COMMENTARY: US Senate should ratify disabilities treaty - The Washington Post

COMMENTARY: US Senate should ratify disabilities treaty

By Curtis Ramsey-lucas | Religion News Service,

Published: February 24

Nearly one billion people worldwide live with a disability but many do not enjoy the same rights,
freedoms, and opportunities as those without a disability.

In many countries people with disabilities are denied basic
rights to family life, education, or even a name. People with mental or
physical disabilities are often kept against their will in institutions
in deplorable conditions, chained to beds or confined to cages. Even in
countries where they are not forced into institutions, many people with
disabilities are effectively prisoners in their own homes because of
widespread physical inaccessibility. Throughout the world people with
disabilities face poverty because of severe employment discrimination.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
known as the disabilities treaty, is designed to address these
injustices and inequities.

COMMENTARY: US Senate should ratify disabilities treaty - The Washington Post

Joni Eareckson Tada Urges Prayer as Belgium May Legalize Euthanasia for Disabled Children

2:00PM EST 12/23/2013 Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada

I am dismayed that the Belgium Parliament may soon legalize euthanasia for children with disabilities. The irony is that this same parliament in 2009 ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD).
Article 10 in the CRPD clearly declares, "States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others."
How can, on one hand, Belgian legislators insist that people with disabilities have 'the inherent right to life' yet extend a so-called right to die to not merely adults but, shockingly, to minors who feel burdened by their disability?
Joni Eareckson Tada Urges Prayer as Belgium May Legalize Euthanasia for Disabled Children

Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations: Disability is Not Inability | LinkedIn

Ban Ki-moon

Secretary-General of the United Nations

Disability is Not Inability

December 02, 2013 

Disability is part of the human condition; almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life. There are currently more than a billion people with disabilities around the world – that’s around 15% of the population of the planet.



Although the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the right to work on an equal basis with others, too many persons with disabilities of working age do not have the opportunity to get a decent job. In developing countries up to 90% of this group are unemployed, with significant consequence: The International Labour Organization (ILO) has found that excluding persons with disabilities from the labour market in some low- and middle-income countries costs economies as much as 7% of GDP.
Many of the challenges to accessing work and career for persons with disabilities are obvious, such as physical obstacles in the work place. But a major challenge is one that may be unseen and can, at times, seem almost insurmountable: the ignorance and misconception about disability that fuels stigma and discrimination.

Disability is Not Inability | LinkedIn

Inclusion Japan’s Testimony on CRPD » Inclusion International

Inclusion Japan’s Testimony on CRPD

November 29, 2013 

By Nagase Osamu



On 28 November, Ms. Kubo Atsuko, President of Inclusion Japan, made a testimony at the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the House of Councillors (upper house), strongly supporting the speedy ratification of the CRPD.  Disability rights movement in Japan, including Inclusion Japan, prevented the government from the ratification in March 2009, when the government tried to ratify without significant harmonization.  With the passage of the act on disability elimination in June 2013, prohibiting disability discrimination and mandating reasonable accommodation, the disability community in Japan is now encouraging the parliament and the government to ratify the CRPD within the current extraordinary session of the Diet (parliament) ending on 6 December 2013

Inclusion Japan’s Testimony on CRPD » Inclusion International

FRA presents its tasks in the EU-level CRPD monitoring framework to 2013 Work Forum | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

FRA presents its tasks in the EU-level CRPD monitoring framework to 2013 Work Forum

Published At: 

31/10/2013

FRA participated in the 2013 Work Forum on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in the EU on 24-25 October.

During the event, FRA participated in a panel discussion with the other members of the EU-level CRPD monitoring framework under Article 33(2) of the Convention, namely the European Commission, the European Ombudsman, the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament and the European Disability Forum. FRA presented its tasks within the framework, including data collection and the development of benchmarks and indicators.
FRA presents its tasks in the EU-level CRPD monitoring framework to 2013 Work Forum | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Anhörung zur UN-Konvention im US-Senat | kobinet-nachrichten

Anhörung zur UN-Konvention im US-Senat

Veröffentlicht am Donnerstag, 31. Oktober 2013 von Ottmar Miles-Paul

Flagge der USA
© kobinet/omp

Washington, D.C. (kobinet) 138 Staaten dieser Welt haben die UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention bereits ratifiziert und damit als rechtliche Grundlage in der nationalen Gesetzgebung verbindlich verankert. Nicht dazu gehören die USA. Versuche, die Ratifikation zu erreichen, scheiterten in der Vergangenheit an den Rebublikanern. Nun soll ein neuer Versuch zur Ratifizierung in den USA unternommen werden, hierfür findet am 5. November eine Anhörung im US-Senat statt.
Anhörung zur UN-Konvention im US-Senat | kobinet-nachrichten

 Obama To Announce U.S. Signing Of International Treaty On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities | American Civil Liberties Union

 NAD Urges U.S. Senate to Ratify the CRPD | National Association of the Deaf

 Rights of Persons with Disabilities treaty goes before U.S. Senate

UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention: 6. Konferenz der Vertragsstaaten - BIZEPS-INFO

Text: Dr. Marianne Schulze · erstellt am: 21. Juli 2013 11:27 Uhr

UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention: 6. Konferenz der Vertragsstaaten

In New York fand vom 17. bis 19. Juli 2013 die sechste Konferenz der Vertragsstaaten der Konvention über die Rechte von Menschen mit Behinderungen statt.

Die nunmehr 133 Mitgliedsstaaten berieten über zahlreiche Aspekte der Konventionsumsetzung, mit Verweisen auf Pilotprojekte und Beispiele guter Praxis, wie auch auf Herausforderungen in der Implementierung.

UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention: 6. Konferenz der Vertragsstaaten - BIZEPS-INFO

 UN Enable - Sixth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 17-19 July 2013

WHO | How a Pacific islander with disability is helping build a better future for all

How a Pacific islander with disability is helping build a better future for all

3 December 2012: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

November 2012

Few would have predicted that Ipul Powaseu would grow up to be a ministerial advisor and a driving force behind the country’s efforts to ratify the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (CRPD).

Overcoming barriers

WHO/S. Busin

Ipul was born in a small village in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and affected by polio at an early age. She needs crutches to walk and cannot walk long distances. This made it particularly hard to get to school: she lived 2 kilometres away, and often arrived late. But her teachers were sympathetic. She was a bright child and the teachers would often look out for her and delay ringing the school bell until she arrived.
Ipul’s family thought that it would be enough for her to learn to read and write. They assumed she would leave school after Grade 6. But Ipul kept going. Each year she came out among the top students in the class, and went on to graduate from university with a master’s degree.
Ipul praises her schools for removing some of the social and physical barriers to her achieving her full academic potential.

Becoming change agents

Today Ipul wears many hats. As Chairperson of the PNG Assembly of Disabled Persons, she works closely with the government. She says, “People with disabilities are now taking their responsibilities as change agents seriously. We recognize that unless we take the first step, no one will listen or recognize us. Change cannot occur when people work in isolation. We must work together for a better society for all.”

Breaking new ground on inclusion

On 3 October 2012, Ipul joined representatives from WHO Country Office and the World Bank Pacific Office to launch the World report on disability at the 2nd Pacific Disability Ministers’ Meeting in Port Moresby. This meeting of government leaders from 14 Pacific nations broke new ground on inclusion: each country delegation included representatives of its national Disabled People’s Organizations who contributed to the debate. The Right Honourable Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, said, “We must not delay efforts to respond positively to issues and constraints that limit and restrict disability services and opportunities.”
The launch of the World report on disability offered an overview of the evidence on disability and recommendations for action. Ipul and other disability advocates urged ministers to use the report as an important tool in delivering on their national and regional disability strategies and meeting their obligations under the CRPD. As Ipul said, “This is about rights, but it is also about removing barriers so that the enormous and often untapped talent of people with disabilities can be used in national development”.

Create an inclusive and accessible world

Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all is the theme of the 2012 International Day of Persons with Disabilities celebrated on 3 December. The World report on disability provides “how to” information for governments to make this happen in areas such as:

• health
• rehabilitation
• social support
• education, and
• employment.

The report includes recommendations on ways to improve access health services, such as establishing health care standards for people with disabilities, and strategies to address financial barriers. It also suggests using alternative models of service delivery, such as telemedicine and mobile clinic services.

Mohammed El Khadiri

Ipul is also one of ten international expert members of the WHO Rehabilitation Guidelines Development Group. This group is leading efforts to develop global guidelines on health-related rehabilitation, providing recommendations on how to develop, expand and improve the quality of rehabilitation services in less-resourced setting. Rehabilitation is proven to overcome difficulties in functioning, improve participation levels, and reduce pressure on health systems. However, significant gaps in the provision of and access to rehabilitation exist.

Rehabilitation: small investments create enormous benefits

“Being a person with a physical impairment, I know just how important access to rehabilitation services is to being able to participate fully in society” says Ipul. “I hope that these guidelines will prove to governments around the world that the relatively small investment required for rehabilitation has enormous benefits in enabling people with disability to attain their fullest potential in terms of independence and participation.”

WHO | How a Pacific islander with disability is helping build a better future for all

United Nations News Centre - Seeking to advance rights of people with disabilities, UN treaty review starts in New York

Seeking to advance rights of people with disabilities, 

UN treaty review starts in New York

 

 

 

Participants at the Fifth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

12 September 2012 – Hundreds of advocates and experts on disability, as well as Government delegates, have gathered at UN Headquarters for the start of the Fifth Session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which will have a special focus on women and children.

“It is our responsibility as members of the international community and citizens of our own countries to bring about changes to more than one billion persons with disabilities worldwide,” the UN Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo, said in a news release.

“There is no development when so many people are without equal opportunities and excluded from society,” he added.

The Conference of States Parties – the largest international meeting on disability issues – is held each year to exchange experience and ideas for implementation of the Convention, which was adopted in December 2006. There are currently 119 States that have ratified or acceded to the Convention – these States Parties are required to promote full equality and participation of persons with disabilities in society.

Ending on Friday, the theme of the Conference is ‘Making the CRPD count for Women and Children.’ It brings together hundreds of delegates from Governments, UN system organizations, academics and civil society, including representatives of organizations of persons with disabilities, to review good practices and challenges in the implementation of the Convention, especially for groups with vulnerabilities.

“Women and children with disabilities face aggravated forms of discrimination and other forms of obstacles in life,” said the Conference’s President, Mårten Grunditz, the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN. “So much talent is wasted – but opportunities can be seized and created. Let’s make it count for them – because it’s right and it’s smart.”

“Albert Einstein had a learning disability and didn’t speak until age three. Ludwig van Beethoven was deaf. Helen Keller was deaf and blind. These stories tell the same simple truth: disability is by no means an inability,” added Mr. Wu.
“These individuals, just like many others, including the incredible athletes of the recent Paralympic Games, achieved greatness and demonstrated that by breaking down barriers, and with the right opportunities, exceptional things are possible.”

The CPRD entered into force in May 2008. It followed decades of work by the United Nations to change attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities, and takes a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as ‘objects’ of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as ‘subjects’ with rights, capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society.

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United Nations News Centre - Seeking to advance rights of people with disabilities, UN treaty review starts in New York

Ratification Is One Thing, Action Is Quite Another | Open Society Foundations Blog - OSF

Ratification Is One Thing, Action Is Quite Another

December 5, 2011 | by Judith Klein

In Europe, we have yet to see much action on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), despite the fact that it has been ratified by the European Union, all EU countries have signed it, and some Central and Eastern European countries were among the first in the world to ratify. While every part of the CRPD is important, Article 19, on the right to live independently and be included in the community, is critical in the many countries globally where the predominant form of care for people with disabilities is to segregate them from society in long-stay residential institutions. As long as people are locked up in institutions, they will continue to be denied their full rights under the Convention (such as equal recognition before the law, Article 12, or respect for home and the family, Article 23).
Although the original motivation for relegating people with disabilities to institutions may have been altruistic, institutions have become an end in themselves, fiercely protecting their existence and resisting any change. The real evil of institutions is the denial of basic human rights. In the 1970s, Burton Blatt, a renowned advocate for people with intellectual disabilities, said that “if there is hope in what we have learned in our examination of institutionalization, it is not any improvement of institutional life—imprisonment and segregation can be made more comfortable, but they can never be made into freedom and participation.” Denying the average citizen freedom and participation in society would be a scandal of the first degree, but the “us and them” mentality makes it acceptable to do it to people with disabilities.
How does this sound: you get woken up at a certain time every morning, regardless of what day of the week it is, and regardless of how tired or unwell you might be. You get some clothes from a common locker that is always locked except at dressing time; it doesn’t matter if they don’t fit. You get herded to a cafeteria where you get what someone else has decided you’ll have for breakfast. Then you spend the rest of the day sitting around in a day room watching a program on TV that someone else has decided you’ll watch. The monotony might be broken by a shower—but not today, it’s not shower day. Then back to the cafeteria for lunch en masse, followed by a herding back to the day room for an afternoon of more mind numbing nothingness. And if you complain about that schedule, you are likely to be punished—perhaps a hair cut as punishment? Or wearing pajamas all day as punishment? Or getting locked up in solitary confinement? No problem, someone else will decide that. So, how does that sound? Like living hell? I can assure you that it is.

Ratification Is One Thing, Action Is Quite Another | Open Society Foundations Blog - OSF

A Community for All: Implementing Article 19 | Public Health Program | Open Society Foundations - OSF

A Community for All: Implementing Article 19

A Guide for Monitoring Progress on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Community for All guide and checklist offers a detailed look at the rights identified in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), especially Article 19 of the CRPD which provides for the right to live independently and be included in the community. The guide and checklist are intended to help advocates and program implementers identify the obligations on States to realize these rights. Community for All promotes the right of all people with disabilities to live and participate in the community as equal citizens, particularly in countries in which people with disabilities continue to be segregated in institutions.
This guide and checklist were developed as part of a project of the Mental Health Initiative and the Law and Health Initiative of the Open Society Public Health Program. They are intended as working documents. Feedback on how these materials may be improved is welcome. Email mhi@osi.hu with your comments.
Download the guide and checklist below.

A Community for All: Implementing Article 19 | Public Health Program | Open Society Foundations - OSF

Inclusion Europe | Two days of the CRPD Committee meeting

Two days of the CRPD Committee meeting

Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities is a group of people, who check if countries do what the Convention says. This group of people is having a meeting in Switzerland. Among other things, they discussed if Spain is doing what the Convention says.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is holding its 6^thsession from 19-23 September in Geneva. During this session, the Committee is reviewing the report of Spain and will adopt Lists of Issues on Peru and China today and tomorrow.

The Committee reviewed the Spanish state initial report published in May 2010 on the implementation of the UNCRPD in this country two years after ratification. The same month, CERMI, an umbrella organisation promoting the rights of people with disabilities in Spain, released an alternative report which has also been examined by the Committee.

At its 5^th session in April 2011, the Committee prepared a list of written issues, to ask for additional information from the Spanish government. The Spanish government has answered in written to the questions. Yesterday a constructive dialogue between the government representatives and the CRPD Committee members took place. During one full day, the Committee members asked a bench of questions about several articles of the Convention, to get the best picture possible.

Edah MAINA, Committee member from Kenya, recalled that declaring a person incapacitated is against the provision of Art. 12 CRPD and she asked the representatives of the Government what the plans of the Ministry of Justice to conform to the Art. 12 are and what timeframe to abolish all subsisted decisions making measures and practices is envisaged. Gabor Gombos, Committee member from Hungary, asked the government about the number of adults under guardianship, as he was not satisfied by the answer given in the written questions. Furthermore, Teresia Degener, Committee member from Germany, asked about equal access to fundamental sexual and reproductive rights. She raised the concern that sterilization without consent is still allowed in some cases – which is not compatible with the CRPD.

NGOs can listen to the debate but cannot intervene at this stage. Informal meetings took place with the Committee members to discuss the most burning issues, according to the representatives of the civil society. NGOs have, thanks to these flexible and informal opportunities, the possibility to bring their concerns to the Committee about the implementation of the CRPD in their country.

Concluding observations will be adopted on Thursday by the Committee during a closed meeting session and they will be published in the coming weeks. The concluding observations may be a useful tool and a roadmap to follow up key issues in Spain after the Committee session. It also give DPOs an opportunity to have a dialogue with the government to work together to put into action the recommendations of the Committee.

Inclusion Europe | Two days of the CRPD Committee meeting

Disability Law News: Human Rights Organisations Oppose the Forced Sterilisation of Women with Disabilities in France

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Human Rights Organisations Oppose the Forced Sterilisation of Women with Disabilities in France

An alliance of human rights groups has spoken out against the forced sterilisation of women with mental disabilities in France. See here and here. Last week the Center for Reproductive Rights, European Disability Forum, Interights, International Disability Alliance and Mental Disability Advocacy Center; submitted written comments to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gauer and Others v France (Application no 61521/08). A copy of the written comments is available here. Gauer and Others v France is a case involving five women with intellectual disabilities who were forcibly sterilised. The decision of the European Court of Human Rights will be an important statement on the reproductive rights of persons with disabilities and the positive obligations on the States in safeguarding persons with disabilities against abuse.

The European Court of Human Rights has used the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as an interpretive aid to the European Convention on Human Rights and it is clear that the ECHR has been edging closer to the philosophy of legal capacity as set out in Article 12 of the CRPD. In Shtukaturov v Russia the ECtHR stated “…the existence of a mental disorder, even a serious one cannot be the sole reason to justify full incapacitation”. This was an important statement by the ECtHR acknowledging that there was a lack of proportionality in the legal response to the person’s capacity in that case. Moreover, the Shtukaturov decision is important in that ECtHR acknowledges that the deprivation of legal capacity constitutes a serious intrusion into a persons right to respect for their private and family life under Article 8 and domestic legislation has to provide “a tailored-made response” in this area. So this case will provide an invaluable opportunity for the Court to engage with the CRPD and further develop its jurisprudence on the right to legal capacity. Other human rights that will be engaged under the European Convention on Human Rights include:

• Article 3 (prohibition of torture)
• Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life)
• Article 13 (right to an effective remedy)
• Article 14 (Prohibition of discrimination)

Disability Law News: Human Rights Organisations Oppose the Forced Sterilisation of Women with Disabilities in France

Disabled see no change in their lives « RAWA News

Disabled see no change in their lives

Currently about 2.7 percent of Afghans are disabled

Afghanistan joined the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but disabled people claim there has been no positive change in their lives.

The disabled want work opportunities, vocational training, and a higher monthly salary from the government, saying 650 afghanis a month could not solve their problems. The disabled currently receive a benefit of 400 afghanis (about $8.50) a month from the government.

Currently about 2.7 percent of Afghans are disabled, and this stratum of society is urging the government to find a way for them to be self-sufficient and independent.

Disabled see no change in their lives « RAWA News