Today, 24 November, a delegation of the European Disability Forum met with the EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, to discuss progress on the EU Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030. The delegation, led by EDF President Yannis Vardakastanis, discussed the EU’s actions to ensure persons with disabilities are included and their rights are upheld. We provided an update to the Commissioner and her team on:
- Mainstreaming disability rights, including adequate human resources to fulfil this mission;
- Funding and actions to assist persons with disabilities affected by the Russian aggression against Ukraine;
- Measures to support persons with disabilities during the cost-of-living crisis;
- Violence against women and banning forced sterilisation;
- The EU Disability Card, where we proposed that the Commission presents a strong Regulation;
- The transition from segregated to community living – and diverting EU funds away from supporting segregated institutions;
- Antidiscrimination legislation and the importance of keeping provisions concerning accessibility and reasonable accommodation;
- Passenger Rights, where we called for the Commission to address the main barriers persons with disabilities face when travelling (e.g. denial of boarding, lack of assistance, loss or damage of assistive devices, among others);
- The 5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities, will take place on 23 May 2023.
We also discussed the lack of a focal point at the Council of the EU, and the need for the Council to mainstream disability rights.
During the meeting, Commissioner Dalli committed to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
We have set a strong foundation for equality in the EU, and we have put forward proposals to have an impact on the daily lives of persons with disabilities. However, we are still far from a Union of Equality and I am glad to work hand in hand with the European disability movement to mainstream the rights of persons with disabilities in all the Commission’s initiatives.
Our President, Yannis Vardakastanis, stated that:
In these challenging times, we need the EU to step up its efforts in protecting and realising disability rights. Leadership, further resources, and stronger interinstitutional coordination on equality matters are of utmost importance. Hence, we have proposed a high-level discussion of the three main EU institutions to agree on how to move forward in properly implementing our Union of Equality and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. EDF is ready to support this objective.
Briefing of main topics
Mainstreaming disability rights
The EU must put in place structures, and the human and financial resources to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are included in all fields of policy, funding and governance. We recognise the advances made on equality since the first-ever Commissioner for Equality was appointed in 2019. These advances include the Disability Rights strategy, the Roma Framework, the Action Plan against Racism and the LGBTI strategy. We recognised that now the European Commission has structures in place now for implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. We pointed out that the Council of the EU has no focal point and no working group on equality. This is a gap which should be addressed through the establishment of a Council working group on equality.
Ukraine
We highlighted the impact of the war on persons with disabilities in Ukraine. The EU response to the war in Ukraine must not forget persons with disabilities affected by the war in Ukraine. We supported our members in Ukraine and in neighbouring countries to support persons with disabilities in Ukraine and refugees with disabilities across EU countries.
We believe that the:
- EU should step up its efforts to coordinate more inclusive policies when it comes to refugees with disabilities
- Ensure initiatives for the reconstruction of Ukraine are inclusive. EU funds should not be allocated to rebuild segregating institutions, and persons with disabilities through their representative organisations need to be consulted, strengthened and fully included in this.
- Involvement of persons with disabilities, through their representative organisations, is essential as Ukraine moves towards membership of the EU.
Cost of living crisis
Persons with disabilities are among the most affected: they have to shoulder extra costs due to living in an inaccessible society, disability allowances are often not adjusted to inflation, and many persons with disabilities have higher levels of energy consumption (e.g. assistive technologies, medical devices, etc.).
We call on the EU to tackle the impact of the energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis on persons with disabilities.
Violence against women and campaign to ban forced sterilisation
The proposed “Directive on Combating Violence Against Women” is a key initiative to uphold the rights of women and girls with disabilities. We are working to ensure the issues of women with disabilities are included in this directive. It is imperative that this legislation bans the inhumane practice of forced sterilisation. The legislation should also ensure accessibility to all support services (including shelters and hotlines), guarantee equal protection to victims with disabilities, require disability training for professionals and oblige Member States to collect data disaggregated by disability.
We are also expecting the Commission’s Recommendation on the prevention of harmful practices, which should include strong actions regarding the prevention of forced sterilisation, abortion and contraception of women and girls with disabilities. Read EDF’s position paper on Violence against women and girls with disabilities in the European Union
EU Disability Card
We recommended that the legislation to expand the EU Disability Card should be presented a Regulation binding to EU Countries (the strongest type of legislation). We further recommended that the EU Disability Card and the Parking Card should be physically separate cards. We stressed that in order for the Disability Card to be really transformative, it should go beyond the expected scope of leisure, culture, sport facilities, and transport, and ensure mutual recognition of disabilities in its fullest, at least temporarily when persons with disabilities arrive in a new EU country. This means that when people move to another country to study or to work, the Disability Card should grant them the support they need (such as reasonable accommodation) while their disability assessment is ongoing in the new country of residence. Read EDF position on the European Disability Card 2022
Guidelines on Deinstitutionalisation and EU Funds
The disability movement in Europe has campaigned for decades for the right to independent living and specifically for EU funds to be directed towards independent living and not to institutions where people are segregated. The EU Disability Strategy includes planned “Guidelines on deinstitutionalisation”. We asked that these guidelines are practical and useful for Member States, particularly for authorities managing EU funds. It should be crystal clear for all Commission services that no EU funds of any kind should be used to maintain or refurbish institutions where people with disabilities are segregated. We see too many cases of EU funds of all kinds being used against the principles of disability inclusion set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and even against the rules that govern these funds – including Agricultural funds and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Read the European Expert Group’s guidance on independent living.
Antidiscrimination legislation
EDF renews its call for legislation that sets out horizontal protection against discrimination based on disability and multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination. We are concerned by the fact that the Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive is still blocked in the Council and that efforts to unblock it were made by removing or watering down key provisions concerning accessibility and reasonable accommodation.
We expect that the upcoming Directives on minimum standards for equality bodies will ensure that these entities can seek remedies to cases of discrimination against persons with disabilities and work in a way that is accessible and inclusive of persons with disabilities.
Passengers’ Rights
The Commission’s plans to only tackle the aspects of passenger rights that relate to enforcement and multimodal transport fall short of our demands. The European Union plans will not address the many barriers persons with disabilities face when travelling, such as denial of boarding, lack of assistance, and insufficient compensation for lost or damaged mobility equipment and assistive devices. Read EDF’s feedback to Call for Evidence for an Impact Assessment of EU Passenger Rights Regulations.
Right to vote and legal capacity
The Commission launched a revision of the two Directives laying down the political rights of mobile EU citizens. However, they do not tackle the situations that can occur when a person with disabilities moves from one EU country to another, as they can lose their right to vote and to stand as a candidate. We have put forward amendments to ensure that the political rights of persons with disabilities will prevail.
In this same regard, we fully support the Parliament’s proposal for a new EU electoral law which recognises the right to vote of all persons with disabilities regardless of legal capacity status. More information on political participation can be found in EDF’s Human Rights Report 2022: political participation of persons with disabilities.
However, we are concerned about the upcoming launch of a package aiming at the ratification of the Hague Convention on protection of vulnerable adults. If not done properly, these measures could legitimise substituted decision-making regimes across EU countries, and we expect the EU to have a clear stand against legal incapacitation.
5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities in 2023
Commissioner Dalli was invited to take part in the 5th European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities, which will take place on 23 May 2023, in the European Parliament’s hemicycle in Brussels. The conference is titled “Building an inclusive future for persons with disabilities in the EU” and will allow a direct discussion between over 600 delegates with disabilities from across Europe with high-level policymakers.