More than a hundred heads of universities have endorsed The Nippon Foundation’s 2011 Global Appeal about the important role education has to play in lessening stigma and discrimination towards persons affected by leprosy.

This is the Sixth such Global Appeal that has been organised around World Leprosy Day – the last Sunday in January every year. Mr Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, the World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for the Elimination o Leprosy and the Japanese Government’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy, made a speech at the launch on 25^th January 2011, which was hosted by Peking University in conjunction with the China Society for Human Rights. Mr Sasakawa said: “Through education, correct understanding and knowledge can be spread. Though education people become aware of others’ suffering. It can instil in us a sense that their pain is a matter for us too. Every effort must be made to resolve this issue, from every standpoint”.

 

Equally, if persons affected by leprosy are allowed to go to school, a right they are so often denied in many countries, and have the opportunity to undertake further study if they wish, they will be better placed to overcome the social and economic barriers society has placed in their way.

 

So deep rooted is stigma and discrimination towards persons affected by leprosy that multifaceted efforts are required to root it out: from a Chinese students’ initiative of socialising with persons affected by leprosy in remote “recovery villages” to the development of policy and recommendations through the United Nations.

 

Last year the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution endorsing Principles and Guidelines for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons Affected by Leprosy and Their Family Members. These call on States, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the media to help raise awareness throughout society that “persons affected by leprosy and their family members should not be discriminated against on the grounds of having or having had leprosy”. These Principles and Guidelines also encourage higher education institutions, including medical schools and nursing schools, to include information about leprosy in their curricula. In addition, they urge incorporation of the human rights of persons affected by leprosy and their family members into the national human rights education programme of each State.

 

 

 

Click on the following link to read the 2011 Global Appeal:

http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng/20110125AppealContent.html

 

Speech made by the Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Mr Yohei Sasakawa:

http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng/speeches/20110125GASpeech.html

 

Global Appeal 2011: Ceremony & Press Conference

http://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng/news/20110124GAMediaAlert.html

 

 

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