Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce

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34 Syracuse J. Int'l L. & Com. 621

LENGTH: 14595 words

ARTICLE: GUIDE TO SOURCES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE DISABILITY LAW

NAME: Wendy Scott*

BIO: * Assistant Director for Faculty & Outreach Services, H. Douglas Barclay Law Library, Syracuse University College of Law. I would like to thank Professor Arlene Kanter for her passion and continuing guidance and support. I would also like to thank Research Assistants Nevhiz Calik and Tarini Arogyaswamy for their dedication and hard work on the Disability Law Web Resource, without which I would not have been able to complete this research guide. In addition, I would also like to thank Michelle Diamantes for her assistance in finalizing this document. Finally, I would like to thank Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library Thomas R. French, who supported the project from its inception.

SUMMARY:

... In addition, the site links to reports and documents of the World Health Organization's mental health initiatives. 1.7.6 Disability and Human Rights: United Nations Commission on Human Rights http://www.law.syr.edu/lawlibrary/electronic/ humanrights.asp? ... See also: European Social Charter (Revised - 1996) http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/163.htm Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter Providing for a System of Collective Complaints http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/ap-europeansocialcharter.htm International and Comparative Disability Law Web Resource Numerical designations are from the database organizational scheme. 2.1 Council of Europe 2.1.5 Conventions Dealing with Disability Rights http://www.law.syr.edu/lawlibrary/electronic/ humanrights.asp? ... European Union Disability Strategy http://ec.europa.eu/employment social/disability/ strategy en.html EU (Disability Related) Policies http://ec.europa.eu/employment social/disability/ policy en.html Key Documents (Including Resolutions, Directives, Communications and Council Decisions) http://ec.europa.eu/employment social/index/7003 en.html Publications http://ec.europa.eu/employment social/index/7002 en.html European Parliament Fact Sheet 4.8.8.: "Disabled Persons, the Elderly and the Excluded" http://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/4 8 8 en.htm This fact sheet offers a useful snapshot of the European Union's and European Parliament's disability initiatives. ... ESCAP Resolution on the Asian and Pacific Decade http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/disability/decade/ about.asp#Launching Proclamation and Agenda for Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002 http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/disability/decade/ about.asp#Launching A detailed overview of the Agenda for Action overview may be found on the Decade website at http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/disability/decade/publications/ agenda/index.asp. ... Human Rights Learning Centre Study Guide on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities http://www.hrea.org/learn/guides/disabilities.html This online guide by the Human Rights Education Associates offers a concise introduction to, and overview of, international and regional instruments relating to the rights of disabled persons. ... University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: Bibliographies and Guides http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/bibliog/biblios.htm This expansive resource encompasses electronic bibliographies and research guides on general international human rights as well as specialized resources (e.g., Human Rights in the African Context" and "Human Rights of Women). c. ... The Resource Library contains bibliographic information about subjects relating to international health and disability, including references to books, reports, websites, organizations, newsletters and more. ... The list of global issues does not include disability, but researchers can locate disability related news under a variety of related subjects, including, but not limited to: Children's Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Justice; Labor and Human Rights; Torture and Abuse; United Nations; and Women's Rights.

HIGHLIGHT: Scope

Introduction

I. SOURCES

A. International Law: United Nations

History and Background

The Legal Framework: United Nations Human Rights Instruments

United Nations Disability System: U.N. Enable

United Nations Disability System: Activities by Topic

Additional Sources: United Nations Instruments and Documents

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

B. Regional Laws

History and Background

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

Africa

Asia

C. National Laws

Overview

Sources for National Laws

D. Case Law

Overview

International Case Law

Regional Case Law

Foreign Case Law

Court Web Sites and Human Rights Bodies' Websites

E. Disability Rights from a U.S. Foreign Policy Perspective

F. Non-Governmental Disability/ Human Rights Organizations

Overview

Directories

II. SUPPORTING RESEARCH SOURCES

A. Reference and Background Sources

Terminology

Bibliographies and Research Guides

Disability Statistics

Subject Headings and Suggested Search Terms

B. Selection of Texts and Treatises

General

Children/Families

Education

Employment

Europe

Mental Health

Women

C. Selection of Journals

Journals: International Disability

Journals: Human Rights

D. Internet Databases

E. News and Current Awareness Sources

TEXT:

[*622]

Introduction

When Syracuse University Professor of Law Arlene Kanter approached me several years ago about developing a research guide to sources in international and comparative disability law to support the [*623] work of the new Syracuse University Disability Law and Policy Program, I was confident that I would be able to locate existing compilations on the topic that I could consult as a starting point for my research. After a rigorous investigation of available print and electronic materials, however, I quickly realized that I was dipping my oars into uncharted waters. While there were many excellent guides to research in human rights law, there were no resources focused exclusively on the topic of non-U.S. disability law.

In light of the dearth of existing research support materials and the urgent need for quick access to major source materials for students, Professor Kanter and I decided to temporarily redirect the project away from a printed guide and towards a web-based repository of sources in international and comparative disability law. Professor Kanter, her dedicated research assistants, and I developed the International and Comparative Disability Law Web Resource (hereafter called the Disability Law Web Resource). Housed on the Syracuse University College of Law Library web site, the searchable database is one of the first comprehensive bibliographic resources devoted to international and comparative disability law. The emphasis of the resource to date has been on providing links, with annotations, to the full-text of international, regional and foreign disability instruments available in English on open (i.e., non-subscription) internet sites.

This guide expands upon the Disability Law Web Resource to offer a concise starting point for research in international, regional, and national law relating to disability. It provides extended coverage of the topics addressed in the Disability Law Web Resource and adds a new section on supporting research sources. Because it was originally conceived as an instructional tool to support students' research in courses offered by the Syracuse University College of Law Disability Law and Policy Program and the Syracuse University Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies, this guide retains the format of a practical outline rather than a formal law review article. With its streamlined format and reliance on authoritative internet sources, I hope the guide will prove useful, not only to scholars from diverse disciplines engaged in disability law and policy research, but to disability advocates, members of inter-governmental and non-profit organizations, policy-makers, and others who have previously found research in this area challenging and labor intensive.

Scope

Because the resources described in this guide were originally [*624] selected to support disability law and policy (and related) courses offered at Syracuse University, resources on topics not emphasized in these courses may be excluded here. Print materials listed in this guide have been selected because of their availability in the H. Douglas Barclay Law Library or the Syracuse University Library at the time of this writing. Emphasis is on open access internet materials, and sources may be available in formats or collections not addressed in the guide; no effort has been made to be exhaustive. With a few exceptions, only English language sources are included.

Part I of the guide is devoted to major documents and research resources in international, regional, and national disability law. Links are provided to sources available on authoritative web sites. A selection of print or electronic historical and background sources appears at the beginning of some sections. Some sources listed in this guide cite to the relevant sections in the Disability Law Web Resource. In these cases, references retain the numerical designations of the web resource's organizational system for the convenience of the researcher.

Part II of the guide encompasses secondary source material to support research in international and comparative disability law. This part addresses print and electronic reference sources and texts, relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings, a selection of journals, specialized databases and indexes, and news and current awareness sources.

I. SOURCES

A. International Law: United Nations

1. History and Background

History of Disability and the United Nations (U.N. Enable)

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/history.htm

The first section of this document, "General Overview: The First Fifty Years," offers a useful timeline, with references to relevant documents, of United Nations disability related activities from the post-World War II era to the early 1990s.

2. The Legal Framework: United Nations Human Rights Instruments

Although disability was, for the most part, not explicitly addressed as a protected category in the foundational United Nations human rights [*625] instruments, advocates have interpreted provisions of these documents to encompass protection of the rights of the disabled. Each of the core human rights instruments is monitored by a treaty committee ("treaty monitoring body") of independent experts that monitors and enforces implementation of the treaty. Committees consider the member states' periodic reports and publish their concerns and recommendations. The treaty bodies also publish their own interpretations of provisions of the human rights treaties in the form of general comments and issue communications involving inter-state complaints.

Treaty body documents illuminate how, and to what extent, member states have responded to the rights of the disabled; they reveal continuing concerns as well as positive change.

a. Overviews

Arlene Kanter, Globalization of Disability Rights Law,

30 Syracuse J. Int'l L. & Com. 241, 252 (2003).

Kanter's article provides a thorough discussion of the development of United Nations jurisprudence on protection of rights for the disabled.

Gerard Quinn et al., Human Rights and Disability: The Current Use and Future Potential of United Nations Human Rights Instruments in the Context of Disability (2002).

Quinn offers a detailed analysis of the international human rights conventions as the legal framework for the protection of disability rights.

b. Primary Documents

International and Comparative Disability Law Web Resource

Numerical designations are from the database organizational scheme.

1. International Law

1.5 Core Human Rights Treaties

http://www.law.syr.edu/lawlibrary/electronic/ humanrights.asp?sc=14&d=1

[*626]

1.6 Disability Related Activities of Treaty Monitoring Bodies

http://www.law.syr.edu/lawlibrary/electronic/ humanrights.asp?sc=15&d=1

The Disability Law Web Resource links to the committees' web sites and provides information and links to specific committee documents pertaining to disability.

3. United Nations Disability System

a. Introduction

In the 1970s, the United Nations (U.N.) embraced an evolving international movement towards a fundamental reassessment of the rights and status of persons with disabilities. U.N. policies based on a social welfare model of rights protection were gradually supplanted by new initiatives founded on the principles of full integration and equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. The key United Nations instruments and activities that established the shift in emphasis are described below.

b. Major Primary Documents

Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/m mental.htm

In 1971, the General Assembly adopted this ground-breaking declaration which stipulates that mentally retarded persons should have legal recourse to protection from exploitation and be granted fundamental human rights as well as specific medical, social, and educational rights.

Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/72.htm

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Disabled in December, 1975. This seminal instrument establishes that persons with disabilities are entitled to the same rights as persons without disabilities, enumerates those rights, and calls for national and international action to guarantee those rights. The rights approach evidenced in the declaration provided the impetus for the United Nations Year of Disabled Persons and the United Nations disability programs described below.

[*627] United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons

http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/36/a36r077.htm

As stated in the resolution, the theme of the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons was "full participation and equality." Its call for a plan of action on the national, regional, and international levels defined and concretized the rights of persons with disabilities and emphasized the need for specific measures to guarantee inclusion, rehabilitation, and prevention of disabilities.

The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/diswpa00.htm

The development of the World Programme of Action (WPA) was one of the major outcomes of the International Year of Disabled Persons. In addition to setting the goals of prevention, rehabilitation, and equalization of opportunity for persons with disabilities, the WPA drew attention to the need for special protection of disabled women. The WPA is reviewed every five years. Resolutions on the World Programme of Action may be found at the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities web site (http://www.logos-net.net/ilo/159 base/instr/ins un.htm).

United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons

http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/39/a39r026.htm

As a means of ensuring effective implementation of the World Programme of Action, the U.N. General Assembly proclaimed the Decade of Disabled Persons for the years 1983-1992.

Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/dissre00.htm

The Decade of Disabled Persons resulted in the formulation of the 1993 Standard Rules. The rules consist of twenty-two "rules" or principles that should be considered by governments and organizations when defining policy regarding disabled persons. The rules are organized under four chapters: preconditions for equal participation, [*628] target areas for equal participation, implementation measures, and a monitoring mechanism.

The Standard Rules provide for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur who is mandated to report annually to the U.N. Commission on Social Development on the status of people with disabilities throughout the world.

Documents of the Special Rapporteur

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rapporteur.htm

The Special Rapporteur conducts surveys and issues statements and reports that present his findings and recommendations relating to the promotion and monitoring of the Standard Rules.