The Observatory for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Lebanon is surprised that for thirteen years the Lebanese Parliament did not convene in a legislative session to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and that it is convening today to go backwards in terms of terminology related to disability issues, which is not in accordance with the human rights approach, knowing that any term does not advance or retard as long as the rights of this category of citizens are violated and violated as successive governments have not applied Law 220/2000 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Lebanon, which was issued twenty years ago.

The term “persons with disabilities,” as stipulated in Law 220/2000, is still the preferred term locally, because the term “people with special needs” applies to broader categories than persons with disabilities, as it includes them with other categories (everyone has special needs), and does not specifically refer to the meaning of disability.

Accordingly, the Observatory for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Lebanon wishes the Presidency of the Parliament to remove the item of amending the term “persons with disabilities” from the agenda of the legislative session, and to postpone it until the ratification of the international convention, which is the first legal reference in the world regarding this category, and to expedite the ratification of the convention in the nearest legislative session.