CRPD Committee Opening, 15 September 2014
12th session (15 September - 3 October 2014)
The CRPD Committee opened its 12th session on Monday 15 September 2014.*
Antti Korkeakivi, Chief of Indigenous and Minorities Section Rules of Law, Equality
and Non-Discrimination Branch of the OHCHR
Mr Korkeakivi welcomed the election of 5 new members held in June 2014 who will
join the Committee in January 2015 and the re-election of 4 members. He also
commended the ratification of the Convention by a further 7 countries since the last
session in April 2014 to now total 150 states parties and a further 4 countries ratified
the Optional Protocol to now total 84 states parties.
He further highlighted the work of various bodies, including:
The Human Rights Council
- Adoption of Resolution 68/268 on strengthening and enhancing the effective
functioning of the Convention, such as implementing recommendations,
reducing backlog, etc. The Resolution tasks the Secretary-General to report
back every two years to the General Assembly on progress achieved by the
treaty bodies in achieving greater efficiency and effectiveness in their work
e.g. Implementation of the Simplified Reporting Procedure from 1 January
2015.
- In Resolution 25/20 of the HRC entitled ‘The right to education of persons
with disabilities’ adopted in March 2014, the Council decided the next annual
interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities will be held in
March 2015 and will focus on Article 19 of the CRPD. The Council further
requested OHCHR to prepare an annual study on Article 19 in consultation
with stakeholders.
- In 2014, the Council organised a panel discussion on technical cooperation
on capacity building in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities
through legal and institutional frameworks including private and public
partnerships. OHCHR contributed to the dialogue through its report on
activities in support of efforts by States to promote the rights of persons with
disabilities in their national legislation, policies and programmes.
- The Council decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the rights for
persons with disabilities.
The General Assembly Working Groups
- The Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals is working on arriving
at an agreed sustainable development framework to succeed the MDGs and
has released a Zero Draft of proposed goals and targets on 30 June 2014.
- In Moldova, the UN Human Rights Advisor facilitated the establishment of an
interdisciplinary working group on legal capacity reform, which prepared a
draft law regulating the institutional framework for legal capacity support. The
Working Group also prepared guidelines for local authorities on the right to
legal capacity, which have been applied by an increasing number of
municipalities in the country.
* This summary compilation is provided by the IDA secretariat and is not an official record of the
proceedings. The public opening was webcast live with English audio and international sign
interpretation. The video has been archived here.
OHCHR
- On the nexus between CRPD and OHCHR’s work on indigenous and minority
rights, the OHCHR has facilitated the participation of indigenous people in
CRPD sessions through the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous People with
Disabilities. The general criteria for the selection of grantees have been
revised with a view to encourage applications from indigenous people with
disabilities and making the forms more accessible for persons with
disabilities. The fund will bring two indigenous women with disabilities to the
high-level meeting of the General Assembly known as the World Conference
on Indigenous Peoples in New York (22-23 September 2014).
- The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has also paid
increased attention to persons with disabilities and the body will present to
the Human Rights Council (HRC) a study on access to justice in the
promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples highlighting
issues related to indigenous persons with disabilities on barriers and
remedies.
- OHCHR engages in the promotion and protection of rights of persons with
disability at the country level and the Regional Office of Europe will hold its
first regional workshop on the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities
in October 2014.
The 7th Conference of States Parties to CRPD also took place in June 2014 at which
the Committee was represented by the Chair and its Rapporteur. Committee
members participated in panels and roundtables focused on the incorporation of
CRPD provisions in the post-2015 developed agenda, on the situation of youth with
disabilities and on the implementation and monitoring of the Convention at the
national level. Legal capacity and accessibility were further disseminated during
General Comments. The Committee also engaged in talks with a committee member
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the intersectionalities
between gender and disability. OHCHR supported side events including one on
achieving progress in making societies accessible and inclusive and another on
inclusive education.
Furthermore, on 19 June 2014, the Secretary General issued a Bulletin on the
employment and accessibility for staff members with disabilities. The landmark policy
document commits the UN Secretariat to improving accessibility and full inclusion of
staff with disabilities.
Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes, Chair of CRPD Committee
She welcomed the Indigenous forum of OHCHR and particularly indigenous persons
with disabilities and women and girls with disabilities and advised that the Committee
has had contact with other treaty bodies in a bid to ensure the rights of persons with
disabilities cut across many different sectors. She mentioned that on 25 September,
the Committee will be meeting with NHRIs and independent monitoring systems; and
on 26 September, they will be meeting with other regional human rights monitoring
bodies. This is a multi-sectoral approach, a work of synergy that ensures working
coherently with each other.
With regards to treaty body strengthening exercises such as guidelines for simplified
format, constructed dialogue and drafting of concluding observations, the Chair
raised that treaty body strengthening is a procedural issue as well as one of
consistency, i.e. different treaty bodies must speak with a consistent voice. There is a
new paradigm to the human rights of persons with disabilities and the Committee is
working on fluid interaction with other treaty bodies and on the possibility of a
roundtable with experts including those from other Committees.
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With regards to technical cooperation and capacity building (Article 37 of CRPD), the
Committee has always been open to all requests made for technical cooperation
(e.g. drafting reports and implementation of CRPD). On 3 October 2014, a special
meeting is to be held with the most recent 11 countries that ratified the CRPD.
Since the Committee's last session in April, seven new States have signed or ratified
the Convention: State of Palestine, Switzerland, Angola, Burundi, Grenada, Republic
of Congo and Guyana. Thus, the number of ratifications of the Convention now
reached 150. In addition, since the last session four new States ratified the Optional
Protocol to the Convention, bringing a total of 84 ratifications of the Optional
Protocol: they were Angola, Burundi, Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Finally,
initial reports had been received from Latvia, the European Union, Panama,
Slovenia, Bulgaria, Nepal, Oman and Sudan, bringing the total number of initial
reports received to date since the creation of the Committee to 67, of which so far 13
had been examined.
The Chair proceeded to adopt the agenda for the 12th session.
Statements from UN bodies, specialised agencies and civil society
Petru Dimitriu, Permanent Observer of the Council of Europe
Mr Dimitriu expressed support for the Committee’s work. He said that in April 2006
the Council of Europe adopted an action plan to promote the rights and full
participation of persons with disabilities in society. The action plan recommended to
the Governments of Member States that they integrate proposals of the action plan in
their policy, legislation and practice. The action plan was based on two premises: a
shift from the concept of disability, from a medical matter to one of ability, referring to
each individual’s talents and aptitudes. Mr Dimitriu called on societies to reduce the
effect of disability to the minimum and recognition that disability forms part of human
diversity.
Mabedle Lawrence Mushwana, Chairperson of the International Coordinating
Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
(ICC)
Mr Mushwana said that the ICC recognised the unique work and value of treaty
bodies in promoting and monitoring the effective implementation of universal human
rights standards at national level. He said that national human rights institutions
could be important partners in the Committee’s work to monitor the implementation of
the Convention at the domestic level. The ICC pledged commitment to further
develop the relationship with NHRIs to strengthen the implementation of the CRPD at
the national and local level. The first meeting of the Committee and the national
institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights will take place on 25
September 2014. That would be the first time that the Committee would meet
national monitoring mechanism from all regions in order to share their experiences,
lessons learned and opportunities for strengthening cooperation in the
implementation of the Convention.
Facundo Chávez Penillas, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Mr Chávez shared on some of the main developments that have taken place since
the last meeting in April 2014, on OHCHR’s mandate to promote and protect the
rights of persons with disabilities.
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- Conference of States Parties and post-2015 advocacy
At the 7th Conference of States parties to the CRPD, June 2014, OHCHR’s efforts
focused on continued advocacy for including the rights of persons with disabilities in
the post-2015 development agenda.
In addition, together with UNICEF and other allies, the OHCHR impacted
negotiations towards an inclusive quality education goal in the outcome document of
the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals. Indeed, the outcome
document’s focus area 4 is consistent with the CRPD’s approach on inclusive
education, and the OHCHR have been happy to see that many of the proposed goals
and targets have a disability-specific or disability-inclusive approach. The job
between now and September 2015 will consist of retaining this language and
ensuring indicators with a disability-inclusive approach that are adequately
disaggregated, concrete and measurable.
- Human Rights Council
 Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 25/20, the OHCHR is currently
drafting the next thematic study on the right to live independently and to be
included in the community. The OHCHR appreciates receiving input to the
study from this Committee and will nourish the report from the coming
discussions on this matter that will take place next 19 September.
 The OHCHR will promote the participation of a member of the Committee at
the annual debate on the rights of persons with disabilities that will take place
next March 2015 at the Human Rights Council, in due course, and the
OHCHR will be grateful if the Committee appoints a member to this task.
 At the request of the Council, OHCHR organized in June 2014 a panel debate
on technical cooperation to enhance promotion of the rights of persons with
disabilities, following a report the OHCHR drafted on that topic. The main
outcome of the debate was on the need to increase efforts on supporting
governments and other stakeholders on the implementation of the CRPD and
ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities. While the panel was held in
the past HRC session, the associated resolution is being negotiated at this
session and currently, States are encouraging the Office and other UN
agencies to continue supporting the work of States and various stakeholders.
 The Human Rights Disability Team was also involved in the advocacy
towards the creation of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities, supporting States in their negotiations in
coordination with civil society actors. As a result of the actions undertaken
both in the Commission for Social Development in New York and in the
Human Rights Council, OHCHR welcomes the creation of the new mandate
that took place during the last session of the Council and the three
candidacies proposed by the Consultative Group to be considered in this
session. The new mandate holder will be appointed on the last day of this
session of the Council, towards the end of September.
- Thematic work
Beyond thematic mandates mandated by the Human Rights Council, OHCHR is
studying the possibility of developing substantive guidance on the issue of
deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability. The OHCHR requests the Committee
to engage in this process, which could involve an expert meeting and a study, to be
developed in the next two years.
The OHCHR is also aligning efforts with other UN agencies and civil society on the
issue of situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, in line with article 11 of the
CRPD, and invites the Committee to contribute to these efforts within the year to
come.
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- United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD)
The UNPRPD Fund has, through its Multi-Donor Trust Fund mechanism, continued
to provide support through joint programming on the rights of persons with
disabilities. These programmes are demonstrating impact in several areas. The
OHCHR is pleased to announce that additional countries have been identified to
receive support under the second UNPRPD Funding Round this year. These
countries are: Armenia, Bolivia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Sudan,
Tajikistan, and Uganda. The OHCHR encourages the Committee to look into these
projects to find possible synergies with the UN Country Teams in charge of them.
- Policy and coordination
Last June, the Secretary-General issued a Bulletin on employment and accessibility
for staff members with disabilities (SGB). For the first time the UN administrative
policy framework adopts the CRPD concepts of disability, reasonable
accommodation and discrimination on the basis of disability, among others. While
this SGB only guides the issue of staff with disabilities and prospect candidates, it is
a very important step towards having an inclusive UN Secretariat as it sets a
standard for other processes.
Building on the momentum created by the SGB, the team has taken some initial
steps towards developing an OHCHR policy on the rights of persons with disabilities.
The aim of the policy is to operationalise the SGB and to mainstream the human
rights-based approach to disability in the work of the Office. The OHCHR is looking
at opening up the policy development process as much as possible and will look
forward to exchanging with the Committee on this issue regularly throughout the
process.
Last April, the OHCHR invited stakeholders of the disability community to work more
closely together, with the aim of using scarce resources “smartly” and reaching
stronger impact. Significant advances have happened since and the OHCHR has
invited the Committee, the Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility, and the
Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission of Social Development, to join
efforts in the form of an informal network, under the name of “Coordination
Mechanism on Human Rights and Disability”. The OHCHR is looking forward to
increasing joint actions and coordinated efforts to advance the rights of persons with
disabilities and invite the Committee to formally agree to be part of this Mechanism.
The OHCHR puts forward for the Committee’s consideration a draft joint statement
for the next International Day of Persons with Disabilities calling for universal
ratification of the CRPD and a description of the informal network presented through
a “questions and answers” format.
Stefan Trömel, ILO
Mr Trömel provided a brief update on latest developments of the work of the ILO to
promote the employment and social protection of persons with disabilities, including
the following:

The ILO Disability Team continues providing advice to our constituents on
labour law reforms in order to ensure that people with disabilities are
adequately taken into account. To support this work, the ILO are also in the
final stages of updating two of our key resources, the handbook on legislation
on achieving equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities
through legislation and the right to decent work. The latter publication was
produced to support the negotiation process of the CRPD and the former was
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produced soon after the adoption of the CRPD. These updates seek to
incorporate most relevant recent developments from many countries.
The ILO continues to provide technical advice to the development debate in
preparation for the negotiation of the post-2015 development framework.
While pursuing adequate references to decent work as a key element of
development, the ILO have also continuously stressed the need for this to
include persons with disabilities. Linked to this, the ILO is starting an interagency project supported by the UNPRPD which will increase coordination
among different agencies in the area of statistics of persons with disabilities
and through which the ILO aim at developing an employment module that
looks at root causes of exclusion from the labour market.
The ILO has been invited to take part in the two thematic discussions to be
held on the right to independent living and education. With regards to
education, the ILO highlights the work being done or about to commence in a
number of countries (Zambia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ethiopia) to promote
inclusive vocational training. The ILO also recently launched a practical guide
on this topic as it is still too often the case that vocational training for persons
with disabilities is available only in specialised institutions. Another related
area for which the ILO has collected statistical data in a number of countries
(yet to be analysed more in depth) relates to the transition of youth with
disabilities from school to work.
With regards to independent living, the ILO is commencing work on
examining social protection schemes in low and middle income countries and
how these schemes can support the participation of persons with disabilities
in the labour market and life in the community more generally.
In line with the Committee’s interest in the issue of indigenous persons with
disabilities, together with the section on indigenous peoples, the ILO has
commissioned a report to review policy frameworks and practical experience
in promoting vocational training and employment of indigenous persons with
disabilities, with a view to identifying measures that might be adopted by
governments, social partners and civil society to promote the economic and
social inclusion of this disadvantaged group.
The recent meeting between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and
the Director General of the ILO, one of the issues raised was the need to
increase communication between the UN treaty bodies and the ILO
Committee of experts. The ILO looks forward to joint cooperation between the
CRPD Committee, the ILO Standards Department and the Disability Inclusion
and Equality Group to ensure that this cooperation benefits persons with
disabilities.
Heidi-Maria Helenius, UNICEF
UNICEF continues to play an active role in the United Nations Partnership on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) and is a member of its Policy Board
and Management Committee. At the end of 2013, the UNPRPD issued a call for
expression of interest from UN country teams for a round 2 of funding, receiving
responses from more than 70 UN country teams. Out of the 11 countries that have
been identified for funding to undertake work addressing the inclusion of persons
with disabilities, UNICEF is the leading agency in 7 countries with projects targeting
areas such as inclusive education, data and statistics, innovations and technology.
In June this year, together with the Global Partnership on Children with Disabilities,
UNICEF organized a week-long advocacy and learning event in New York for
members of the Partnership’s Youth Council. During this event which coincided with
the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD, young influencers from all 5 regions
of the world came together to explore the intersections of inclusion, stigma,
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discrimination and innovative approaches to coping with these issues in the context
of the post-2015 agenda. In addition to participating in the Conference of States
Parties and different trainings on inclusive post-2015, the youth participants also took
part in an online global discussion, called “UNICEF Activate Talk” on Youth with
Disabilities and Innovation: Making the World Inclusive for ALL (summary of which
can be found online).
Furthermore, UNICEF has recently taken concrete steps to enhance the inclusion of
children with disabilities in humanitarian action. For example, the UNICEF HQ
Disability Team visited the UNICEF Iraq country office to specifically look into and
support the inclusion of children with disabilities in emergency interventions (e.g. in
areas of child protection and cash transfers). UNICEF is also in the process of
developing practical how-to notes on inclusion of children with disabilities in
humanitarian contexts in different thematic areas such as education, child protection,
water and sanitation (WASH), health and nutrition etc. and is expected to be finalised
early 2015, as well as a guidance on child-focused victim assistance, which is in the
final stages of production.
The UNICEF Malaysia country office has launched a National Partnership on
Children with disabilities in order to bring together government agencies and UN
agencies, as well as civil society and the private sector, to work together on the rights
of children with disabilities in the country. In August 2014, the 1st Partners Forum
organised an opportunity to celebrate the work already being done to advance the
rights of children with disabilities, as well as to identify new partners to help move the
agenda forward.
In 2012, UNICEF produced a 45-minute Disability Orientation video to strengthen
understanding of and capacity to support programming for children with disabilities.
The orientation module was very well received and has been widely used by UNICEF
staff. External agencies like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has
also placed the UNICEF module in their training portal. Versions in French and
Spanish are now available with full accessibility features like voice over, sign
language and captioning.
As a follow up to this Orientation module, UNICEF is now developing a video based
module on inclusive communication. The 30 minutes video and Q&A will guide
UNICEF and its partners’ communication efforts in policies, practices and
programmes, as well as in fundraising strategies and activities in order to make them
inclusive. The module consists of over 30 examples from UNICEF Country Offices
and partners, and will have all accessible features: Sign Language interpretation,
Audio description, and captioning. This module is expected to be launched in
December 2014 and will be available on the UNICEF global website.
Paramdeep Mtharu, Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support
Unit (ISU)
The ISU, in serving the 162 States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban
Convention, is charged with liaising and coordinating with actors that are relevant to
the pursuit of the Convention’s aims. The ISU consider the CRPD Committee, its
members and other partners such as the OHCHR and International Disability
Alliance (IDA) to be highly relevant actors when it comes to the implementation of the
Convention. The Convention was the first multilateral arms control or disarmament
treaty to make provisions for the victims of a particular weapon system. In doing so,
the Convention made a promise that efforts will be made to ensure that landmine
victims may become survivors who are able to participate in all spheres of their
societies on a basis equal to others. In the fulfilment of the promise to landmine
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victims and survivors, the States Parties to the Convention have understood that
what they call victim assistance “should be integrated into broader national policies,
plans and legal frameworks related to the rights of persons with disabilities, health,
education, employment, development and poverty reduction.” To act upon this
understanding, the States Parties, at the June 2014 Third Review Conference,
affirmed that “engagement in other domains” is necessary, i.e., landmine victim
assistance is not a world unto itself but rather is, or should be, a part of other worlds.
With regards to our recent work, Bridges between Worlds was an initiative to address
some fundamental questions about the place of landmine victim assistance in
domains, such as the worlds of disability, heath care, education, employment,
development, poverty reduction and human rights. One the key conclusions made at
the Medellin conference was that, while meeting to discuss bridges between worlds,
in fact, there are not different worlds. There is one world with physical, attitudinal and
other barriers preventing the full participation of women, girls, boys and men living
with a disability, including landmine survivors, in all spheres of their societies on a
basis equal to others. Bridges between Worlds also highlighted that those who care
deeply about the fulfilment of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention’s promise to
landmine victims and survivors have much in common with those concerned with the
wellbeing and the rights of women, girls, boys and men injured and living with
disabilities regardless of the cause. If it was not already apparent, it was made
abundantly clear that there is strength in pursuing this unity of purpose and working
together towards the achievement of common goals. Strengthening partnerships
would be of benefit to all involved in supporting implementation of the Anti-Personnel
Mine Ban Convention and the CRPD, particularly if done on a country-by-country
basis when a state has agreed to be bound by both instruments. The ISU looks
forward to exploring avenues for closer collaboration as is spelled out in more detail
in the Bridges between Worlds Chairperson’s Summary and are grateful that
members of this Committee contributed their time and expertise to the goal of
building and strengthening bridges between worlds.
On 22 May of this year, the ISU organized Bridges between Worlds: the Geneva
Edition, which featured the views of the ILO, the OHCHR and IDA. Moving beyond
the Convention’s Third Review Conference, it is clear that applying the concept of
bridges between worlds is more important than ever. The States Parties that ISU
serves agreed to the need to “(take) the discussion on meeting the needs and
guaranteeing the rights of mine victims to other fora where relevant and related
issues are debated.”
Maryanne Diamond, International Disability Alliance
Ms Diamond, new IDA Chair as of July 2014, renewed IDA’s commitment to holding
the CRPD to its highest standard and cooperating with the Committee and other
actors to ensure its implementation globally - both as a human rights instrument and
development tool. In particular, Ms Diamond expressed her personal commitment to
advance the rights of women and girls with disabilities during her mandate as IDA
Chair.
Since the Committee’s last session, there have been many milestones on the global
agenda of the rights of persons with disabilities:
- Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
One of the most significant developments was the establishment of the mandate of
the Special Rapporteur on Disability within the Human Rights Council in June 2014.
IDA applauded the missions of NZ and Mexico for leading in the elaboration and swift
adoption of the mandate which was sponsored by over 80 missions, as well as their
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close consultation with IDA in this process. It is an achievement of the CRPD and
this Committee’s valuable work that the Special Rapporteur finally joins the UN
human rights family under the Council and a living testament to the paradigm shift the triumph of the human rights based approach to disability.
-Post- 2015 development agenda
Development Goals, including several concrete references to persons with
disabilities in its targets, among which the most important is the disaggregation of
data by disability status. IDA will continue advocating to ensure the Secretary
General’s synthesis report and the global goals adopted are fully inclusive of persons
with disabilities.
IDA has also started to think ahead about how to ensure implementation and
accountability of the post-2015 development agenda. There is a very important role
to be played by the Committee in acting as one follow up mechanisms to the
implementation of the global goals by States Parties to the CRPD. The participation
and inclusion of persons with disabilities should be central to policy-making,
programming, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. Beyond states, IDA is
also reflecting upon an accountability mechanism for the UN and other relevant
actors for concerted and concrete monitoring to ensure that the post-2015
development agenda does not remain theory but immediately becomes practice.
- Treaty bodies
With respect to treaty bodies, IDA shared its growing concern of certain
developments, which diverge from the CRPD and the Committee’s authoritative
interpretation on the rights of persons with disabilities. In particular, the Human
Rights Committee’s draft general comment on the right to liberty, which accepts
disability based detention with safeguards. IDA is systematically calling for greater
exchange amongst treaty bodies as there is a clear gap in the understanding of the
CRPD across treaty bodies and other human rights expert bodies. In this vein, IDA
expressed support to the Committee’s efforts to reach out to regional human rights
mechanisms, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), and other treaty bodies for
exchange and increased substantive coherence.
- Campaign for universal ratification
Recently, IDA’s board took the decision to lead a campaign for the universal
ratification of the CRPD. The CRPD has been ratified by 149 States to date and it is
the first human rights instrument adopted in the 21st Century, and rightly reflects a
new era of human rights, which not only addresses individual rights but also
advances a broader vision of the community, development, and international
cooperation. Thus, IDA recognised the importance and timeliness of keeping up the
momentum toward universal ratification and calls on the support of the Committee
and other actors in this campaign to be launched on the International Day of Persons
with Disabilities on 3rd December.
- Side events & live webcasting
IDA reminded all participants of the private country specific side events taking place
for the duration of the session where there will be briefings held respectively on New
Zealand, Mexico, Korea, Belgium, Ecuador and Denmark.
In addition, IDA is jointly involved in hosting thematic public side events, including:
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on women and girls with disabilities together with Human Rights Watch at
9am on Wednesday 23 September;
on international cooperation together with IDDC at lunchtime on Wednesday
23 September; and
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on the participation of children with disabilities together with Inclusion Europe,
Eurochild, Lumos, and UNICEF at lunchtime on Friday 26 September which
will include the participation of some children with disabilities as well as the
attendance of CRC Committee members.
Finally, Ms Diamond reminded everyone that IDA is providing live webcasting of all
public meetings including the country reviews and public side events.
Tina Minkowitz, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP)
Whilst General Comment no 1 was a milestone for users and survivors of psychiatry
and persons with psychosocial disabilities, WNUSP drew attention to three areas
where the Committee’s guidance is needed to complete the paradigm shift of the
CRPD for persons with psychosocial disabilities.
Firstly, WNUSP asked the Committee to elaborate a General Comment on Article 14,
to establish conclusively that Article 14 prohibits detention in any kind of mental
health facility, including detention based on criteria such as a prediction of harm to
the person or to others. Discriminatory preventive detention of persons with
disabilities under the auspices of medical treatment causes serious damage to one’s
status before and under the law and to one’s ability to interact freely with others as
members of society. The urgent need for CRPD leadership in this area is
emphasized in light of ongoing processes that risk the reaffirmation of outdated
standards contrary to the CRPD. WNUSP urged the Committee to begin work
immediately, and to make a public announcement of its scope and guiding principles,
including the prohibition of mental health detention as established in Concluding
Observations. This would signal to all stakeholders that the Committee is prepared
to exercise its leadership in this matter, and that the prohibition of mental health
detention is integral to the CRPD.
Secondly, also through a General Comment on Article 14, the Committee should
squarely address the question of criminal responsibility, building on the right to equal
guarantees in criminal proceedings. WNUSP takes the view that an excuse from
culpability based on mental incapacity is contrary to Articles 12, 13 and 14. Instead,
WNUSP seeks an equivalent of the support model to ensure that persons with
disabilities are treated fairly in an adjudication of culpability. One way to achieve this
would be a requirement that criminal proceedings take into account the subjective
perception and reality of any criminal defendant. WNUSP agrees with the
Committee that there can be no diversion from criminal proceedings to regimes of
mental health commitment and compulsory treatment, and that persons with
disabilities have the right to promptly stand trial with accommodations and support.
Thirdly, WNUSP asked the Committee to address the shift from a medical model to a
social model of psychosocial disability, through its elaboration of a General Comment
on Article 19. There is a common misunderstanding that Article 19 as applied to
persons with psychosocial disabilities means the transfer of individuals from closed
institutions to community-based mental health services. That approach reinforces the
medical model and is detrimental to the realization of full human rights.
In the view of WNUSP, Article 19 allows one to step outside the “health” context and
consider the needs expressed by people with psychosocial disabilities in all areas of
life. For example, needs may be met through the cultivation of naturally-occurring
supports in the community, by practical supports provided by a personal assistant or
service animal, and by more programmatic and holistic approaches to well-being
rather than restricting recovery opportunities to the medical model of mental health.
Further, Articles 27 and 28 are closely related to the inclusion of people with
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psychosocial disabilities in the community and must be addressed together with
Article 19.
The shift from a medical model to social model needs to incorporate a critique of
false and corrupt scientific practices in the mental health field, in research and in
clinical practice, which perpetuate misinformation and create barriers to full inclusion
of persons with psychosocial disabilities in society. These practices must be
exposed to human rights analysis and scrutiny. Article 19, which embodies the
social model of disability and inclusive community, offers an ideal standpoint from
which to address the social harms caused by medical-model practice. In criticizing
the medical model, WNUSP is not calling for the elimination of medically-oriented
services such as general and holistic health-care and psychiatric medication. These
services must be provided based on free and informed consent of the person
concerned to those who desire the service, including those who are unable to pay.
WNUSP aims to facilitate honest debate and policy-making, based on a social model
of psychosocial disability that acknowledges diversity of experiences and viewpoints.
Repeal of legislative provisions that authorize deprivation of liberty of persons with
psychosocial disabilities by medical personnel is fundamental to the creation of
inclusive community under Article 19, as well as being a central obligation of Article
14 and the freedom from arbitrary detention.
Eeva Tupi, World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)
Ms Tupi informed the Committee that, to date, only about fifteen countries have
ensured the accessibility of deaf communities to the CRPD by providing national sign
language translations online. Since the 11th CRPD session, WFD has conducted
human rights training for deaf leaders in the Dominican Republic and Mongolia by a
deaf trainer in sign language. This training supported deaf leaders to become more
participative in parallel reporting processes. WFD is committed to continue informing
and training member organisations to support the work of the Committee and
national governments and other stakeholders should also be obliged to ensure that
the CRPD is accessible in national sign languages and that deaf people are aware of
their rights.
WFD expressed concern about the insufficient awareness of states parties on the
variety of sign languages in implementing CRPD Article 21(e) to promote the use of
sign languages. In May 2014, the WFD released a statement on the standardization
of sign languages stressing the importance of understanding that sign languages are
fully-fledged natural languages and structurally independent from spoken languages.
The Statement emphasises the importance for sign language work to be done with
leadership of deaf native sign language users and WFD Ordinary Members; and that
the CRPD requires governments to ensure that persons with disabilities can express
themselves freely, including in sign language. WFD believes that any sign language
work should reflect all the different signs used by a language community. Therefore,
sign language dictionary work should always document all the different signs and
their variations that deaf people in a community or area use. It is not advisable to
select only one sign for one word when documenting sign languages. WFD therefore
stated that it does not support any formal standardisation activities related to any
sign language, but supports appropriately qualified linguistic research into and the
documentation of all sign languages in the world. Mongolia is an example of a
country where the government has taken the initiative to standardise sign language
and this gives the WFD grave concerns.
Anna Lachowska, Disability Council International
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Ms Lachowska said that the Council organised a number of seminars on disability
and the implementation of the Convention in former Soviet republics. She said the
Council also contributes to parallel reports on countries under review.
Close of meeting
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