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BRK-ALLIANZ – German CRPD ALLIANCE (Eds.)
Alliance of German Non-governmental Organisations on the
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Response from the
German CRPD Alliance (BRK-Allianz)
to List of Issues (CRPD/C/DEU/Q/1)
in relation to the initial report of Germany
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
13th session, 25 Mar - 17 Apr 2015
Appendix - Proposal for questions 13th session
Articles 1-4
- What steps will be taken to change the official German translation of the CRPD in due consideration of the “shadow translation” and in accordance with the CRPD Committee’s recommendation in the Concluding Observations on Austria (CRPD/C/AUT/CO/1, para 7) and how will the participation of associations of people with disabilities be guaranteed?
- Which of the UN CRPD norms does the Federal Government consider to be an immediately applicable law as defined in § 4,2 UN CRPD, and what will the Federal Government do in order to make the general German public aware of these immediately applicable rights?
Article 6
- What steps are being taken to guarantee a carer of the same gender in the German Long-Term Care Insurance Act?
Article 8
- What steps are being taken to develop schemes for comprehensive human rights education and training within the administration and the public and private sphere, in cooperation with disabled people’s organizations?
Article 9
- The German government signed the Marrakesh treaty in June 2013. So far the German government has shown no attempt to ratify it. When will the German government ratify the Marrakesh treaty to ensure its speedy enactment and to make an effort for the facilitation of text accessibility for Germany’s disabled citizens?
Article 16
- What kind of measures will be taken in order to identify cases of violence (e.g. police investigation) or provide help for the victims of violence (e.g. orphanages or social support) that would be made available for the persons with disabilities – including persons with disabilities within institutions - with the purpose of fighting against violence (e.g. awareness-raising campaigns)?
- When will the law on protection against violence be reviewed so that it ensures the protection of women and men with disabilities who were or are exposed to violence, who are in need of care or assistance and/or live in institutions for disabled persons?
- What steps are being taken to ensure that women’s shelters, counseling services and other offers related to support in cases of violence are accessible?
- What steps are being taken to define, implement and effectively monitor care standards in order to ensure that malpractice in both institutional residential accommodation and non-residential accommodation will be eliminated and avoided in the future?
- What steps are being taken to standardize the penalties for sexual assault, regardless of the question of whether the victim is or is not considered to be able to resist?
Article 19
- What steps are being taken to enable persons with disabilities to use their Personal Budget and reduce existing implementation problems?
- In how many cases between 2007 and 2014 did funding agencies deny a transfer from an institutional residential living situation to a non-residential context, possibly with reference to § 13,1.1 SGB XII (clause on additional costs)?
- How will the Federal Government ensure that further development regarding institutional and non-institutional living situations be monitored, especially as the Integration Assistance will no longer differentiate between “institutional” and “non-institutional” when they make decisions about the services or funding they will provide?
Article 23
- What steps are being taken to clearly establish the right to parental assistance and supported parenting on the Federal level to ensure that parents with disabilities can retain custody of their children and have their right to family respected and protected?
Article 24
- Do the (increasing) numbers of disabled children in integration classes also include children in external classes and children who were subjected to a diagnosis, but for whom no needs for special pedagogy measures were determined?
- Is it correct that regardless of increasing integration figures, the proportion of disabled children in German special schools has continued to increase? What will the Federal Government and the Länder do in order to guarantee that disabled children presently in special schools can finally realize their right to inclusive education?
- How is the fact that all Länder continue to hold on to their special school systems, and that they simply plan to complete this system by “inclusion options” (parallel system), instead of making efforts to dismantle this system, compatible with § 24 UN CRPD?
- How will the individual right to reasonable accommodations for disabled school-children be guaranteed? Would you agree that the extensive “reservations” included in many Länder laws, stipulating that the human resources, organizational and material preconditions for inclusive education must already exist, does in fact undermine the right to reasonable accommodations as defined in § 24 and § 4 UN CRPD? Which steps will the Federation and the Länder take against this?
- How will the federal government assure that, in regular schools, reasonable accommodation and compensation for disadvantages (Nachteilsausgleich) will be allowed for, such as the provision of sign language interpreters and school assistance?
- What steps are being taken by the Federal Government to settle the deficits in statistical data on disabled students in schools and universities?
- What steps are being taken to change the incorrect official German translation of the English term “inclusion” by “integration” in Art. 24 CRPD?
- Which quality standards exist on the Federal level in order to ensure that the changes towards inclusive education comply with high quality standards?
Article 25
- What steps are being taken to dismantle barriers to access to health care (attitude, knowledge, powers to act, communication skills, on-site and communication barriers, etc.) to ensure the provision of reasonable accommodation, quality and trained care, and respect for the free and informed consent of the individual concerned?
- What steps are being taken to train all health professionals on the rights of persons with disabilities including the provision of reasonable accommodation, the right to free and informed consent, and communicating with the persons of disabilities?
Article 27
- How can it be ensured that unemployed persons with disabilities have access to promotion measures according to their needs across the country? How can it be ensured that the right to participate in working life be realized independently from people’s places of residence, even if they have been unemployed for long periods of time?
- Which steps will the Federal Government take in order to strengthen the rights of representatives of persons with severe disabilities and of the WfbM councils?
Article 28
- What steps are being taken to ensure that participation services for disabled persons will be granted by means of a separate social services law [Bundesteilhabegesetz], detached from social welfare, and to ensure that these services are granted independent of income and assets?
Article 29
- In order to allow for persons with disabilities to exercise their right to political participation as defined in the UN CRPD, what steps are being taken to support the creation and operation of self-representation organizations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) including providing both financial and institutional support?
Article 32
- The “Guidelines on treaty-specific documents to be submitted by states parties under article 35, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” state that State parties should report on whether policies and programmes targeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) take into account the rights of persons with disabilities. This has not been covered by the states report. In which way do German policies and programs targeting the MDGs take persons with disabilities into account?
Berlin, February 2015