On 4 March 2019, the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) took part in the annual full-day meeting on the right of the child: “Empowering children with disabilities for the enjoyment of their human rights, including inclusive education”. This annual meeting was part of the 40th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

At this meeting, Mrs. Amina Bouayach, CNDH Chairperson, called for the adoption of inclusive education policy for all persons with disabilities without exclusions and added, in her statement, that the vast majority of children with disabilities do not receive the required support in terms of access to the right to education (availability of specialized and multidisciplinary teams, social workers, individualized monitoring process to ensure their effective integration into ordinary classes).

Within this context, the CNDH recommended reviewing the legislative and regulatory system organizing education in view of realizing the inclusion and non-discrimination of children with disabilities. The Council also called for fighting against negative stereotypes and practices infringing the dignity of persons with disabilities at schools. Within the same context, Mrs. Bouayach recommended introducing accommodations and accessibilities suitable to the needs of each learner with disabilities and promoting learning the sign language.

Adding to this, the CNDH welcomed the adoption of the National Action Plan on Democracy and Human Rights (2018-2021), which can be a lever for the empowerment of children with disabilities through inclusive education. The Council also welcomed the promulgation of the Framework Law 97-13 on the rights of persons with disabilities in April 2016.

Besides, the CNDH highlighted that the adoption of the law 76-15 on the its reorganization, mandated the Council to establish the three mechanisms; namely the National Mechanism for the Preventive of Torture, the National Complaint Mechanism for Children Victims of Violations of Their Rights and the National Mechanism for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

At this meeting, the CNDH President also underlined the recommendations of the CNDH’s contribution to public debate entitled “For an equal and fair access to education and training”, which advocated that non-discrimination must be enshrined as an operational and cross-cutting principle applicable to all components of educational action, management and programming, to fight against all kinds of discrimination against children with disabilities.