The EU Council Presidencies of Ireland, Lithuania and Greece organised a high-level event to mark 20 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Presidency of the Council of the EU is responsible for organising common positions and chairing meetings of Member States, and it’s held on a rotating basis with a different country every 6 months.
Main points worth noting
- The Presidencies of the Council of the European Union announced that a join declaration on disability will be presented at the end of November, during the meeting of equality ministers.
- Speakers agreed that the Convention pushed countries to consider disability as a human rights issue, and present legislation on that regarded.
- However, actual progress is still lagging behind, with statistics showing that innovative legislation is not yet followed by significant improvement.
A vision of a more equal Union
Kevin Conmy, the Irish Ambassador to Belgium, opened the event noting that the Presidencies “share a vision of a more equal Union for persons with disabilities.” We mentioned that the event aligns with the goal of these three presidencies of putting people at the heart of the Council Presidencies. He underlined that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is one of the most important tools that countries have to advance persons with disabilities’ rights.
Ioannis Vrailas, Permanent Representative of Greece to the European Union explained the importance of the Convention for governments in understanding and implementing a human-rights perspective to disability policies. He acknowledged, however, that the reality is still far from the Convention’s ideals. He focused on independent living as a priority in the EU’s agenda, and the meaningful involvement of organisations of persons with disabilities.
Impact in EU countries
Jane Anne Duffy, head of Disability Rights Policy at the Irish National Disability Authority explained how the Convention moved rights forward in Ireland. She explained how it pushed Ireland to change laws that had technically been in place since the 19th century. Other landmark advances included the Act recognising Irish sign language and expanding rights for deaf people. She underlined that the pressure from disability campaigners, guided bathe Convention, has been essential to ensure these advances.
Konstantinos Megaritis, Secretary-General for Social Solidarity and Combating Poverty, explained the importance of EU funding to foster national progress on disability rights, especially ensuring accessibility, independent living, and education and training.
Reflecting on EU advances
Lucie D’Avoine, Head of the European Commission’s Disability Unit, explained the European Commission’s efforts to integrate the Convention’s commitments in different laws and initiatives, such as the Victim’s Rights Directives. She underlined that, despite progress on policy and laws, statistics show that actual improvements are lagging.
A panel then discussed the Convention’s future. It included our vice-president Nadia Hadad; Stelios Kympouroupolos, former Member of the European Parliament and current President of the Greek disability authority; and Alexandre Bloxs, our Policy Manager of the European Union of the Deaf and our Executive Committee member.
The panellists discussed:
- That the Convention was useful to advance policies but also to raise awareness in countries;
- However, the inclusion of disability issues in more general political and policy initiatives is still limited;
- The limited understanding of what applying disability rights and accessibility means lead to gaps in lawmaking.
Nadia Hadad underlined that the Convention provoked a shift in legislation. She explained that funding for actual improvement is often lacking and added “the biggest gap remains between formal and practical (ways to guarantee) choice and control of our lives.”
Alexandre Bloxs explains that there are still barriers to understanding what sign language is, and many people still don’t consider it a full-fledged language. He explains the practical implications of this approach, including limited rights to use sign and to provide services in it.
Closing remarks
Soufiane El-Amrani, representing Inclusion Europe, delivered remarks warning against the funding cuts and regressing on disability rights:
Rita Grigalienė, Vice Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, closed the event by announcing the Presidencies will sign a joint declaration on disability rights – a welcome advancement.