Activities for Voter rights of Persons with Disabilities 

Mongolia had acceded to the United Nation (UN)’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009. According to the convention, states shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others.  The states shall take legal actions to ensure these rights and revise any laws preventing the political participation of people based on their disabilities. UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reviewed Mongolia’s report on disability rights in 2015.

Although it is apparent that electoral participation of PWDs is not adequately enabled, there is not enough research to back up the claim. While the political rights of PWD are provided on paper, state organizations and citizens are not fully equipped to implement those laws. Therefore, the Parent-Teacher Association of Mongolia conducted training for over public officials on inclusiveness in elections and an independent, third-party observation during the 2021 Presidential election to assess accessibility for PWDs to participate in the election independently. Organized in collaboration with PWD civil society groups, the observation as part of the “Voters with disabilities” project which is made possible by the support of the Strengthening Women and Youth Engagement in the Electoral and Political Processes in Mongolia (SWYEEPPM) program implemented by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the supporters and funders. The assessment was conducted independently from any political parties.

 

The projected trained 20 PWDs to conduct the observation. Out of the 20 (15 female and 5 male), three people have visual impairment, four people have mobility issues, eleven people had hearing impairment, and two people worked with people with hearing loss. Four of the observers were from Darkhan-Uul, Zawkhan, and Uvs provinces. All the observers assessed the information accessibility of television, social media, and print materials distributed during the campaigning period and on the election day. 15 of the observers, accompanied by 9 personal aides or sign language interpreters conducted in-person observation at 38 polling stations of 6 districts, Darkhan city of Darkhan-Uul Province, Uliastai city in Zavkhan province, and Ulaangom city in Uvs province on the election day.