In a historic move towards empowering persons with disabilities, the Republic of the Marshall Islands Elections Administration (RMIEA) has formally endorsed the establishment of an Elections Disability Accessibility Working Group (EDAWG).
RMIEA will chair the EDAWG, which will be comprised of representatives of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (OPDs). Its mandate will be to identify reasonable accommodations to make election processes more inclusive of persons with disabilities.
The establishment of the RMI EDAWG was the outcome of a recent workshop hosted by the Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the Marshall Islands Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs (MOCIA), under which the RMIEA works. This workshop from 27 to 28 March 2024 focussed on sharing findings and data with local disabled persons organisations from a survey done by SPC with MOCIA on accessibility for persons with disabilities ahead of the RMI general elections held on 20 November last year.
RMI Minister for Culture and Internal Affairs, Honourable Jess Gasper Jr., who spoke at the closing of the disability reflection survey workshop, shared that he looked forward to all the recommendations that came out of the SPC – MOCIA disability reflection survey and workshop “so that we [RMI Government] could implement policy to continue the push towards equity and inclusivity...”
In 2023, SPC’s PROJECT Governance programme, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), supported MOCIA and RMIEA in carrying out a survey across the different atolls of RMI to gather data and information on how to strengthen inclusive and participatory elections for persons with disabilities.
According to the MOCIA Disability Coordinator, Janet Schmidt, the disability was a great opportunity to learn about persons with disabilities and the challenges faced in the voting process.
She shared that the new RMI EDAWG had outlined a few of the recommendations that the Organisations for Persons with Disabilities will explore and work towards to ensure greater accessibility and increased participation for persons with disabilities in future election processes.
Ms Schmidt shared that the findings from the survey will guide the development of the workplan established by EDAWG.
“The workshop that we had to discuss the findings of the disability survey was really useful as it was an avenue for all OPDs and stakeholders to identify the recommendations that the RMI EDAWG can work towards for future elections,” she added.
“The findings of the survey really motivate us as it has given us evidence-based data to show us where we have to go in terms of ensuring inclusivity in the RMI electoral processes and developing inclusive electoral strategies,” Ms Schmidt shared.
Ms Brenda Alik, Secretary of MOCIA, stated that “MOCIA is ready to support all the recommendations from the workshop reflections and recommendations.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Marshall Islands Disabled Person’s Organisation, Mr Kanjen Kumtak, one of the members of the recently established EDAWG shared that the last election was the first time ever for RMIEA to work with persons with disabilities.
“Before we never used to work closely with persons with disabilities, which was a welcome change in the way elections are being conducted,” Mr Kumtak shared.
Mr Kumtak shared that one of the first things the newly established committee should work on, and that has come out as a finding of the election survey is the issue of accessibility for persons with disabilities.
“I think the newly established EDAWG committee will closely be working with RMIEA and make the process of elections more inclusive and accessible for all persons with disabilities,” he said.
“Through the work done by this Working Group, we hope to prepare all persons with disabilities to have the right to vote and prepare them well for the next elections in RMI,” Mr Kumtak added.
SPC’s Human Rights and Social Inclusion Officer, Mr Ranjesh Prakash, shared that SPC will continue to provide technical support to RMI to achieve greater disability inclusion in democratic processes.
“Through PROJECT Governance, SPC is pleased to offer the interested Pacific Election Observation Management Bodies such as the RMIEA to help persons with disabilities achieve their goals of inclusion and participation in the democracy. We will continue to do this through a people-centred approach by reaching out and ensuring inputs from OPDs are collected to inform any support and work towards the design and implementation of the inclusive elections process in RMI,” Mr Prakash said.
