People, Apologies I was not very clear. Would help greatly backend if *endorsement happens via form only* : http://bit.ly/endorsement-form. (If an *organisation* would like to endorse as an entity, then please DM me.)
Perhaps before forwarding, we could prefix this call to action for clarity's sake : Dear Friends, Please support India's disability movement by endorsing the form http://bit.ly/endorsement-form Details of how the Mediation Bill is a retrograde step vis a vis persons with disabilities are below for your reference. Do circulate this widely so that other concerned citizens and diverse peoples' movements join us and push back. Thanks! ------------------------- On Sat, 19 Feb 2022 at 13:41, Sandhya Limaye <[email protected]> wrote: > endorsed > > Sandhya > > On Sat, Feb 19, 2022 at 12:10 PM Vaishnavi Jayakumar < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear colleagues / friends / allies, >> >> Do consider endorsing and further circulating this open letter from >> India's disability movement to the Law and Justice parliamentary standing >> committee. >> >> The 'benevolent' prejudice of the first schedule of the Mediation Bill >> 2021 effectively sets the movement back in its bracketing of people with >> high support needs, intellectual disability and mental illness along with >> minors (and deities!) under the 'disputes or matters not fit for mediation' >> list of people who will be denied access to this means of seeking justice. >> >> The only ‘protection’ that we the disabled people of India need, is >> safeguarding against >> assaults on the validity of our personhood, >> attempts to diminish our innate legal capacity >> and assumptions that we are in some way lesser than the rest. >> >> Yes, we may need reasonable accommodations. And some of us will be open >> about our need for support in key life decisions. >> >> But we are not infants, we are not divine. We are citizens (with >> disabilities). >> >> Endorse the open letter from India's disability movement, allies, allied >> stakeholders and supporters to the Parliament Standing Committee urging >> lawmakers to fix the First Schedule of the Mediation Bill and drop the >> disability references : http://bit.ly/endorsement-form (For >> institutional endorsements, please DM me) >> >> The letter is below for reading convenience - access the public link with >> updated signatory list at http://bit.ly/fix-mediation-bill >> >> Do share this and get other people's movements to stand by us! >> >> *VAISHNAVI JAYAKUMAR* >> http://about.me/vjayakumar >> >> ----------- >> >> Open Letter to Parliamentary Standing Committee (Personnel, Public >> Grievances, Law and Justice) on the Draft Mediation Bill 2021 >> <https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/mediation-bill-2021.pdf> >> . >> >> It is a case where the left hand does not know what the right is doing. >> India ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities >> within months of its coming into force. We have since then replaced our >> older laws on disability rights and mental health to bring them in harmony >> with the UN Convention. A common feature in all these legal instruments was >> the recognition of persons with disabilities as persons before the law — >> possessed of legal capacity on an equal basis with others. A logical >> consequence of this position is that whenever any law is made for the >> people of the country, it will as much extend to persons with disabilities. >> Any law excluding persons with disabilities would be in breach of both the >> country’s international commitment and its national laws. Yet the Mediation >> Bill 2021 has excluded a range of persons with disabilities from the >> purview of the Mediation law as if to say these path-breaking rights >> affirming efforts never happened. >> >> Mediation, unlike adjudication, is supposed to be a win-win, give and >> take exercise. It operates on the principle that both society and people >> benefit when disputes are peaceably resolved. Yet any legal proceedings >> against persons with intellectual disability or persons with mental illness >> or persons with high support needs have been kept out of the purview of >> this law. Other people’s unhappiness or disagreement with them cannot be >> peaceably settled, be it in individual or community mediation. No one can >> be compelled to go for mediation and this non compulsion would as much >> apply to people with disabilities as to others . >> >> From such a framing of the bill it appears as though people with >> disabilities either do not have any requirement for mediation or their >> representation or need for mediation is dispensable. What the law has done >> is that it has denied to persons with disabilities the option to settle >> disputes amicably. With this one act these persons with disabilities >> have been rendered invisible by the law. When people are barred from >> having any grievance against any member of a community then people prefer >> to have nothing to do with them : they are shunned or socially ostracised. >> Yet the UN Convention and our national laws speak about giving all >> persons with disabilities the right to live independently and in the >> community. So who will solve their disputes if they have any? Or will they >> continue to either be socially ostracised or face continued prejudice and >> violence of diverse sorts? >> >> The lawmakers of the country are expected to make law with full knowledge >> and understanding of what they have the power to do and not do. To honour >> the international commitments of the country and not override special laws >> through general laws is a part of the commitment. Furthermore, it is in >> order to enable course correction and ensure that laws made are not opposed >> to the interests of the people; that rules for pre-legislative public >> participation <https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/plcp.pdf> >> have been formulated. The rules require that at least a period of 30 days >> must be given to the people to offer their comments and suggestions. Even >> that period has been unilaterally cut down to fifteen days by the >> Parliamentary Standing Committee >> <https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/Press_ReleaseFile/18/164/461P_2022_1_10.pdf>. >> So, the doors of the Standing Committee have been shut on us even before >> the invitation to participate could reach us. >> >> Clause 7 >> <https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/mediation-bill-2021.pdf#page=8> >> of the Bill read along with Schedule 1 >> <https://legalaffairs.gov.in/sites/default/files/mediation-bill-2021.pdf#page=23> >> ought to be closely examined so that stigma prevailing against persons with >> disabilities is not mechanically reinforced by the law. Through this open >> letter we are conveying our dismay to the Parliamentary Standing Committee >> and urge it to fulfil its duties in both letter and spirit by recommending >> that schedule 1 of the Bill be duly amended. >> >> Ignorance of the law is no excuse - neither for the people nor for the >> governors. >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Endorsed on 17 February 2022 by >> >> - >> >> AMITA DHANDA (Professor Emerita, NALSAR Hyderabad) >> - >> >> PRATEEKSHA SHARMA (Peer psychotherapist, Founder Bright Side Family >> Counselling Centre) >> - >> >> DISABILITY RIGHTS ALLIANCE (DRA) >> - >> >> NATIONAL CENTRE FOR PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT FOR DISABLED PEOPLE >> (NCPEDP) >> - >> >> NATIONAL PLATFORM FOR THE RIGHTS OF THE DISABLED >> - >> >> PASCHIM BANGA RAJYA PRATHIBANDHI SAMMELANI >> - >> >> TAMILNADU ASSOCIATION FOR RIGHTS OF DIFFERENTLY-ABLED & CAREGIVERS >> - >> >> DIFFERENTLY-ABLED WELFARE FEDERATION, KERALA >> - >> >> VIKALANGULA HAKKULA JATHIYA VEDIKA, TELANGANA >> - >> >> VIKALANGULA HAKKULA JATHIYA VEDIKA, AP >> - >> >> HARYANA VIKLANG ADHIKAR MANCH, HARYANA >> - >> >> KARNATAKA RAJYA ANGAVIKALARA MATTU PALAKARA OKKOTA >> - >> >> TRIPURA PRATHIBANDHI ADHIKAR MANCH >> - >> >> GUJARAT VIKLANG ADHIKAR MANCH >> - >> >> LAKSHWADEEP DISABLED ASSOCIATION >> - >> >> MADHYA PRADESH VIKLANG ADHIKAR MANCH >> - >> >> JHARKHAND VIKLANG MORCHA >> - >> >> DELHI VIKLANG ADHIKAR MANCH >> - >> >> TEAM EKTHA >> - >> >> DECEMBER 3 MOVEMENT >> - >> >> EQUALS CENTRE FOR PROMOTION OF SOCIAL JUSTICE (EQUALS CPSJ) >> - >> >> SHISHU SAROTHI >> - >> >> VIDYA SAGAR >> - >> >> BAPU TRUST >> - >> >> VAISHNAVI JAYAKUMAR (Co-Founder The Banyan, Member Disability >> Rights Alliance) >> - >> >> SUDHA RAMAMOORTHY (Equals Centre for Promotion of Social Justice) >> - >> >> DR. ANJLEE AGARWAL (Executive Director, Samarthyam / Member, NITI >> Aayog [CSO-SC]) >> - >> >> POONAM NATARAJAN (Founder Vidya Sagar) >> - >> >> SATHISH KUMAR (Member Disability Rights Alliance) >> - >> >> MEENAKSHI BALASUBRAMANIAN (Co-founder Equals Centre for Promotion of >> Social Justice) >> - >> >> DR V JANAKI, CHENNAI >> - >> >> SANGEETA ISVARAN >> - >> >> T M RAMANA RAO >> - >> >> KARTHIK >> - >> >> DR. SRINIVAS GOLI (Medical Officer, North Delhi Municipal Corporation) >> - >> >> ARMAN ALI (Executive Director, NCPEDP) >> - >> >> UMMUL KHAIR (Advocate with disability, Member DRA) >> - >> >> RADHA RAMESH (Director, Vidya Sagar) >> - >> >> DR MS KETNA MEHTA (Founder Trustee, Nina Foundation) >> - >> >> RAJESH (Accessibility consultant) >> - >> >> VIDHYA RAMASUBBAN >> - >> >> DR SATENDRA SINGH (Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change) >> - >> >> LV JAYASHREE (Director, The Spastics Society of Tamil Nadu) >> - >> >> GOPINATH RAMAKRISHNAN (Managing Trustee, Special Child Assistance >> Network [SCAN]) >> - >> >> RAMANATHAN G >> - >> >> RAJUL PADMANABHAN >> - >> >> SMITHA SADASIVAN >> - >> >> P RAJASEKHARAN (Co-founder, v-shesh) >> - >> >> DR. LALITHKUMAR NATARAJAN (Love and Acceptance & Tamil Nadu Spinal >> Cord Disabilities Association) >> - >> >> PROF. YASMIN SULTANA (Head Pharmaceutics, SPER, Jamia Hamdard) >> - >> >> MOHD FAISAL NAWAZ (Disability Rights Activist) >> - >> >> PAWAN KUMAR MUNTHA (CEO, Swadhikaar) >> >> . >> . >> . >> >> *[ EVOLVING PUBLIC DOCUMENT WITH UPDATED >> SIGNATORIES http://bit.ly/fix-mediation-bill >> <http://bit.ly/fix-mediation-bill> ]* >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Disability Studies India" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/disability-studies-india/CAN7%2BzvqTrN0BVdBGOjXibVdOgi8S7wFzOMijXkptpB7ygevEgQ%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/disability-studies-india/CAN7%2BzvqTrN0BVdBGOjXibVdOgi8S7wFzOMijXkptpB7ygevEgQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > *Sandhya * > > Sandhya Limaye, Ph.D., > > Rockefeller Fellow " Bellagio Resident" > Fulbright and Erasmus Mundus Fellow > Professor, > Center For Disability Studies and Action, > School of Social Work, > Tata Institute of Social Sciences, > V.N.Purav Marg, Deonar, > Mumbai 400 088. > > Ph- +91 022 25525402 (O) > 9969683766, 9967168698 (C) > > > Email id- [email protected] > [email protected] > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Disability Studies India" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/disability-studies-india/CAF2Ud-0HFLWP7Rg7O_ft%2BBzG9RgH6zvig46DvjgF4u3x1kS%3DOg%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/disability-studies-india/CAF2Ud-0HFLWP7Rg7O_ft%2BBzG9RgH6zvig46DvjgF4u3x1kS%3DOg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. 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