EuroFlash Issue 85. March 2003

r_EF85_210303.pdf

Proposal for a United Nations Disability Convention

The EU should push for better rights for disabled people in a United Nations (UN) convention or similar instrument, the European Commission has recommended.

A new communication sets out its support for a UN legally binding instrument to protect and promote the rights and dignity of people with disabilities, which the Commission believes would dovetail with the EU's approach to disability.

A UN instrument, along the lines of a convention or resolution, has been under discussion for nearly 30 years. Last year, a UN committee on the human rights of disabled people invited intergovernmental organisations, regional commissions and non-governmental organisations to put forward their suggestions for a possible UN convention. Responding to this request, the Commission believes that a UN legal instrument would add value to the EU's work in promoting disabled people's equal treatment and opportunity and in ending discrimination against disabled people, particularly indirect discrimination. It would help clarify human rights and make them more visible, setting standards for government conduct and policy.

In the Commission's view, a UN instrument should be guided by the following principles:

• reaffirming in law the principles that people with disabilities have the same fundamental rights as the rest of humanity
• reaffirming in law the core values of equality, dignity, liberty and solidarity
• securing the equal enjoyment of all human rights for people with disabilities by combating all forms of discrimination on the grounds of disability, including promoting equal treatment and the accommodation of difference.

The European Commission plans to play an active role on behalf of the EU in developing a future UN instrument and will soon propose a recommendation authorising it to negotiate in forthcoming sessions of the UN committee.

The communication can be downloaded from the Commission's Employment and Social Affairs DG website at: www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/index_en.html