The representative organisation of persons with disabilities in Europe
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April 2009, Members of European Parliament will vote their report on the fundamental equal treatment directive. This legislation sets out a legal framework for the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of disability, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. If the report is adopted, it will send a strong signal to the Member States that protection against discrimination on the grounds of disability in areas other than employment must be extended.
 
The European Disability Forum has long argued for strong European legislation protection persons with disabilities against discrimination in all areas of life: equality in employment is impossible to achieve without equality in other areas of life, such as education, transport, access to goods and services and others.

In 2007, EDF campaign in favor of strong disability anti-discrimination legislation collected 1.3 million signatures in support of it. This campaign was wound up with a public event in Brussels on 4 October 2007, where Vice-President of the European Commission Margot Wallstroem confirmed that the European Union has a long way to go to ensure the rights of all persons with disabilities.

A proposal aimed to ensure the disability rights was subsequently published by the Commission on 2 July 2008. European Disability Forum found that this proposal did not meet the high standards of the disability community (or indeed, many other stakeholders or Member States). The proposal lacked many important definitions and included a number of serious restrictions on implementation of principle of equal treatment in relation to disability.

In the months leading up to tomorrow’s vote, EDF has worked extensively with the European Parliament to improve the Directive and it is now one step from being able to say that it has managed to do so. The amendments already voted in the Civil Liberties’ Committee and tabled for tomorrow’s vote should be considered as a positive step compare to the original text. However, EDF calls for further improvements of the provisions on goods and services, infrastructure as well as equal access to financial services.

The European Parliament has always spoken against discrimination. On 2 April, MEPs will have the opportunity to prove their commitment to disability rights by sending the right message to Europe before the June ballot, and to finally bring a concrete life improvement for 65 million persons with disabilities.

You will find attached a very comprehensive background on this directive and six concrete examples of discrimination told by European citizens with disabilities.

For more information, please contact: Aurélien Daydé, EDF Communication and Media Officer | M + 32 485 64 39 93 | aurelien.dayde@edf-feph.org

European Election 2009: Disability Votes Count ! visit http://www.disabilityvotescount.eu/

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