Understanding the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

A Handbook on the Human Rights
of Persons with Disabilities

September 2009

Understanding The UN Convention On The Rights Of Persons with Disabilities

Marianne Schulze

Edited by: Handicap International

Acknowledgements

Author: Marianne Schulze

Technical support: Damjan Tatic, Kirsten Young, Muhannad Alazzeh

The first version of this manual was named “Understanding the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and dated from September 2007. It was used in the framework of the Share-SEE project[1]. The first version of this manual has been realised thanks to the financial support of The Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and Handicap International (HI).

This second version has been updated by Marianne Schulze with the support of Handicap International.

The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the organizations that provided support.

About the author: Marianne Schulze is an Australian-Austrian human rights advocate; based in Vienna, Austria she works as a free-lance consultant on a variety of human rights issues. She was a monitor, analyst, reporter and advocate in the negotiations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Since December 2008 she chairs the Austrian monitoring committee under the Convention. She studied law at the University of Sydney, Australia, the University of Vienna and – as a Fulbright scholar – at the Center for Civil & Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame du Lac. Her work is featured on www.humanrightsconsultant.at, where she blogs regularly.

Edited by: Handicap International, Professional Publications Unit, Catherine Dixon.

Graphics: Catherine Artiglia

Layout: Stéphanie Bardoux

Cover photo: UNCRPD 8th Ad Hoc Committee Meeting, Aug. 2006 © Catherine Dixon / Handicap International

ISBN: 978-2-909064-18-5

This guide may be used or reproduced for non-commercial uses only. The source has to be quoted in any event of use.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Foreword 5

Presentation of the Manual by the Author 6

References and Sources for this Guide 7

Acronyms 9

Introduction 10

Preamble 16

Article 1 Purpose 22

Article 2 Definitions 26

Article 3 General principles 29

Article 4 General obligations 33

Article 5 Equality and non-discrimination 41

Article 6 Women with disabilities 44

Article 7 Children with disabilities 47

Article 8 Awareness-raising 50

Article 9 Accessibility 52

Article 10 Right to life 57

Article 11 Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies 58

Article 12 Equal recognition before the law 60

Article 13 Access to justice 66

Article 14 Liberty and security of the person 67

Article 15 Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 69

Article 16 Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse 71

Article 17 Protecting the integrity of the person 75

Article 18 Liberty of movement and nationality 76

Article 19 Living independently and being included in the community 78

Article 20 Personal mobility 80

Article 21 Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information 81

Article 22 Respect for privacy 84

Article 23 Respect for home and the family 86

Article 24 Education 90

Article 25 Health 94

Article 26 Habilitation and rehabilitation 99

Article 27 Work and employment 101

Article 28 Adequate standard of living and social
protection 105

Article 29 Participation in political and public life 109

Article 30 Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport 112

Article 31 Statistics and data collection 115

Article 32 International cooperation 117

Article 33 National implementation and monitoring 119

Article 34 Committee on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities 122

Article 35 Reports by States Parties 124

Article 36 Consideration of reports 126

Article 37 Cooperation between States Parties and the Committee 127

Article 38 Relationship of the Committee with other bodies 127

Article 39 Report of the Committee 128

Article 40 Conference of States Parties 128

Final Clauses 129

Article 41 Depositary 129

Article 42 Signature 129

Article 43 Consent to be bound 129

Article 44 Regional integration organizations 129

Article 45 Entry into force 130

Article 46 Reservations 130

Article 47 Amendments 130

Article 48 Denunciation 131

Article 49 Accessible format 131

Article 50 Authentic texts 131

Optional Protocol 132

Appendix 1 : Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities 136

Appendix 2 : Core Human Rights Treaties 136

Foreword

The Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was drafted and negotiated between 2002 – 2006. Since that time, we have entered into the important processes of ratification, implementation and monitoring. As of July 2009, 59 countries have ratified the Convention, 37 have ratified its Optional Protocol and 139 have signed the CRPD.

At the international level, the first and second Conference of States Parties (COSP) were held in New York City in November, 2008 and in September, 2009. The CRPD Committee was elected and met for the first time in Geneva in February 2009. The Committee’s function is to monitor the implementation of the CRPD at the international level through receiving and reviewing reports from state parties and reports from civil society. The COSP has to become a central place for allowing for dialog and exchange between states, civil society, UN agencies and human rights institutions for the purpose of the implementation of the Convention.

This manual is a tool for explaining the content of the CRPD and provides detailed information on what occurred during the negotiation and drafting process. It gives a comprehensive overview of the CRPD, and the positions taken by the different stakeholders involved (government delegates, UN agencies, human rights institutions and other representatives from civil society, most importantly disabled people’s organizations (DPOs)).

This document also provides information on interpreting the text of the CRPD and providing further information for its implementation at the local, national, regional and international levels.

As we witness a global shift from the old individual and charity models of disability to the social model, the understanding of and hence the action taken on disability issues has changed from considering persons with disabilities as objects of pity to persons with human rights. This analysis of the text of the Convention is an important step to its promotion and understanding. It will support the movement for the realization of the paradigm change on disability issues by providing a clear framework on human rights and social development issues.

Philippe Chervin

Rhonda Neuhaus

Catherine Dixon

Presentation of the Manual by the Author

The purpose of this manual is to explain the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the context of other core human rights treaties to strengthen its place in the mainstream of human rights discourse. As has frequently been emphasized: the Convention does not create any new rights. It does, however, highlight the accessibility and inclusion angle of all human rights.

The manual goes through all the Articles of the Convention. It provides the narrative of the drafting process, whenever suitable and helpful to the general understanding of provisions. The bargaining and deals of a drafting process are a given and are therefore not dwelled on. Each Article is linked to similar provisions both in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core human rights treaties. The interrelation between the various human rights treaties is spelled out in the è Introduction.

Furthermore, most human rights have by now been subject to general explanations by expert bodies within the United Nations system. Wherever they seem helpful to gain a better understanding of the right, they have been included.

Most importantly, the manual gives a comprehensive – but by no means complete – overview of the positions taken by civil society, especially Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), and other stakeholders in the drafting process – as perceived by observers. Many of the suggestions provided by civil society, mainly through the International Disability Caucus (IDC) – which took shape in the negotiation process – are either summarized or provided in full. The civil society proposals are mainly those provided before the finalization of the Convention, all of them are taken from public domain.

The manual was first drafted for a training of NGOs and DPOs in Belgrade, Serbia in September 2007. Dr. Damjan Tatic, who subsequently took on the translation into Serbian with much admired bravery, commented on the initial draft with most helpful suggestions. The revision of said draft was supported by very useful remarks of Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh from Handicap International (a member of the IDC) in Amman. Both gentlemen had participated in the negotiations of the Convention, Dr. Tatic representing Serbia. Throughout the process of writing, Dr. Kirsten Young, who lent her expertise to the drafting process through Landmine Survivors Network (a member of the IDC also - now SurvivorCorps), shared her valuable insights and expertise. Finally, I wish to acknowledge Stefan Tromel, from the IDC who shared an unpublished commentary of the Convention. Notwithstanding the level of expert support, all errors remain the author’s.

I wish to acknowledge Alexandre Cote, then Director of Handicap International South East Europe program for kick-starting this project. My profuse thanks to Philippe Chervin and Catherine Dixon for seeing this text through to publication. Various people have lent their support to the drafting of this manual, they are too numerous to list, I would like to thank them all.

Marianne Schulze

References and Sources for this Guide

The text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities forms the obvious basis for this manual ; Convention text quotes are presented in this guide in bold letters in frames and in a different font. When other human rights texts are quoted, they appear in italics. When treaty bodies (committees) have issued comments or statements on one of these texts, they are presented in a frame in a different font.

There are several sources, which assist the understanding of the provisions’ history and scope – also framing them as broader human rights issues

In bold letters in the text below, their references are following on the next page.

The history of the Convention text is covered in a number of summary documents, the most important ones are the text following the Third Ad Hoc Committee, referred to as the Working Group Text and the redrafted version of the text, which the Chair, H.E. Ambassador Don MacKay crafted after the Sixth Ad Hoc Committee, referred to as the Working Text. In addition the history is supported by amendments and comments provided by governments, many of which are posted on the UN Enable web site, also in the Daily Summaries and Background Papers from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which can be found there.

Civil society, particularly DPOs, many of which became members of the International Disability Caucus (IDC) contributed enormously and tirelessly to the understanding of human rights issues in the disability context and therewith the drafting of a text strongly focused on the rights of persons with disabilities seen from a disability perspective. Particularly the IDC’s suggested amendments to the Working Text are an invaluable source in understanding a few of the controversies and also some last minute compromises.

The drafting process was closely followed by the observers of the International Service for Human Rights New York office; the analysis of the various sessions by Marianne Schulze, Sean Marlaire, Valeria Iannitti, Bethany Sousa, Alison Graham under the editorial leadership of Michelle Evans give a thorough overview of the discussion of each article. In addition an unpublished text by IDC member Stefan Tromel provided summaries of each article’s development.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a volume on Disability and Human Rights, written an compiled by Gerard Quinn and Theresia Degener together with other experts; it covers disability in the general human rights context and served as one of the triggers for the negotiation process; obviously it makes very good background reading.

Finally, in placing the new Convention in a broader human rights context, the numerous General Comments and General Recommendations, which the Treaty Bodies have adopted over the years, are the core source in sketching out the various angles of each provision in the overall human rights discourse.

Working Group Text:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahcwgreport.htm

Working Text:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahcchairletter7oct.htm

Enable web site:

http://www.un.org/disabilities

Daily Summaries and Background Papers: http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1423

International Service for Human Rights:

http://www.ishr.ch/hrm/archive/GA/GAPWD-Contents.htm

Gerard Quinn / Theresia Degener et al, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Ed.), Human Rights and Disability

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HRDisabilityen.pdf

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/disability/docs/Studydisability_en.doc

Compilation of General Comments and General Recommendations adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7

http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/ca12c3a4ea8d6c53c1256d500056e56f?Opendocument

All other General Comments and Recommendations may be found on the web site of the pertinent treaty body:

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/

More Resources on the CRPD in SOURCE

SOURCE Database on Disability and Development: an International Information Resource Centre designed to strengthen the management, use and impact of information on disability, development and health. SOURCE has unique collection of over 25,000 resources.

Main website: www.asksource.info/

SOURCE key topic area for Disability, Inclusion and Development:

www.asksource.info/res_library/disability.htm

SOURCE Key List on Disability, Human Rights and the Convention :

http://asksource.ids.ac.uk/cf/keylists/keylist2.cfm?topic=dis&search=QL_CRPD08

Acronyms

AHC Ad Hoc Committee

CAT Convention Against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment

ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966

IDC International Disability Caucus

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979

CERD International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racism, 1966

CESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, 1966

CRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

CRMW International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 1990

CRPD Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006

HRC Human Rights Committee, expert body in charge of the ICCPR

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

PP Preambular Paragraph

STANDARD RULES UN Standard rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons