EDF welcomes the European Commission’s updated Human Rights Based Approach Toolbox that was published earlier this week. The Toolbox will help make EU “external actions even more inclusive and sustainable, ensuring participation and non-discrimination on the ground.”
Here is the analysis made by Sarah Hull, Advocacy Coordinator at Light for the World (which is a member of EDF)
The Toolbox makes the case for the human rights based approach (HRBA), and unpacks the concept and the five working principles of the HRBA. It also looks at how to translate the HRBA approach into practice, linking it to programming, and the design and implementation of all sectors of EU external action, as also called for the by Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI)-Global Europe, the recently adopted financing instrument for 2021-2027.
In the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030, one of the few concrete actions in Section 6 on Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities globally was to update in 2021, “the Toolbox on the “Rights Based Approach, encompassing all human rights for EU development cooperation”. The objective was “to address all inequalities, including discrimination against persons with disabilities, in external actions”.
In the 2014 version of the Toolbox, there were only two references to ‘disability’ and/or ‘disabilities’. In the new 2021, there are many more references to the rights of persons with disabilities and to disability inclusion (a quick word search showed 129 mentions of ‘disability’ and/or ‘disabilities’) with specific references to:
- the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030;
- the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD);
- organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs);
- inclusive and accessible consultation mechanisms;
- intersectionality;
- the importance of collecting data disaggregated by disability;
- disability and data in programming – there is a specific annex on disability and data in programming;
- the Washington Group Set of Questions and data collection;
- the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) disability policy marker – there is a specific annex on the disability marker;
- the Bridging the Gap project and the OHCHR SDG-CRPD resource package.
The Toolbox is primarily aimed “at staff working in EU external action, practitioners in Member States, and the EU’s development and implementing partners” and it will be “complemented by online tools and resources developed by the European Commission and Member States”.
For more information, please contact An-Sofie Leenknecht, EDF Human Rights Coordinator: Ansofie.Leenknecht@edf-feph.org