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Marjeta Cotman, Slovenian Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs met this morning in Ljubljana the representatives of the European Disability movement

Ljubljana, 28 February 2008 – “Preventing discrimination against persons with disabilities is a priority for the Slovenian Presidency”, said this morning Marjeta Cotman, Slovenian Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. “We are committed to support Human Rights of disabled people both at national and European level and we do hope to have EU’s formal engagement to propose measures to fight disability discrimination within this Presidency”, said the Minister. 

During the encounter, the Minister informed the Director of the European Disability Forum, Carlotta Besozzi, and the President of the Slovenian federation of disabled people, NSIOS, and Board member of the EDF, Boris Šustaršic, about the current process of ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was signed by the European Communities on 30 March 2007.

“We are very satisfied with the engagement of the Slovenian Presidency” said Carlotta Besozzi. “On 21 February, the Slovenian Government proposed to the National Assembly the ratification of the UN Convention and its additional protocol and Minister Cotman is very confident that the process will be achieved very rapidly”, reported EDF Director at the end of the meeting.

Slovenia will be among the first EU Member States to ratify this important international Treaty and its optional protocol, which allows individual and collective complains if the Convention is not respected, once national recourse procedures have been exhausted. In a Council Resolution that will be adopted tomorrow by the Member States in Brussels “on the situation of persons with disabilities in the EU”, the Slovenian Presidency, behind the drafting of this text, invites the Member States to ratify and conclude the Convention, “and to share solutions and a coordinated approach for its implementation”. 

During the meeting of this morning, the disability movement representatives officially presented to the Minister the proposal for a European disability-specific Directive, protecting disabled people from discrimination in all fields of life, in line with the UN Convention. The proposal, which has been supported by 1.294.997 EU citizens through the “1million4disability campaign, and only in Slovenia by 59.870 people”, was welcomed by the Slovenian Minister, who committed to support new legislation to fight discrimination in Europe. In the Council resolution to be adopted tomorrow, the Slovenian Presidency explicitly invites the Commission and the Member States to “examine any gaps that may exist in the current Community legislative framework of protection against discrimination, in particular on the grounds of disability, and to consider appropriate and targeted responses”. In view of the inclusion of disabled people in society, the Council Resolution also stresses the need to “further develop a comprehensive policy mix of all appropriate instruments, based on the human rights approach and the mainstreaming of disability”.

The Slovenian Government press release on today’s meeting can be downloaded from: http://www.mddsz.gov.si/si/splosno/novice/novica/article/1939/5704/?cHash=93

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/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=17&pid=166

For more information on the EDF campaign “1million4disability”: 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 includes national umbrella organisations of disabled people from all EU/EEA countries, as well as European NGOs representing the different types of disabilities, organisations and individuals committed to disability issues. The mission of the European Disability Forum is to ensure disabled people full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in Europe.

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