EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 88/510

(2004/C 88 E/0522)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0571/04

by Herbert Bösch (PSE) to the Commission

(26 February 2004)

Subject: Addressing the needs of disabled people in development cooperation funded by the EU

Although the European Union has expressed its commitment to poverty reduction in the Millennium Development Goals, a goal which cannot be met without considering the needs of disabled people, disabled people are still not sufficiently included in development cooperation funded by the EU.

According to the answer of 16 September 2003 to the parliamentary question E-2162/03 (1), the Commission has issued a Guidance Note on Disability and Development for EU Delegations and Services, which is supposed to provide guidance on how to address disability issues effectively within development cooperation. This guidance note is supposed to have been widely distributed throughout the services and to stress the importance of mainstreaming disability issues in policy dialogue and in country programming. The answer also made reference to the mid-term review guidelines for the ACP countries under preparation at the time, which were supposed to envisage exploring the extent to which country programmes are responsive to the needs of persons with disabilities.

1. What is the actual state of information concerning the guidance note and disability issues throughout the relevant Commission services? According to our information, many services have to date no knowledge of the guidance note.

2. How is the Commission planning to ensure and to verify the concrete effect of the guidance note?

3. What is the current state of the above-mentioned mid-term review for ACP countries?

4. Are there any indications yet concerning the extent to which the needs of persons with disabilities are and have been taken into account in country programmes and how the inclusion of persons with disabilities in country programming in general and in the Country Strategy Papers in particular will be ensured in the future?

5. If no concrete data is available yet, when is the Commission expecting to have detailed information?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(1 April 2004)

1. The Guidance note on Disability and Development was finalised following an inter-service consultation. The note has been distributed to the Heads of Delegation in all Commission delegations in developing countries. It has also been circulated internally in Directorate General (DG) Development (DEV) and has been sent to DGs Europe Aid Co-operation Office (AIDCO) and External Relations (RELEX) for internal distribution within those services. The Guidance note has now been translated into Spanish, French and Portuguese and will be printed and made available for further distribution.

2. The Guidance note has already generated some feedback and questions from Delegations. The Commission also expects the Mid-term review of Country Strategy Papers for African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to give further feedback concerning to what extent the guidelines given in the note have been used and turned into practice. The Commission is also looking into opportunities for making disability better integrated in development cooperation through training of Commission staff — both in Brussels and in Delegations. It should also be noted that recent efforts to increase awareness amongst Commission officials regarding disability issues in development co-operation have included a presentation by representatives from the European Disability Forum on this issue at a meeting of the Commission's Inter-Service Group on Human Rights on 30 January 2004.

3. The mid-term review of ACP countries is ongoing and is expected to be finalised by mid-2005.

4. and 5. In most country strategy papers disability is not clearly reflected. When disability does figure in the papers it is, in most cases, mentioned in the analysis but is rarely specifically translated into specific action. The Commission thinks the best way of addressing this is through the provision of training for Community staff, by raising awareness of disability issues in its dialogue with developing countries and by including organisations for people with disabilities in the dialogue at country-level. Data on disability and its impact on poverty should be generated at country-level through a general strengthening of data collecting and statistical systems.

(1) See page 70.