No rollback on disability rights: keep up the momentum gained
Alarmed by the consequences of the dramatic floodings recently happening in Spain and recalling that persons with disabilities are amongst the most affected in all disasters.
Stressing the solidarity of EDF and all its members with Spain, the Spanish disability movement and the victims of floods, fires, and all climate-related disasters.
Recalling the imperative need to include a disability perspective in national disaster risk reduction and preparedness plans.
Recalling the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the European Union (EU) and all European countries, and their obligations to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of rights by persons with disabilities, including equality and non-discrimination under its article 5;
Recognising the EU commitment to equality and human rights, and acknowledging the significant advances made in recent years towards a more inclusive and equitable Union, including the development of key policies and legislation, such as the Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and the directives on Standards for Equality Bodies among others;
Highlighting the importance of addressing the discrimination faced by marginalised people in Europe in line with article 19 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union, through targeted policies such as the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the EU anti-racism action plan 2020-2025, the Roma strategic framework for equality, and the Green Paper on Ageing adopted under the last mandate of the European Commission;
Further recalling the appointment of the first European Commissioner dedicated to Equality in 2019 as a milestone in ensuring that equality issues, including the rights of persons with disabilities, were prioritised at a high level of EU governance;
Alarmed by the decision of the incoming European Commission to dilute the equality portfolio, merging it with the responsibilities of the Commissioner-designate for Preparedness and Crisis Management, thereby signalling a deprioritisation of the fundamental principles of equality;
Alarmed by the widespread setbacks to human rights we have witnessed in recent years throughout the European Union and its Member States, in particular with reference to the rise of extremist ideologies, in respect of migration, refugees and asylum, denialism of gender-based violence and roll-back of the sexual and reproductive rights of women, and hate speech towards the LGBTIQ community, among others;
Concerned that persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups continue to face widespread discrimination and exclusion from society, with limited access to fully enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms on an equal basis with others, and noting that according to the 2023 Eurobarometer, nearly half of EU citizens say that discrimination is widespread on the basis of disability;
Concerned that after sixteen years the proposed Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive has remained stalled in the Council of the EU, and that consequently, persons living in the EU are still not comprehensively protected against discrimination;
Concerned by the adverse impact of climate change and the resulting natural disasters, which are disproportionately harmful to persons with disabilities and other marginalised people
The EDF Board of Directors meeting in Madrid, hosted by the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI) and ONCE Social Group:
- Urges the European Union institutions to assist to the fullest of their capacity the Spanish authorities in managing the response to the devastating floodings in the country without neglecting the particular situation of affected persons with disabilities;
- Urges the European Commissioner-designate for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, to swiftly adopt a set of new flagship initiatives and actions for the next phase of the European Disability Rights Strategy (2025-2030), in consultation with the Disability Movement;
- Calls the European Commission to ensure expertise and resources on disability policies, including in the cabinet of the Commissioner for Equality, in the Equality Task Force, and in the focal point for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
- Requests that the European Parliament intensify its work to promote the rights of persons with disabilities through making the Parliament inclusive and accessible to all, and enhancing its legislative work on the CRPD and in its obligations as a public administration;
- Requests that the Parliament further strengthen its scrutiny of equality-related matters, ensuring that the EU’s legislative agenda upholds the principles of non-discrimination, inclusion, and respect for fundamental rights. This includes maintaining a focus on disability rights, gender equality, racial equality, and the protection of marginalised groups, including young and older persons, as well as migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees;
- Calls on the Council of the EU to unblock the negotiations of the Horizontal Equal Treatment Directive to ensure its swift adoption and implementation;
- Calls on the Council to establish a CRPD focal point for the mainstreaming of the CRPD in the legislative agenda of the Council and to establish a Council Configuration for Equality;
- Calls on the European Commission and the European Parliament to closely monitor the transposition of the Directives on standards for equality bodies;
- Highlights the importance of continued consultation, inclusion, support and funding for civil society organisations that work on equality and non-discrimination, including organisations of persons with disabilities, and underlines that it must be made much easier for civil society to make use of EU funding for actions that reduce inequalities.