About the Human Rights Indicators Project
The United Nations is about to make a Convention that will set out the human rights of persons with disability. This is an exciting development that has the potential to fundamentally improve the life opportunities of persons with disability around the world, including Australians with disability.
Click here if you would like to find out more about the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Click here if you would like to read the final text of the convention. (links to United Nations Enable website).
Click here if you would like to view a webcast of the 61st Session of the General Assembly at which the Convention was adopted.
Queensland Advocacy Incorporated is developing a set of human rights indicators for people with disability. The overall aim of this project is to make visible the relationship between the lived experience of persons with disability and the international human rights standards accepted by the Australian Government.
A human rights indicator is designed to be an objective measure of the degree to which persons with disability enjoy (or experience) a particular human right or freedom.
Over time, QAI will use its Human Rights Indicators to build a database that records the lived experience of human rights of persons with disability in Queensland. The database will be compiled from a range of sources, including consultations with persons with disability and reports made by individuals and organisations.
The database will provide evidence of the key issues that need to be addressed by governments and communities to improve recognition and respect for the human rights of persons with disability in Queensland.
Project Stages
Stage 1: Development of draft human rights indicators
In the first phase of the project (February to June 06), we developed a first draft set of human rights indicators for persons with disability. These indicators are currently based on the six international human rights treaties to which the Australian Government is signatory, and also take into account the draft text (as it then was) of the proposed Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities being developed being the United Nations.
Click here if you would like to find out more about the primary human rights treaties to which Australia is already a signatory.
Click here if you would like to read these treaties.
Click here if you would like to read the current draft version of our Human Rights Indicators for Persons with Disability (in pdf format).
Click here if you would like to read the current draft version of our Human Rights Indicators for Persons with Disability (in Word doc format).
The first draft set of human rights indicators will be revised at the end of Stage 3 of the project in light of our experience of using them to tabulate the findings from our consultations. At that stage we will also take the opportunity to revise the indicators to directly reflect the structure and content of the forthcoming Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Our Human Rights Indicators are a ‘work in progress’ and are likely to continue to be revised in light of further experience and research.
Stage 2: Development of Easy-English Booklet on Human Rights
During Stage 2 of the project we developed and published an easy-English booklet on the human rights of persons with disability called Everyone has Human Rights: Understand Yours! This booklet describes in easy-English basic human rights concepts. It is designed to raise awareness of human rights concepts among people with cognitive disability and other groups with limited literacy.
You can download or purchase a copy of Everyone has Human Rights: Understand Yours! here
The development and publication of the booklet was made possible with financial assistance from Endeavour Foundation; Mamre; ACROD (Queensland); Cootharinga Society of North Queensland; and, AMPARO Advocacy Inc. QAI acknowledges this contribution with great appreciation.
Stage 3: Consultations with Queenslanders with Disability
During Stage 3 of the project we are conducting consultations with Queenslanders with disability, their families, and their supporters to find out their lived experience of human rights – we want to hear about positive experiences, as well as about any problems and challenges still to be addressed.
To date we have conducted fifteen focus groups with people with disability, family members, advocates and service providers. Participants have been drawn from different locations across Queensland, and have diverse backgrounds and experiences.
In the next phase of Stage 3 we will be conducting a State-wide call-in, which will allow people with an interest in contributing to the project to call in on a free-call line and speak to one of our project staff about their experiences. We will also be establishing an on-line discussion group, and issuing a series of E-consultation bulletins that will seek views on a range of human rights issues.
Click here for more information about the State-wide call-in.
Click here for more information about our On-line discussion group on human rights.
Click here for more information about our E-consultation bulletins, or for back issues of the bulletin.
At the end of Stage 3 we will develop a ‘snapshot’ report that will describe the lived experience of human rights of those people who participated in the consultations referenced to our human rights indicators. We expect that this report will be ready for release in February 2007.
We will also revise our human rights indicators in light of our experience of using them to tabulate the findings from our consultations.
UnitingCare Queensland has funded Stage 3 of this project. QAI acknowledges this assistance with great appreciation.
Other stages
QAI is currently pursuing opportunities to refine and further develop human rights indicators for persons with disability, and to work with government, service providers and the community to improve recognition and respect for the human rights of persons with disability. Information about these initiatives will be posted on this website as it becomes available.
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