Photo: Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies Different institutional, infrastructural and attitudinal barriers
keep on forcing people with every kind of disabilities in the country out of
the election process, speakers said at discussion, placing great emphasis on empowerment
to enable them to get fully engaged in the poll procedure.
The issue of inclusion of the people with disabilities in
the election process should be discussed more to create mass awareness, they
said.
Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS)
organized a policy circle titled ‘Disability and Inclusion in Election’ on
Tuesday at a local hotel.
The discussion centered on advocacy to empower individuals
with disabilities to engage fully in the electoral process, according to a
BIPSS press release.
Kabery Sultana, Intern at Access Bangladesh Foundation on
the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities, Ghazi Quamrul Hasan,
General Secretary, Bangladesh Deaf Sports Federation and Jannatul Ferdous Ivy,
Executive Director, Voice & Views, highlighted various problems faced by
the people with disabilities.
Moderating the discussion, Lasanthi Daskon, Deputy Country
Director, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Bangladesh, highlighted
the fact that the issue of disability inclusion is not very commonly discussed
especially in relations to election.
She stressed on the Article 29 of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) where the issue
regarding the uneven political participation of people with disabilities has
been particularly mentioned.
Kabery Sultana said that no initiatives are being taken in
the local level while the international or development organizations are
arranging seminars and sessions regarding inclusion and diversity in election.
She noted that the Rights & Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act of
2013 is not enforced in Bangladesh despite having a positive impact earlier.
She focused pointedly on the people with intellectual
disabilities as the legislation of Bangladesh has not included them as voters,
while identifying some barriers.
According to Kabery Sultana, the electoral officers are not
trained enough to handle people with disabilities. The voters who do have
disabilities sometimes prefer not to go to the booths due to these
circumstances despite being interested to vote. She also mentioned that voters
who have disabilities are being marginalized even within their families as
mostly their family members are deciding whom they should vote.
Ghazi Quamrul Hasan stated that the biggest obstacle that
people with hearing disabilities face in electoral process is in terms of
communication as people who do not know sign language cannot communicate with
them.
According to Jannatul Ferdous Ivy, challenges can be traced
in the infrastructural level, technical level and gender based challenges along
with lack of knowledge on disabilities. She urged for more research to be done
by the Election Commission on the needs of voters with disabilities,
categorizing them based on their specific disability.
In the interactive session, the participants expressed their
opinions about this pressing issue.
Shafqat Munir, Senior Research Fellow, BIPSS, delivered the
concluding remarks.
Diplomats based in Dhaka, former Ambassadors,
representatives from international organizations, academicians and students
attended the event.
