News/Press

Informal ministerial conference on disability:
“the responsibility is on our shoulders”, says Vladimir Spidla

During the first Ministerial conference on disability held yesterday in Berlin, the ministers from EU-27 endorse the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Brussels, 12 June 2007 – “It is now up to us, more than ever, to comply with and implement all the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities in our back yard too”, stressed yesterday European Commissioner Vladimir Spidla at the EU Ministerial Conference on Disability, held in Berlin. Spidla called on the EU Ministers to use the ministerial conference “to reach an agreement on the political priorities that will guide EU’s activities in the future” and hailed the Member States on the need to launch a European strategy for the effective implementation of the UN Convention.

Yesterday’s meeting was the first conference to be held at EU’s ministerial level on disability issues, and the first to focus on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed last March in New York.

“This Ministerial is the G-27 on disability and a historical moment for the development of the UN Convention. There is a clear political commitment on disability issues, but we need now a European pact to protect the rights of disabled people and to mobilize the necessary resources to make it effective”, said Yannis Vardakastanis, President of the European Disability Forum, during his official speech.

During the press conference that followed the Ministerial, Vardakastanis also stressed the high expectations that the signatory States to the UN Convention, have on the European Union’s role: “The future cannot wait. EU has a leadership task to accomplish, which is to become the first continent free of discrimination and exclusion towards disabled people “.

In its draft conclusions following the Ministerial meeting, the German Presidency of the EU announced the Member States’ endorsement of the UN Convention and their commitment to “further develop their policies to ensure its full implementation and to work on a coherent and coordinated approach”. The Member States recognised that further initiatives are needed for quick ratifications, included the United Kingdom, which announced that it is currently foreseeing the signature of the Convention’s optional protocol. The UK opposed last March to the signature of the European Communities to this protocol, which allows individual and collective complains if the Convention is not respected, once national recourse procedures have been exhausted. The four EU Member States which have not signed yet the Convention (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia) announced that the process is in due course and that they are currently developing the necessary procedures for its ratification.

The German’s Presidency initiative to address disability issues at ministerial level was welcomed by the Member States, which have committed to continue to meet once a year. Commissioner on Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Spidla, reminded that work needs also to be done in between the meetings and announced that the European Commission’s High Level Group in Disability will take the responsibility to prepare the future ministerial conferences.

The European Disability Forum welcomed the German Presidency’s invitation to officially participate in the Ministerial conference, which shows EU’s commitment to develop European policies in close cooperation with the disability movement representatives. Several Member States congratulated the Presidency for the initiative and reminded the principle “nothing about disabled people without disabled people”. EDF also welcomed Belgium’s official support expressed during the conference to the ‘1million4disability’ campaign, an initiative which aims to collect one million signatures across Europe in favour of stronger disability legislation.

The text of the Convention and the Protocol can be downloaded from: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml

The list of signatory states to the convention is available at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/conventionsign.htm

For more information on the EDF campaign “1million4disability”: http://www.1million4disability.eu/

For more information, please contact: Helena González-Sancho Bodero, EDF Communication and Press Officer; Tel: (+32 2) 282 46 04; Mobile phone: (+ 32 ) 485 64 39 93; E-mail: communication@edf-feph.org

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is the European umbrella organisation representing the interests of 50 million disabled citizens in Europe. EDF membership includesnational umbrella organisations of disabled peoplefrom all EU/EEA countries, as well asEuropean NGOs representing the different types of disabilities, organisations and individuals committed to disability issues. The mission of the European Disability Forum is toensure disabled people full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in Europe.