European Disability Forum: United Nations human rights recommendations to the EU
On 27 and 28 of August, the European Union was examined for the first time by a United Nations human rights committee in Geneva- the expert committee on the rights of persons with disabilities. Having ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2010, the EU was called to present the work it has done on the implementation of the Convention since then. This is the first international human rights treaty that the EU as a whole has ever ratified.
EDF and its members were also present for the EU review in Geneva to follow the constructive dialogue between the UN and the EU. You missed the dialogue? Watch it on the UN’s webstream.
The UN Committee has now published its concluding observations and recommendations on how the EU can promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Europe in areas such as: freedom of movement, non-discrimination, independent living, education, employment, humanitarian aid and international cooperation, legal capacity, access to justice, liberty and security, health, participation in elections etc.
Find the UN’s concluding observations to the EU on the UN’s website.
Today, EDF and its members warmly welcome the UN’s recommendations to the EU. In many ways they reflect the priorities of the disability movement. We celebrate this day as the beginning of an important period. The EU has been given powerful recommendations to make the rights of persons with disabilities a top priority.
What’s next?
The UN required the EU to provide feedback within one year on three areas:
- Progress in its independent monitoring mechanism,
- Adoption of the long awaited European Accessibility Act,
- Reviewing its Declaration of competences- this means the EU should bring its list of policy areas to which the Convention applies, up to date.
The EU has a follow-up review in four years time. It will have to explain at that moment which steps it has taken to implement the recommendations. The next progress report has to be submitted by January 2019.
EDF together with its members and partners will continue working actively to promote the Convention for the coming 4 years based on the UN’s concluding observations.
“This is a historic moment for us. People with disabilities across the European Union have been hit hard by austerity, and face increasing poverty and marginalisation. Today, the UN expert committee has recognised this, and has provided a powerful and comprehensive set of recommendations to the EU. This gives a strong mandate to the EU, including all its institutions and agencies to fully address the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all of their work. The EU has been a world leader in committing as a regional body to this human rights Convention. It can also be a leader in the implementation of the Convention. We, as EDF, will continue to work hard with our members and allies to promote these recommendations so that 80 million Europeans with disabilities will feel the benefit of the Convention directly in their lives,” says EDF’s President, Yannis Vardakastanis.
