Persons with disabilities: participation and politics - the case of Zambia

ABSTRACT

Despite the right to participation, few persons with disabilities have access to public decision-making structures in Zambia. Focussing on the General Elections of 2021 and by examining testimonies of activists, politicians, and persons with disabilities, we identify the barriers to, and underlying causes of, the low participation of persons with disabilities in public affairs. Our findings show that even though the political parties are supportive of diversity, the persistent negative attitudes around the capabilities of persons with different impairments continue to be the greatest barrier to political participation.

KEYWORDS:

• disability
• governance and public policy
• rights
• region: sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Zambia National Women’s Lobby, Demo Finland, and Disability Rights Watch for making available unpublished documents as data sources for this article which would not otherwise have been possible to write. The views are the authors’ own and cannot in any event be considered to represent the views of the organisations. An earlier version of this paper was presented in the Academic Colloquium "Discrimination and Inequalities" of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in November 2021. The authors are thankful for the feedback that was provided by the fellow academics of the Colloquium as well as the peer reviewers, which helped to further shape our thoughts.

Disclosure statement

The documents that provided data for this article have been produced under a project funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and with prior agreement of the organisations benefiting from the funding. There are no competing financial or non-financial interests to this article.

Notes

1 Brotherton N.O. v Electoral Commission of Zambia (2011/HP/0818) [2011] ZMHC 32 (18 September 2011).

2 DRW has developed and standardised disability access audits to assess the accessibility of public spaces for persons with disabilities.

3 A full list of documents used as primary data is available upon request.

4 Identity politics is understood here as cultural identity politics, as conceptualised by Bernstein (2005).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Riina Pilke

Riina Pilke holds a Ph.D. in Economic Sociology from the University of Turku. Her research has focussed on the Sustainable Development Goals, poverty, intersectionality of discrimination and different forms of inequality, and the EU as a normative development actor. With a background as a practitioner and a development researcher, she currently works as a Project Manager and international development expert.

Wamundila Waliyua

Wamundila Waliuya is a renowned Zambian disability rights activist and Human Rights Commissioner whose work has been instrumental in the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Zambia. He is also the president of Disability Rights Watch. His educational background is in primary and special education. His academic publications cover themes such as access to justice and social protection for persons with disabilities.