Rehabilitation International
Charter for the
Third Millennium

We enter the Third Millennium determined that the
human rights of each person in every society shall be
recognised and protected. This Charter is proclaimed
to translate this vision into reality.

Basic human rights are still routinely denied to
entire sectors of the world's population, including
many of the estimated 600 million children, women and
men who have disabilities. We seek a world where equal
opportunity for disabled people becomes a natural
consequence of enlightened policies and legislation
supporting full inclusion in and access to all aspects
of society.

Scientific and social progress in the 20th century has
increased understanding of the unique and inviolate
value of each life. Yet ignorance, prejudice,
superstition and fear still govern much of society's
response to disability. In the Third Millennium, we
must accept disability as an ordinary part of the
varied human condition. Statistically, at least 10% of
any society is born with or acquires a disability, and
about one family in four includes a disabled person.

In developed and developing countries, in the North or
the South of the world, segregation and
marginalisation have placed disabled people on the
lowest rung of the social and economic ladder. In the
21st century, we must insist on the same human and
civil rights for people with disabilities as for
everyone else.

The 20th century has demonstrated that with invention
and ingenuity it is possible to extend access to every
resource of the community - to the physical, social
and cultural environments, transportation, %
information, technology, mass media, education,
justice, public service, employment, sports and |
recreation, voting and worship. In the 21st century we
must extend this access from the few to the many,
dismantling all environmental, electronic and
attitudinal barriers to full inclusion in community
life. With that access can come the stimulation of
participation and leadership, the warmth of
fellowship, the glories of shared affection and the
beauties of the earth and universe.

Every minute of every day, more and more children and
adults are being added to the number of persons with
disabilities because of failure to prevent preventable
diseases and failure to treat treatable conditions.
Global immunisation and other prevention strategies
are no longer aspirations: they are practical and
cost-effective possibilities. What is needed is the
political determination, primarily of governments, to
end this affront to humanity.

Technological advances are bringing manipulation of
the genetic components of life, theoretically, within
human control. This introduces new ethical dimensions
to the international dialogue about disability
prevention. In the Third Millennium we must create
compassionate policies that respect the dignity of
diversity and the inherent balance and benefits
derived from the wide diversity among people.

INTERNATIONAL development assistance programmes should
require minimum accessibility standards in all
infrastructure projects, including technology and
communications, to ensure people with disabilities are
fully included in the economic and social life of
their communities.

EVERY nation should have on-going, countrywide
programmes to reduce or prevent any risk that may lead
to impairment, disability or handicap, as well as
early intervention programmes for children and adults
who become impaired.

ALL disabled people should have access to treatment,
information about self-help techniques and, if needed,
provision of adaptive and appropriate technologies.

EVERY person with an impairment, and every family with
a disabled member, should receive the rehabilitation
services necessary to optimise mental, physical and
functional well-being, thus ensuring the capacity of
the disabled individual to manage life as
independently as any other citizen.

DISABLED people should have a central role in planning
their own rehabilitation and support programmes, and
disabled people's organisations should be empowered
with the necessary resources to share responsibility
in national planning for rehabilitation and
independent living.

COMMUNITY Based Rehabilitation should be widely
promoted nationally and internationally as an
affordable and sustainable approach to rehabilitation.

EACH nation must develop, with the participation of
organisations of and for people with disabilities, a
comprehensive plan with clearly defined targets and
timetables for implementing the aims expressed in this
Charter.

THIS Charter calls on Member States to support the
promulgation of a United Nations Convention on the
Rights of People with Disabilities as a key strategy
to achieve these goals.
In the Third Millennium, it must become the goal of
all nations to evolve societies that protect the
rights of people with disabilities by supporting their
full empowerment and inclusion in all aspects of life.
For these purposes, the Charter for the Third
Millennium is promulgated for action by all humankind,
in the conviction that implementation of its aims is a
primary responsibility of each government, and of all
relevant non-governmental and international
organisations.

The Charter for the Third Millennium was approved by
the Assembly of Rehabilitation International in
London, United Kingdom, on 9 September 1999.

Secretary General President

[Publication and distribution of the Charter has been
made possible by a grant from HSBC Holdings] (