Aim: Greater inclusion of, and justice for, people affected by leprosy and disability and people affected by leprosy confidently standing up for their rights
We are making good progress in the area of zero discrimination.
We are seeing more people affected by leprosy accessing sustainable livelihoods, employment and training, and health. All this contributes towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
The data points you can see here are testament to the progress that has been made in this area as our community-based projects foster greater inclusion in society.
TLM encourages persons affected by leprosy to become members of existing Leprosy People’s Organisations (LPOs), Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) and other community groups (farmer producer groups, value chains, and women’s groups); especially those that are registered with the government and part of the wider disability movement.
This gives our clients greater visibility, voice, legitimacy and access to rights and entitlements.
TLM works to develop leprosy champions. These are people who have lived experience of leprosy and can use that experience as powerful self-advocates.
We train these individuals so that they feel confident to speak on up for themselves and use their own voice. Then we work with them to identify opportunities to speak effectively.
Our team in North Bangladesh used to be the first port of call for local governments who wished to understand a disability issue.
We started to introduce persons affected by leprosy into these conversations.
These persons had received training through our extensive network of self-help groups in Bangladesh.
Now, 15 years after the self-help projects were started, the local governments no longer come to TLM for information, but go directly to the leprosy champions themselves.
Read more about this work here >
Each year we survey persons affected by leprosy with regards to social inclusion and feelings of worth.
In 2021, we received the best response we've ever had to this survey question, with 95 percent of persons surveyed reporting that they have experienced improved social inclusion in their communities.
We believe this success could be because TLM retained focus on persons affected by leprosy throughout the Covid crisis and ensured an inclusive response from governments and other organisations.
In 2021, more persons affected by leprosy spoke at the UN's CRPD Conference (Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability) than at any previous conference.
This engagement within the wider disability sector is laying the foundations for growth and a greater collective voice for persons affected by leprosy.
In 2021, TLM filed a Universal Periodic Review report with the UN Human Rights Council. The report detailed the human rights situation of persons affected by leprosy and persons with disability in Papua New Guinea.
The Human Rights Council has asked the government to take action on a number of the issues we highlighted.
As well as this victory, we also presented members of the Human Rights Council with a petition on the subject of discriminatory laws. This petition followed a successful online campaign in countries across the world.
We asked the members of the Council to remember these laws when they are reviewing the human rights situation of one of the offending countries.
We hope that, in the years to come, more countries will hear from the Council about their discriminatory laws.
TLM has been working with persons affected by leprosy to create a greater awareness of leprosy within the wider disability sector and within the UN's human rights framework.
Now that we have established the foundations of this space, we aim to create stronger partnerships and strengthen our collective voice within these wider networks.
We aim to support persons affected by leprosy as they hold governments to their commitments to the UN's human rights and disability rights frameworks.
