Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Perspectives of Development Assistance: a Case Study of Thai Disability Policy

The Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) took effect in May 2008, and the focus of this paper is on Article 23, which requires that there be international cooperation for the promotion of the CRPD in developing countries. A main research question here is how development assistance can be utilised to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in developing countries. In this connection, this research aims to explore the following issues: 1) the readiness of official donor agencies to assist developing countries in implementing the CRPD and 2) the expectations regarding this assistance held by Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) that represent persons with disabilities and/or their families in developing countries. Through literature review, official donor agencies of major developed countries such as the UK, Australia, and Japan were assessed for their readiness for future cooperation related to the CRPD in terms of their current development policy on disability and capacity to work with NGOs in the disability sector. Thailand was taken as a case study and representatives of four major NGOs working with persons with disabilities were interviewed.