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Annex II
Biographical data form of candidates to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(Please respect the specified amount of lines when completing this form)
Family name and first name: Schefer Markus…………………………………………..
Date and place of birth: February 4, 1965, Teufen AR, Switzerland……………………
Place of residence: Münchenstein, Switzerland………………………………………….
Nationality: Swiss………………………………………………………………………..
Email address: ………………………………………………………………
United Nations working languages: English, French……………………………………
Current position/function:
(Five lines maximum)
Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Faculty of Law, University of Basel, Switzerland……………………………………………………………………
Other main activities on the rights of persons with disabilities:
(Ten lines maximum)
Advising the Swiss Federal Government in developing a disability policy; writing a draft statute on the rights of persons with disabilities for the Swiss Canton of Basel; advising the Canton of Zurich on measures to adapt bus stops for persons with disabilities; issuing scholarlylegal opinions, as, e.g. on the permissibility of privatizing schools for persons with severe intellectual disabilities, on legal requirements to open up medical school for persons with disabilities, on the need to retrofit rail cars to allow access to persons in wheelchairs, and others; supporting the DPO “Inclusion Handicap” in court cases and proceedings before administrative bodies; Organizing an annual conference on the rights of persons with disabilities; Instituted masters classes and holding lectures on the rights of persons with disabilities at Basel University.
Educational background, in particular on the rights of persons with disabilities
(Five lines maximum)
Ph.D. on human rights (1995); Habilitation thesis on human rights (2001); published ten monographs on questions of human rights in general, two of them on the rights of persons with disabilities; teaching human rights law and anti-discrimination law in particular; organizing annual conference on the rights of persons with disabilities (since 2013)
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Please indicate whether you identify yourself as a person with disability or elaborate on your lived experience related to persons with disabilities.
(Three lines maximum)
I do not consider myself as a person with disability, nor any member of my family. My experience related to persons with disabilities is primarily of a professional nature. In this context, I regularly interact with persons with a great variety of disabilities.
Relevant expertise onthe rights of persons with disabilities
Please elaborate on your areas of expertise under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and related experience.
(Five lines maximum)
I have published broadly on the rights of persons with disabilities, together with Dr. Caroline Hess-Klein, covering areas such as access to buildings, public transportation, services by private and public entities, education, and work. I have also covered disability-related issues of citizenship and migration law, interpreting services and audio description in telecommunications law, tax law, statistics and traffic law.
List of most recent publications in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities:
(Five lines maximum)
My main publications are (titles translated from German and French): Inclusive Construction, in: Griffel et al. (eds.), Handbook of Construction Law, Zurich 2016, p. 258-278; Treaties on Disability Law, Bern 2014, 567 pages; Inclusive Public Transport, Journal for Swiss Law, vol. 130, p. 387-416; Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Public Services, Education and Labor Law, Jusletter 2011, 95 notes.
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