UN examines how EU supports rights of persons with disabilities

Last week, EDF and its members were in Geneva and took part in the examination of the EU by the UN Expert Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On 27-28 August, the UN Committee held a Constructive Dialogue with the EU delegation on the EU’s work on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), the first international human rights treaty ever ratified by the EU. On Thursday 3 September the UN Committee will adopt its recommendations for the EU and set the EU agenda for the next years for the human rights of 80 million persons with disabilities in Europe.

EDF was present with many of its European members in Geneva. The EDF delegation consisted of Autism Europe, Inclusion Europe, European Network of (Ex-)Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, Mental Health Europe, European Network on Independent Living, CBM/IDDC, European Federation of Hard of Hearing People, International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus and the European Union of the Deaf.

EDF and members held a side event on 27 August before the start of the EU Constructive Dialogue. EDF and its members presented the priorities on the implementation of the CRPD in Europe and answered to the many questions of the UN Committee members. The constructive dialogue started on Thursday 27 August in the afternoon and continued on Friday morning on 28 August.

The EU delegation consisted of Director-General of the Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Michel Servoz and his colleagues of the UN CRPD focal point of the European Commission, the Disability Unit of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. 20 representatives out of the 28 member states of the EU were also present as observers.

Many UN Committee members questioned the EU delegation on its composition and on the absence of representatives of the other EU institutions, in particular DG Justice, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

During the dialogue, the Committee posed deep questions on EDF and members’ priority issues such as the revision and transformation of the European Disability Strategy into a comprehensive strategy to implement the CRPD across all EU institutions and member states, the need for a structured dialogue with DPOs in EU decision making, and the need for a CRPD compliant focal point and EU monitoring framework, and the absence of an EU inter-institutional co-ordination mechanism to implement the CRPD.

The Committee also had many questions and comments on the use of the EU funds, the absence of comprehensive equal treatment legislation and the European Accessibility Act. EDF members brought in the perspective of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, hard of hearing and deaf persons and expertise on health, international cooperation, and independent living, amongst others.

Visit EDF’s website and find more information about the constructive dialogue in Geneva. Follow all the updates on Twitter: #crpd14

Share this article: