Spotlight on the ADP: “Our work won’t be done until we get universal continental ratification”

Edwinah Orowe, senior regional campaign adviser and African Disability Protocol lead at Sightsavers, discusses the challenges the ADP faces and the work that needs to be done for implementation to happen.

The African Disability Protocol (ADP) officially came into force in May 2024 with its 15th ratification. The countries that have already ratified must now move towards aligning in-country actions that will ensure the requirements of the protocol are delivered. At the continental level, much work remains to mobilise more than 40 member states to ratify the ADP and inch closer to achieving the Africa we want.

The challenge

The ADP was adopted in 2018 (as a disability protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights). In 2019, we focused on creating awareness and mobilising member states to ratify this important protocol. Then the pandemic came and took over everyone’s life, and a lot of actions and plans fell off the tracks. Not only for member states, but also for organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs) across the continent.

As already marginalised groups, with increased vulnerability in a health crisis, OPDs were trying to focus on regrouping. The difficulty of also trying to get the different ministries in line to take the necessary steps for ADP ratification was one of the biggest barriers that affected momentum. Despite this, progress continued.

In 2022, when the world reopened, different stakeholders (including partners, civil society organisations and disability organisations) took up the challenge of making progress towards ADP ratification. Sightsavers, along with its regional partners including the African Union Commission, launched the #RatifyADP campaign at a side event in Banjul, The Gambia, in November 2022 to renew the call for accelerated ratification. It took us just another two years to reach the necessary ratification of the ADP in 15 countries to make the protocol legally binding.

A barrier we face in reaching full continental ratification of the ADP is that because the protocol is a legal human rights document, countries may struggle to meet its requirements. Some countries do not have good human rights records. The ADP is linked with putting in place responsive systems, but because this requires investment and transparency, it may not be treated as a priority.

If we have the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, why is the ADP also necessary?

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees rights to all people with disabilities worldwide. The ADP, while fundamentally providing direction and actions under each of the articles, also takes into consideration particular contextual issues. These include culture and superstition across Africa, which affects how disabilities (and people with disabilities) are perceived. In many countries there’s a lot of superstition: for example, in some communities there’s a belief that body parts of people with albinism can be used to create wealth.

Taking all of this into consideration, the ADP is Africa’s commitment to define and recognise that disability is perceived differently within our communities and acknowledge that African governments must address this as an underlying factor. We can see this in action in countries like Malawi, which has put a strategy in place to support the protection of people with albinism.