A TRAINING WORKSHOP ON DISABILITY RIGHTS ON ISLAMIC SHARIA & CRPD CONCEPTS WAS HELD FOR JUSTICE PROMOTERS, LAWYERS, AND OTHER PROGRAM STAFF.
Mogadishu, on June 30th, 2022, we (SODEN) conducted a one-day training workshop on “One-on-one mentorship, coaching, and on-the-job training for our lawyer, Justice Promoters (JPs), and program staff.”
During the session, our training facilitators, both an expert from Islamic Sharia and an expert in the Convention of Rights for People with Disabilities (CRPD), shared with the participants’ plenty of knowledge based on disability rights in Islamic Sharia and CRPD Concepts.
Dr. Sheikh Ibrahim, an Islamic Sharia expert, explained how pre-Islam people with disabilities were being treated, which was an awful action against people with disabilities, he cited as an example a “Plato who declared that those who have special needs are a malicious category constituting a burden on the society and an English philosopher Herbert Spenser (1820-1903) who called on the society to deny those with special needs any kind of help, claiming that this category constitutes a useless, heavy burden for a society to carry”. As well as “pre-Islamic Arabs who abstained from sharing food or sitting at a meal with those who had special needs”.
He mentioned that people with disabilities were being beaten because of their disabilities. Some others were being buried alive because their parents didn’t want to raise a disabled child.
Afterward, Islam was revealed to the Prophet Mohamed, may Allah’s peace be upon him. People with disabilities felt safer and more integrated into society because Islam cared deeply about them and warned against any attempts to exclude them.
As well as Mr. Abdirahman, our legal advisor, who is an expert on CRPD, explained how people with disabilities are protected through the Convention of Rights for People with Disabilities. This Convention was written and signed by many governments, including Somalia, and it aims to ensure the rights and dignity of people with disabilities, including the rights to lead, learn, marry, travel, and any other rights that everyone must enjoy.