South Africa to Launch Disability Rights Awareness Month with Pretoria Walk

Pretoria, The Gulf Observer: South Africa will launch its annual Disability Rights Awareness Month (DRAM) campaign on Friday, with Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga leading efforts to promote the rights, dignity, equality and social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The campaign will begin with an awareness walk from Church Square to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, bringing together government representatives, organisations of persons with disabilities, civil society groups, disability rights advocates and other stakeholders.

The walk aims to raise public awareness of the rights and equal status of persons with disabilities while reinforcing the importance of creating an inclusive society that enables everyone to participate fully in social, economic, political and cultural life.

Department spokesperson Cassius Selala said the initiative would reaffirm that persons with disabilities are equal rights holders entitled to the same human rights, fundamental freedoms and opportunities as everyone else.

He said the walk would also highlight the responsibility of government, the private sector, communities and society at large to remove barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from participating fully and equally in all aspects of life.

South Africa’s Disability Rights Awareness Month campaign is underpinned by the country’s constitutional commitment to equality and non-discrimination, the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

These frameworks emphasise the protection of disability rights and the development of an inclusive society in which accessibility, reasonable accommodation, independent living and meaningful participation are upheld.

According to Selala, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities will use the campaign to strengthen public understanding of disability rights, challenge stigma and discrimination, promote accessible public spaces and services, and encourage coordinated action to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities in national development priorities.

The campaign seeks to reinforce the importance of collective responsibility in building a society where persons with disabilities can exercise their rights, access equal opportunities and participate meaningfully in all areas of public and community life.