Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the "Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament — Towards a United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities" (COM(2003) 16 final)
Date: 2003-03-26
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: disabled person, human rights, integration of people with disabilities, legislation, social policy

C 133/50

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Official Journal of the European Union

6.6.2003

— to set up mutually beneficial

learning collaborations
between schools, training centres, businesses and research
establishments.

measures to alleviate regional disparities or disparities associ-
ated with special social and individual needs.

3.9.1.
The foregoing comment is intended to highlight the
need to place particular emphasis on developing qualitative
indicators.

3.9.2.
The EESC would include among these indicators on
the independence of schools and their response to the
challenge of decentralisation, as well as on compensatory

4. Specific comments

4.1.
The EESC welcomes the intention to increase invest-
ment in education. However, the picture presented is unclear.
It therefore proposes that investment should be examined in
terms of amount per pupil, level and area of education, but in
conjunction with a breakdown of expenditure into fixed and
non-fixed items.

Brussels, 26 March 2003.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Communication from the
Commission to the Council and the European Parliament — Towards a United Nations legally
binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities’

(COM(2003) 16 final)

(2003/C 133/11)

On 24 January 2003, the Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned
communication.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 March 2003. The rapporteur was Mr Cabra
de Luna.

At its 398th plenary session on 26 and 27 March 2003 (meeting of 26 March), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 98 votes in favour and no votes against with
two abstentions.

1. General Comments

and to do so without being discriminated against on the
grounds of disability.

1.1.
The European Economic and Social Committee wel-
comes the European Commission Communication ‘Towards a
United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and
protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities’ and
would like to stress its explicit support for some of the key
points made in this Communication.

The added value of a UN legally binding instrument is
1.2.
to recognise that people with disabilities are entitled to enjoy
the full range of internationally guaranteed rights and freedoms

Thematic conventions,

1.3.
like the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention against all Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(CERD), have demonstrated added value and complementarity
with the existing general human rights instruments, in particu-
lar the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights.

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1.4.
A new UN legally binding instrument would not, in
the main, create new rights but would serve to tailor the
application of human rights to people with disabilities. It
would make a useful contribution to the perception of disabled
people as full citizens with the same rights as all others.

1.5.
A UN legally binding instrument would set concrete
standards for States to guarantee equal effective enjoyment of
human rights by people with disabilities. It would spell out the
relevance and application of the general human rights stan-
dards to persons with disabilities.

1.6.
A key principle in a future legally binding instrument
is the non-discrimination principle. Equal access to human
rights can be guaranteed by ensuring that people with
disabilities are not discriminated against on the grounds of
their disability. The legally binding instrument should protect
people with disabilities from discrimination in having access
to and enjoying human rights. Protection would need to be
provided against direct and indirect discrimination, the latter
being of extreme relevance for the achievement of a real equal
treatment of disabled people.

1.7.
The participation throughout the process of representa-
tive NGOs of disabled people, as approved by the ad hoc
Committee, is a welcome decision.

1.8.
However, the EESC believes that it may not be enough
to confirm rights unless the objective conditions are created to
ensure they stand a good chance of being respected through
the different channels that are available.

More specifically, it is an established fact that the right of
people with disabilities to be included in mainstream society is
often secured through specific initiatives and organisations.
Thus, for example, the right to work can be achieved through
specific job placement programmes, the right to education
through specific back-up activities, and the right to residential
autonomy by suitably adapting the disabled person’s family
home, including with hi-tech equipment.

2.2.
The EESC supports the statement made by the Danish
Presidency on behalf of the EU at the meeting of the Third
Committee of the 57th Session of the UN General Assembly (1),
which recognised that an international legally binding instru-
ment relating to the rights of disabled persons could be a
useful tool in the promotion and protection of the rights of
persons with disabilities.

2.3.
The EESC considers that a twin-track approach should
be pursued and also supports fully the reference made in the
EU statement (1) that ‘The EU firmly believes that it is of the
utmost
importance to further mainstream disability as a
human rights issue, into the implementation of the existing
core United Nations human rights conventions and into their
monitoring mechanisms. The drafting of a new convention
should not be seen as an alternative to this process but
rather as a necessary complement’. As stated by Quinn and
Degener (2), ‘a disability-specific convention could prove to be
the best possible catalyst for the mainstreaming of disability in
the existing treaty monitoring machinery’ and that ‘a conven-
tion is necessary and would underpin — and not undermine
— the existing instruments in the field of disability’.

The EESC considers that the legally binding instrument
2.4.
should be a Convention. Other possible options,
like an
optional protocol to the existing UN Treaties, provide much
more limited protection and send a message to society that
disabled people deserve a lower level of protection of their
human rights than other groups in society.

The EESC requests that the Convention includes a
2.5.
specific rule stating that human rights are universal thereby
including all human beings, among them persons with dis-
abilities and chronic illnesses.

2.6.
The EESC would like to highlight the importance of
the UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities
of People with Disabilities. Although not legally binding, this
instrument, which will be supplemented in 2004 with some
additional elements, has established standards that need to be
supported and strengthened by the UN Convention. This needs
to be included in a reference to the UN Standard Rules in
recognition of the fact that any breach or action which is not
in compliance with the UN Standard Rules is considered a
human rights violation.

2. Specific comments

2.7.
The EESC considers that the Convention must be based
on the principles and ideas laid down in the United Nations

The EESC considers that the protection provided by
2.1.
the existing international human rights instruments is not
adequate for people with disabilities. The EESC supports the
shift from the old medical approach to a social, human rights
based approach, which puts much stronger emphasis on
identifying and removing the various barriers to equal oppor-
tunities and full participation in all aspects of life for persons
with disabilities.

(1) The Danish EU Presidency — EU Statement regarding social issues
during the 57th Session of the United Nations’ General Assembly.
(2) Prof. Gerard Quinn and Mrs Theresa Degener, ‘Human Rights and
Disability — the current use and future potential of United
Nations human rights instruments in the context of disability’
— February 2002 — UN Human Rights Commission, http://
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu6/2/disability.doc

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Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities (1) and in the World Programme for
Action concerning Disabled Persons (2). It should at the same
time reflect the core principles of the disability movement and
transform them into an operational, effective and progressive
tool, aiming at promoting and protecting human rights in a
disability context.

2.8.
The EESC considers that the content of the Convention,
while being based on overarching principles and core values
like equality, dignity, liberty and solidarity, should refer to and
identify the full spread of human rights, including political and
civil/fundamental, as well as economic, social and cultural, and
should highlight that States should take action to ensure that
in reality people with disabilities are in a position to exercise
their rights. The EESC would like to highlight the important
interlinking of the different areas. A good example is transport.
If disabled people are supposed to fully enjoy their rights to
education and employment, an accessible transport system is
required.

2.9.
The EESC considers that the Convention should be all
embracing and protect adequately all disabled people and
therefore needs to consider their diversity.

2.10.
The EESC considers the establishment of a strong
monitoring mechanism and the specification of enforcement
provisions as crucial success factors, in line with those included
in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination and
the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women.

2.11.
The EESC considers it of great importance that the
EU plays a leading role at the next meeting of the ad hoc
Committee and suggests that the EU Presidency seek a
common position by all EU Member States and accession

( 1) The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities, Adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly,
resolution 48/96, annex, of
20.12.1993.

forty-eighth session,

( 2) World Conference on Human Rights — Vienna — 14/25 June
1993 — The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Brussels, 26 March 2003.

countries, and present
contribution to the ad hoc Committee.

this joint position formally as a

2.12.
The EESC, as the representative voice of organised
civil society, wishes to be actively involved in the work to be
done by the EU on this issue.

2.13.
The EESC also considers that the European Union
should lead by example in the involvement of representative
disability organisations in the process. This should be done
through the presence of representatives of national and
European disability organisations in the national delegations,
as well as in the EC delegation to take part at the next ad hoc
Committee meeting.

The EESC requests that the European Commission
2.14.
play an active role in the negotiations on the UN Convention,
in order to ensure adequate consistency between the new
Convention and the EU disability strategy,
in particular
Article 13 and Articles 21 and 26 of the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights. This should also ensure consistency
between European internal and international action regarding
disabled people.

The EESC considers it very relevant to follow the
2.15.
recommendation issued at the first ad hoc Committee meeting
to organise a regional seminar in Europe prior to the next ad
hoc Committee meeting.

2.16.
In this respect, the EESC recalls its recommendation
included in a previous opinion (3) on the need for a disability
specific directive, based on Article 13 of the EC Treaty,
combating discrimination in all areas of EC competence.

2.17.
The EESC considers that EU work in the areas of
human rights and development cooperation should take into
account
the work to be done on this UN Convention.
Therefore, the focus on the human rights of disabled people
needs to increase and be given much greater prominence in
the annual EU human rights reports prepared by the Council,
and EU work on development cooperation needs to be
reviewed in light of a human rights approach to disability.

(3) ‘The integration of disabled people in society’, OJ C 241,

7.10.2002, p. 89-97.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Roger BRIESCH