“Disability is a human rights issue.” This is a common expression in many contemporary
disability rights scholarly work. While researching on disability rights may not raise
questions, often, a selection of topic could be generated by many factors, including the
researcher’s personal interest.
Matters of personal interest aside, I opted to research on Persons with Disability’s Right to
work, not because everything is perfect with other aspects of disability rights, but because
work (or employment) should be among means of empowerment. Unfortunately, work is
among such areas where persons with disability have been facing discrimination.
Considering the complexities of poverty, and the economies of African nations, it is worth
undertaking a study focusing on Africa because, while human rights are perceived as
universal, there are also concerns that imposing a universal approach throughout the world
risks ignoring some specific differences across nations and continents. This work is also
intended to add on to the existing knowledge on disability, especially with respect to Africa,
considering the fact that compared to other parts of the world, there has not been so much
literature on disability rights in Africa.
My work is limited to Tanzania and five other selected African countries, namely Kenya,
Uganda, Zambia, South Africa and Ghana. Because of Tanzania’s political and legal
structure, a discussion of Tanzania covers both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. I elaborate
how the international approaches to employment and disability rights have evolved, and how
these approaches have influenced laws and policies on the employment of persons with
disability in Tanzania and other States selected for the purposes of this work.
The combination of “disability rights” and “employment rights” mean that as with other
rights, what is needed is to construe rights in such a way that they fit the requirements of
persons with disability, enabling them to enjoy the rights on equal basis with other persons
without disability. The nature of matters inquired in this work has necessitated a pragmatic
approach to research - an inter-disciplinary approach. Nevertheless, because of my legal
profession background, there is a heavy reliance on legal instruments.
This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 of this work contains some introductory and
methodological issues. Chapter 2 is devoted to issues of equality and disability, while Chapter
3 is about measures employed to ensure persons with disability’s access to, and equality at
work. Chapter 4 is about the institutional mechanisms put in place to ensure the
implementation of matters stated in chapters 2 and 3. There are a number of challenges with
respect to the implementation of human rights in general, and the rights of persons with
disability in particular. These challenges, directly or indirectly affect persons with disability’s
enjoyment of the right to work. The challenges notwithstanding, there are positive signs. I
address the challenges and the positive prospects in Chapter 5.Chapter 6 sums up the work.