Tuesday, 14 October 2014

CHALLENGING THE EXERCISE OF LEGAL CAPACITY IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS



OUR partners The Mental Health Users Network of Zambia MHUNZA have produced a useful and insightful report on the exercise of legal capacity for persons with mental disabilities. They contend that the current legal framework governing the electoral process in Zambia is discriminatory.
The findings of the legal analysis will be made public at a dissemination meeting to be held in Lusaka with the attendance of leading civil society actors on Friday 17th October, 2014.
If the law is explicitly discriminating, why should society not discriminate. The political systems use these laws to establish and mage themselves. In doing so, again, persons with mental disabilities are negatively affected.
 It is of our view that the laws have got discrepancies. If the Constitution and the Electoral Act equate a person “of unsound mind” to a Person with a Disability, then the law contradicts the Persons with Disabilities Act because the Act of 2012 clearly promotes the rights of persons with mental disabilities.
 We shall publish the full report here at the end of the week. 

No comments:

Post a Comment