National Commission on Disabilities Chairperson Amb. Daintown Domah Pay-Bayee is making a case for the Liberian disabled community at the 16th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The conference is taking place in the United States.
The 16th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, is from the 14th - 16th of June 2022
Amb. Daintowon Domah Pay-Bayee described the session theme as critical having realized as a country that Sexual Reproductive Health cannot be achieved if all Liberians, regardless of being with or without disabilities, are not granted the tools to control and decide over their bodies and sexuality as a matter of legitimate human rights.
She disclosed that they validated the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Training Manual for people with disabilities (PWDs) under the CAD-L Project.
"We also participated in the first-ever National Conference on SRHR in Liberia and came up with Position Statement," she said.
She noted that it was a joint effort with Amplifying Rights Network (ARN), the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), and other SHR actors to have a space for jointly promoting and popularizing SHR accurate information free of stigma and discrimination for greater freedom of choice about their sexual health.
She said every first Tuesday of a Month is a Women with Disabilities (WWDs) at the Commission where they discuss issues around SRHR and other issues affecting them.
She pointed out that they have made progress, but there is still more to do.
Madam Pay-Bayee added that Liberia is seeking support to conduct a national survey to gather aggregated data for the economic and social empowerment of PWDs.
According to Pay-Bayee, the need to harmonize national policies and strategies became an overall priority of the Government immediately upon the passage of the Act establishing the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD) in 2005 as an autonomous agency.
