Draft:European Disability Forum

The European Disability Forum (EDF) is an independent non-governmental organisation that defends the interests of persons with disabilities in Europe. The organisation brings together representative organisations from around Europe to represent their interests at the European Union (EU) level. EDF’s goal is to defend the rights of people with disabilities through involvement in policy development, implication, and monitoring. They function as a uniting voice throughout the EU to fight for human rights for women, men, and children with disabilities.

Views on Disability
Established in 1996, the European Disability Forum has appeared as a prominent voice in the disability rights movement. They advocate for the full inclusion of persons with disability into society on an equal basis with others and that their human rights, as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), are fully respected, protected, and fulfilled. EDF has a focus on ensuring that decisions concerning persons with disabilities are made with persons with disabilities through their active involvement in policy and decision-making. This idea is the basis of the motto ‘Nothing about us without us.’

Advocacy
The European Disability Forum advocates for human rights, visibility, non-discrimination, active participation, accessibility, active participation, freedom of movement, independent living, equality, leaving no one behind, and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Through these avenues, EDF campaigns for EU legislation that advances these rights. In addition, the European Disability Forum publishes a Human Rights Report every year, with each iteration focusing on different issues pertinent to the disabled population. Further, the European Disability Forum has created the document Your Rights in the EU as another resource designed to help residents of the EU understand how the EU works, the history and development of rights of persons with disabilities in the EU, and what rights they have under EU law. In the booklet, there is a list of agencies that can help citizens who have faced a breach of their rights.

Structure and Financing
The European Disability Forum is an umbrella organisation that connects many disability rights organisations from around Europe. Under the member organisations, EDF has a Board of 30 women and men with disabilities who are responsible for the supervision of the daily management of the organisation and the work of the secretariat. The Board elects an Executive Committee as a smaller decision-making group every four years. It includes ten board members, including the president, Yannis Vardakastis, two vice presidents, a treasurer, and a secretary. Additionally, the secretariat works at the Brussels office in policy, international cooperation, communications, and operations teams.

There are over 100 member organisations that work with the European Disability Forum. There are 52 full-member organisations, 12 ordinary members of organisations for persons with disabilities, 38 associate members of organisations not in the European Union, and three observer members of organisations in the process of applying to join the EU.

EDF is funded by the European Union through a running cost grant under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme. Other funding comes from membership fees and donations, as well as donations from external stakeholders.

History
In March 1995, the European Disability Forum, a former organisation that existed as only a consultative body, reached out to new member states as a working group to create an independent organisation at the EU level. In May 1996, the European Disability Forum (EDF) was formally established as an independent organisation by founder member associations, e.g., the National Councils of Disabled People of each of the Member States of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) and European Non-Governmental Organisations of/for disabled people representing disabled people, and parents (as such term is defined by each member organisation) of disabled people who are unable to represent themselves in the EU and EEA in. The organisation was recognised under Belgian Law by the end of the year. In June 1997, after extensive campaigns by the European Disability Forum, such as the “Invisible Citizens” campaign where EDF called to incorporate a disability non-discrimination clause. The Treaty of Amsterdam was established. It became the first time in the 40-year history of the European Union the word disability was used in the treaty. Article 13 of the treaty defined discrimination and began a new policy of fighting discrimination at the EU level. This legislation was essential for establishing a legal basis for disability rights. EDF led a campaign urging the Commission to address combating discrimination in the workplace. The campaign led to European Union Directive 78 being formally adopted in 2000, establishing a framework for equal treatment in employment, working conditions, and pay. In 2003, the 2nd European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities (EPPD) was led by the EDF. In May 2004, the Annual General Assembly adopted a new EDF Constitution designed to meet the challenges of EDF’s expansion during the enlargement of the EU. In 2019, EDF created a toolkit to help member organisations push for solid national legislation to follow the newly adopted European Accessibility Act. 2022 marked the 25th anniversary of the European Disability Forum and the publishing of a podcast that discusses the history of the disability movement.

Achievements and Impact
Since its establishment, the European Disability Forum has made significant contributions in advancing the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities in Europe. EDF has influenced the development and implementation of key EU legislation, such as the European Accessibility Act and the European Disability Strategy. EDF has also raised awareness about the barriers faced by persons with disabilities and provided a platform for the voices of persons with disabilities to be represented in the EU.

For their work, the European Disability Forum has been honoured with the Carlos V European Award. It was granted to EDF in 2022 by the European and Ibero-American Academy of Yuste Foundation, for promoting a more inclusive Europe.

Ongoing campaigns
The European Disability Forum have several current campaigns in which they advocate for the rights of disabled persons.

EU Disability Card
The EU Disability Card could be considered one of EDF’s most successful campaigns, after campaigning for the card for more than a decade. EDF has called for equal recognition of benefits for persons using EU Mobility programmes, such as ERASMUS as well as for moving to other EU countries for work. The proposal for Parking and Disability cards has been moved to the Council and Parliament to negotiate on final legislation. The cards would offer a straightforward way to provide proof of your disability status when visiting another EU country and ensure all EU citizens have access to the accommodations they need anywhere in the EU. A pilot programme is currently in place in eight member states where the card is being trialled.

European Elections and Political Participation
Under European Union law, every citizen of the EU has the right to vote and stand as a candidate in their country of origin. Nevertheless, it is prevalent for persons with disabilities to be deprived of this right to political participation. In fact, “about 800 000 EU citizens from 16 Member States are, on account of national rules, deprived of the right to participate in EP elections because of their disabilities or mental health problems.” In this campaign, EDF focuses on guaranteeing the participation of persons with disabilities in the political and public life of the EU. EDF focuses on guaranteeing the participation of persons with disabilities in the political and public life of the EU. They are urging the EU to make policy changes to address the barriers to political participation, such as maximising accessibility in voting. Part of EDF’s campaign also encourages political parties to be inclusive and to provide accessible accommodations for candidates with disabilities. EDF prepared a manifesto, launched in May 2023, with ten main demands to guide the 2024 European elections' candidates’ political platforms in advocating for disability rights. The manifesto is the roadmap of EDF's campaign and outlines actions that they would like the next parliament to work on, concerning disability rights.

Forced Sterilisation
EDF, under its commitment to women’s rights and gender equality, is advocating to end forced sterilisation in all member states. The European Disability Forum's report "Forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities revealed that at least 13 EU countries still allow forced sterilization. EDF called on the EU to include a complete ban on this practice in future legislation. They also put forth a proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence to the European Parliament and the Council on 8 March 2022.

The proposal calls for the criminalisation of forced sterilisation in all EU Member States with no exceptions based on disability or legal ability. According to Marine Uldry who works for EDF, as quoted in an EURACTIV article, “governments think they are protecting people with disabilities, but they are able to make these decisions themselves. This is a violation of human rights". The proposal also stresses the importance of EU-level measures to ensure access to justice and compensation for victims.

The War in Ukraine
The European Disability Forum is working on supporting Ukrainians with disabilities with protection and safety during the war. EURACTIV recounts that members of the European Disability Forum are calling on Ukraine to focus on addressing accessibility concerns in their efforts to rebuild and provide living assistance without creating “segregating residential institutions”. Other objectives include strengthening the disability movement to better respond to humanitarian needs in the long term, ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities in wider humanitarian efforts and reconstruction.

Passenger’s Rights and Transportation
EDF lobbies the EU to ensure that persons with disabilities can fully benefit from their right to travel by making transportation more accessible. EDF is working towards full accessibility in air, rail, road, and sea transportation. The European Disability Forum has created a Transport Accessibility Discrimination Database to highlight problems with the accessibility of transport. EDF uses these cases to campaign for Member States to adopt and implement laws and policies to prevent those situations.