women with disabilities and their achievements in the field of employment.

To activate the role of monitoring bodies for the accuracy on the percentage rates of employment of women with disabilities in all working sectors of Palestine.

For the Ministry of transportation to provide accessible transportation for people with disabilities.

To train Cadres operating in all ministries around the rights of women with disabilities, according to the basic criteria’s required for adaptation and social integration.

Women with disabilities that participated in the conference demanded from the private and civil sectors to unify the efforts of civil society organizations to integrate women with disabilities in the programs, activities and events scheduled for these organizations and to be included as part of the annual plan.

Awareness rising in schools and universities on issues around advocacy and lobby for women with disabilities that enables their integration.

It’s necessary to address loan organizations to enact facilitated policies for women with disabilities, and to access loan services that are appropriate for women with disabilities, and also to have the job vacancy announcements from civil and private sector to encourage women with disabilities to apply for employment. And to mainstream success stories of women with disabilities in commercials and TV programs.

Recommendations for Civil Society and Private sector Improving their understanding on disability and development with a focus on the lived

experiences of people with disability. Effective use of Micro-Finance Schemes to address exclusion of persons with disabilities

from the mainstream labor market and to change negative attitudes of local communities to disability.

Support and undertake disability awareness education among women’s movements and organizations in order that they more actively and effectively include participation of women with disabilities;

For CEDAW country reports to include and undertake specific monitoring, data collection and reporting on the status of women with disabilities

Facilitate forums for interaction between persons with disabilities and other civil society stakeholders.

Orient and sensitize civil society on disability as a rights issue Sensitize media to ensure adequate and appropriate coverage on disability, especially

concerns of women with disabilities Facilitate linkages of groups of women with disabilities with other movements specially

the women’s movement and local level women’s networks Facilitate the process of mobilization of women with disabilities Focus on the inclusion of women with disabilities at all levels and within DPOs also

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Orient and sensitize civil society stakeholders and persons with disabilities on the relevant legislations and policies

Conduct relevant research for informing policy and synthesis in practice Enable other organizations to formulate disability policy

Recommendations for national and international donors and INGOs

Comprehensive support for National Government efforts towards disability inclusive development.

developing their understanding of gender , disability and development Align their positions and reporting to the terms of the new UN Convention on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities; respect the terms of Article 32 of the UN Convention on International Cooperation, and

promote disability as a cross-cutting issue in all development programs; Support awareness raising activities for disability inclusion in development cooperation

and poverty reduction; Support empowerment strategies and initiatives for women with disabilities that give

particular attention to leadership and skills training to ensure that women with disabilities can take advantage of opportunities and rise to senior positions;

International donor support and Government support for incentive schemes for employment of persons with disabilities and reasonable accommodation requirements in the work place (to make the work place accessible).

Support the growth and establishment of social protection schemes which provide funding to compensate for the additional costs of disability and facilitates access for marginalized groups into the labor market.

Ensure that all funding programs make gender and disability mainstreaming a precondition;

Develop methods and practices to ensure that disability is adopted as a cross cutting issue.

Develop and implement sensitization training on disability. We demanded from donors to collect accurate and realistic information about women

with disabilities in marginalized villages through disability organizations that works on local levels with the government ensuring accessible and effective data base.

To support awareness campaigns for women with disabilities through community development and poverty reduction.

We enforced the necessity to put guarantees on all donor activities, in which its support is stable for the rights and needs of women with disabilities and to give them equal opportunities in projects and activities implemented for them, and to develop their capacity, promote their empowerment and integration in a way suitable for them.

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Annex one: participants in the Conference

- Council of Ministries- Ministry of social affairs- Ministry of culture- Ministry of local government- Ministry of education- Ministry of women affairs.- Ministry of youth and sports.- Ministry of interior.- Ministry of labor- Ministry of justice- Ministry of Information- Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs- Diakonia- Kvinna till Kvinna- Welfare association- Handicap /international

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- Swiss Consulate- Najah University- Bethlehem University- Al Quds Open University- Jasmine Society- Sondos Society- Community Based Rehabilitation- Palestinian Red Crescent Society- YMCA- Health Work Committee- Qader Society - Women’s Center- General Union for People with Disabilities.- Rose of Jerusalem Society- Friends of children with Autism- Friends of Palestinian Disabled Society- Working Women’s Society- General People’s Committee.- Alpha Center- UNRWA- Amid East- UNIFEM- WIZARD Company- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics- Palestinian medical Relief Society- Independent Commission for Human Rights.- NISSA FM- Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA)- Al Hayat Newspaper- Al Ayyam Newspaper.- AJYAL- Voices Network- Palestine News Network- Disabled without Borders Organization- Planet Finance - HelpAge International- Montmorency International - U.S. Consulate General- Mercy Corps- Consulat Général de France

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- ARD/Civic Engagement Program CEP/USAID- Al-Ram Local Council - Friends of the Blind Association- Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency "PIPA"- CHF- United Nation Development Program- Democracy and Workers' Rights Center-Palestine DWRC- TIPH - Temporary International Presence in Hebron- The Arab Society for Physically Handicapped (ASPH)- Friends of the Disabled - Al-Amal Society School for Deaf Children - Disability Consultant- Specialists - UNOPS - International Labor Organization- Save the Children- PCPD- PWWSD- Nablus Municipality- Movimiento por la Paz - Palestinian Actor- UTI - Ansar Society- RWDS- LACS- ESDC- Muwatin- SAWA- Yarmouk Medical Supply- General Personnel Council- CARE- NRC- Free Lance- the Australian

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