EU Justice Scoreboard now includes access by persons with disabilities



EU Justice Scoreboard now includes access by persons with disabilities

The EU Justice Scoreboard presents an annual overview of indicators on the efficiency, quality and independence of justice systems in the European Union. Its purpose is to assist the Member States improve the effectiveness of their national justice systems by providing objective, reliable and comparable data.

For the first time, the 2022 EU Justice Scoreboard takes stock of the specific arrangements in place to support persons with disabilities in accessing justice on equal basis with others. This is a result to EDF’s advocacy. Last year, we called for the establishment of CRPD based indicators that would cover access by all persons with disabilities. In the past, the Scoreboard included indicators covering only some persons with disabilities, namely Deaf, hard of hearing, partly sighted and blind people.

The 2022 Scoreboard collects the following information on access to justice by persons with disabilities:

  • Adjusted alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures
  • 2020 court survey on needs and satisfaction of persons with disabilities
  • Persons with disabilities can be listened to in person and express their will
  • Procedural accommodations
  • Accessible digital solutions at first instance courts
  • Braille/Sign Language/Easy to Read and other specific formats available upon request
  • Information in accessible formats (e.g. digital and paper)

The information collected shows that all Member States have at least some arrangements in place – mostly procedural accommodations or information available in accessible formats. Specific formats, such as in Braille, sign language or easy-to-read, are available upon request in more than half of Member States. Digital solutions for civil and commercial cases, administrative cases as well as criminal cases at first instance court are also accessible for persons with disabilities in just over half of Member States.

More information on EDF’s work on access to justice.

Contact

Marine Uldry, EDF Human Rights Officer
marine.uldry@edf-feph.org

Photo credit: European Commission