PROTECTING AND PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Human rights generally represent demands or claims protected by the law which individuals or groups make on the society. In spite of the existence of some powerful frameworks like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and national laws, human rights violations continue to be witnessed in many forms and are of varying intensity. Majority of person with disability have experienced abuses of their rights like negative experiences with respect to employment, lack of sustainable and dependable empowerment, exclusion from social interaction and participation in decision making on issues that affect their lives, lack of access to public facilities amongst` others. This paper examined the rights of persons with disability and the various challenges of living with disability in Nigeria. It focused generally on certain exclusionary and discriminatory practices against persons with disabilities in Nigeria in connection with their legal rights enshrined in both international and national documents and instruments. It pointed to the fact that persons with disability suffer and experience discrimination by the government and members of the society in which they live. The doctrinaire research methodology was adopted as the work examined both national and international framework pertaining to human rights and rights of persons with disability. This article concluded that it’s the States’ obligation to progressively recognize the rights against any form of discrimination and efforts to protect those rights. Accordingly measures towards the progressive achievement of the rights must at all times be used as guides and complied with. This article recommended that the Nigerian government should, as a matter of urgency, ensure the effective implementation of both international and national law for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disability and further enhance proper and adequate funding of persons with disability organizations.