ABSTRACT
In discussing employment, this chapter tackles one of the fundamental rights of people with disabilities. According to the ILO, work of decent quality is the most effective means of escaping the vicious circle of marginalization, poverty and social exclusion.1 The United Nations report published in August 2006 states that unemployment among people with disabilities is as high as 80 per cent in some countries. Often employers assume that people with disabilities are unable to work. However, an estimated 386 million of the world’s working-age population have disabilities.2 This large-scale unemployment costs the global economy an estimated US$ 1.9 trillion per year.3 The ILO has appealed for the barriers obstructing disabled people from getting jobs and taking their place in society to be dismantled through a variety of policy measures, regulations, programmes and services.4 To this end, article 8 of the recent UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities calls for the skills, merits and abilities of persons with disabilities and their contributions to the workplace and the labour market to be recognized.5 The Optional Protocol of this convention was opened for signature by all states and by regional integration organizations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 30 March 2007. The list of signatories includes a number of Islamic countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Sudan and Yemen.6
