User:XFLQR/sandbox/crpdsandbox

The Plan:


 * 1) Revise history at both beginning, end.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, like many of the other United Nations Human Rights Conventions, (such as the The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)) resulted from decades of activity during which group rights standards developed from aspirations to a binding treaty.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Disabled Persons December 9, 1975, preceded by the 1971 Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons. 1982 was the International Year of Disabled Persons; an outcome of year was the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. The Year was followed by the Decade of Disabled Persons, 1983-1992. A United Nations Day of Disabled Persons was proclaimed in 1992 General Assembly resolution 47/3. [cite to Barnes and Mercer]. The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities on 20 December 1993 (resolution 48/96 annex)

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities meets twice yearly (except for 2020's single online session). The Committee compile lists of issues (LOI), then evaluates States Parties' periodic reports and issues concluding observations. It produces "general comments" and reports on individual complaints brought under the Optional Protocol (see below). Non-state actors may raise specific concerns for the Committee, file "shadow reports" responding to a state report, or aid individuals bringing complaints to the Committee.

2. Rewrite Summary

3. Add preamble to core provisions. Clear rejection of medical model; difference of opinion on whether it reflects the social model (Pyaneandee) or a newer human rights model.

Core Provisions
Despite the United Nations' authorizing an "official fiction" of no "new rights." CRPD provisions address a broad variety of human rights, while adding a state obligation that states provide support to guarantee rights can be practiced. Various authors group them in different categories; this entry will describe basics and mechanics, then describe three categories roughly equivalent to the disputed concept of three generations of human rights.

With increasing frequency, observers have commented on the overlapping and interdependence of categories of rights. In 1993, the World Conference on Human Rights' Vienna Declaration provided in its Article 5 that since human rights were " universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated"...,States have a duty "to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms." Gerard Quinn specifically commented on the fact that the CRPD "co-mingles civil and political rights with economic, social and cultural rights." This is especially apparent in the CRPD where political rights have been meaningless without social and economic support for the economic and social rights are meaningless without participation.

In contents

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

Basics and mechanics
Some of the CRPD's first articles set forth its purpose and foundations; after listing disability rights (summarized in later sections below), its last Articles spell out the institutional framework by which disability rights are to be promoted.

Guiding principles of the Convention
There are eight guiding principles that underlie the Convention, delineated in [https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-3-general-principles.html#:~:text=Respect%20for%20inherent%20dignity%2C%20individual,Non%2Ddiscrimination%3B&text=Respect%20for%20the%20evolving%20capacities,disabilities%20to%20preserve%20their%20identities. Article 3:]


 * 1) Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one's own choices, and independence of persons
 * 2) Non-discrimination
 * 3) Full and effective participation and inclusion in society
 * 4) Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity
 * 5) Equality of opportunity
 * 6) Accessibility
 * 7) Equality between men and women
 * 8) Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities

Definitions
Article 2 (Definitions) does not include a definition of disability. The Convention adopts a social model of disability, but does not offer a specific definition.

Disability
The Convention's preamble (section e) explains that the Convention recognises:"...that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others"Article one (Purpose) further offers that:"Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others."

Principle of "reasonable accommodation"
The Convention defines "reasonable accommodation" as "necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms" in Article 2 and demands this all aspects of life including inclusive education.

Awareness-Raising
Article 8 of the Convention stresses parties' commitment to awareness raising to foster respect for rights and dignity to counter disability discrimination. Parties commit to raise disability awareness throughout society, including at the family level, .to combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those aggravated by sex and age discrimination.  They commit to effective public awareness campaigns to foster positive perceptions in the labour market, the media, and elsewhere.

Civil and political rights
The CRPD includes many "freedoms from," reflecting liberal and humanist ideals enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in the many states' rights documents such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the CRPD, frequently states assume obligations to guarantee rights in practice.

Accessibility
In its Article 9, the Convention stresses that persons with disabilities should be able to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life. To this end, States Parties should take appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have access, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications technology, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public. Accessibility can be grouped into three main groups. 1. physical accessibility 2. service accessibility 3. accessibility to communication and information.

Recognition before the law and legal capacity
Article 12 of the Convention affirms the equal recognition before the law and legal capacity of persons with disabilities. It provides that Parties (States and the European Union should reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law; recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life; take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity; and ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law.

This provision has been particularly important for disability rights organizations challenging state practices of institutionalization and guardianship.

Access to justice
Article 13 of the Convention affirms the effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, stating that: States parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages.

In order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, states Parties are to promote appropriate training for those working in the administration of justice, including police and prison staff. This Article together with Article 12 are cited by the "Handbook on prisoners with special needs" by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Participation in Public Life (Including the Right to Vote)
Article 29 requires that all Contracting States protect "the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums". According to this provision, each Contracting State should provide for voting equipment which would enable disabled voters to vote independently and secretly. Some democracies, e.g., the US, Japan, Netherlands, Slovenia, Albania or India allow disabled voters to use electronic voting machines or electronic aides which help disabled voters to fill the paper ballot. In others, among them Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Canada, Ghana, United Kingdom, and most of African and Asian countries, visually impaired voters can use ballots in Braille or paper ballot templates. Many of these and also some other democracies, Chile for example, use adjustable desks so that voters on wheelchairs can approach them. Some democracies only allow another person to cast a ballot for the blind or disabled voter. Such arrangement, however, does not assure secrecy of the ballot.

Article 29 also requires that Contracting States ensure "that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use." In some democracies, i.e. Sweden and the US, all the polling places already are fully accessible for disabled voters.

Economic, social, and cultural rights
The CRPD has many "freedoms to," guarantees that states will provide housing, food, employment, health care, and personal assistance, set forth in the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. These are positive obligations that the state will act, going beyond the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Respect for the family
Article 23 of the Convention prohibits compulsory sterilization of disabled persons and guarantees their right to adopt children.

Right to education
The Convention's Article 24 states that persons with disabilities should be guaranteed the right to inclusive education at all levels, regardless of age, without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity. It specifies that children with disabilities must have effective access to free and compulsory primary and secondary education; adults with disabilities have access to general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning; and more.

Parties are to take appropriate measures, such as:


 * 1) endorsing the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;
 * 2) supporting the learning of sign language and promoting the linguistic identity of the deaf community;
 * 3) advocating that education of persons, particularly children, who are blind and/or deaf, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and means of communication for the individual; and
 * 4) employing teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train education professionals and staff about disability awareness, use of augmentative and alternative modes and formats of communication, and educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

Right to health
Article 25 specifies that "persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability."

Habilitation and rehabilitation
[https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-26-habilitation-and-rehabilitation.html#:~:text=1.&text=States%20Parties%20shall%20promote%20the%20availability%2C%20knowledge%20and%20use%20of,relate%20to%20habilitation%20and%20rehabilitation. Article 26] of the Convention affirms that "States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures, including through peer support, to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. To that end, States Parties shall organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes, particularly in the areas of health, employment, education and social services, in such a way that these services and programmes: begin at the earliest possible stage, and are based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths; and support participation and inclusion in the community and all aspects of society, are voluntary, and are available to persons with disabilities as close as possible to their own communities, including in rural areas.

Parties pledge to promote the development of initial and continuing training for professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation service as well as the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with disabilities, as they relate to habilitation and rehabilitation.

Work and employment
Article 27 requires that States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis of others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. The Article obligates States Parties to safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions; and to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;

Parties agree to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others; to enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training; to promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment; and to promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperative and starting one's own business, acquisition of work experience, vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.

Parties pledge to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace an that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.

Adequate standard of living and social protection
Article 28 requires that States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this rights without discrimination on the basis of disability.

States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that rights without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of the rights, including measures; to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes (in particular, regarding women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities);

Specifically, parties are to ensure persons with disabilities equal access to clean water service, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, device s and other assistance for disability-related needs;  access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care; access to public housing programmes, to to retirement benefits and more.

Independent living, International Cooperation and National Implementation, Integrity, Disaster Protection
Some CRPD sections exemplify "third generation" human rights, sometimes described as new rights, "freedoms with," solidarity rights, or group rights. They reflect a realization that disability rights will require a mix of participation by disabled persons, international cooperation, and national implementation.

Situations of risk and humanitarian emergency
Article 11 of the Convention affirms that States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disaster.

Independent living
The CRPD's Article 19, "Living independently and being included in the community," is closely related to Article 3 (General Principles) and Article 4 (General Obligations). As sometimes indicated in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' Concluding Observations on the parties' periodic reports and in a General Comment, disability by its nature, involves interdependence, but states can encourage or discourage the autonomy of disabled people and disabled peoples' organizations.

International Cooperation and National Implementation
The CRPD's Article 32 deals with international cooperation, and Article 33 deals with the complexities of national implementation to be facilitated by international cooperation.

Specifically, Article 32 provides that "States Parties recognize the importance of international cooperation...and will undertake appropriate and effective... in partnership with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities." Development programs are to be inclusive of disabled people, an aspiration that has not always been met in practice. Development has recently been an oft-expressed United Nations concern, especially since 4 December 1986, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the [https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/righttodevelopment.aspx#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20development%20is%20an%20inalienable%20human%20right%20by,freedoms%20can%20be%20fully%20realized. Declaration on the Right to Development]

Development and disability rights both depend on popular participation, international cooperation, and national implementation. As expressed in the CRPD's Article 33, parties are to involve civil society, and have designated "focal points," often in practice national human rights institutions.

5. Add Conferences of States Parties, since 2008, thirteenth was held in New York in 2020

6. Add periodic state reporting. Every four years. the documentation maintained at the site of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights includes a list of issues that the state should address in its report (developed by the Committee experts).

7. Add role of DPOs, shadow reports, role of national human rights institutions

8. Add General Comments. 7 to present at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/gc.aspx First ones in written sources, For instance, Pyaneandee

I'm in the process of adding sections on initial meetings of the Committee and the first complaints.

9. Add complaints brought under Optional Protocol. Committee views where communications considered.

A first stage is a Committee holding on the complaint's admissibility. The CRPD requires exhaustion of domestic remedies" (Article 2 of the Optional Protocol). The Committee may also rule a communication inadmissible if it is anonymous or not sufficiently substantiated. An applicant may offer substantiation that resort to domestic remedies would be unreasonably prolonged or impossible.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights maintains a record of all individual complaints filed under the Optional Protocol. Several of the communications that were ruled admissible resulted in comments by advocates and nongovernmental analysts.

A Disabled Peoples Organization, the International Disability Alliance summarizes and interprets each case  (37 cases as of July 23, 2020: https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/crpd-committee-interpretation#LinkX) Individuals from Australia, Tanzania, The United Kingdom, Mexico, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Hungary, Greece, and Ecuador brought the first complaints. One communication considered by the Committee was X v. Tanzania. It involves an individual with albinism who had an arm cut off. The failure of the state, demonstrated to the Committee, was a failure to investigate or prosecute.

Other major CRPD communications concerned community living for a previously institutionalized Australian, a Lithuanian's access to justice after a traffic accident, a deaf Australian's access to justice, an Austrian's access to necessary information to use public transportation, and employment in Italy, Brazil, and elsewhere.

10. Relation to other treaties especially human rights treaties. The Mine Ban Treaty (1997) set a valuable precedent for the involvement of non-state actors, some of which, for instance the Landmine Survivors Network were active in promoting the CRPD as well. (Cite Lord and Rutherford).

Individual human rights complaints to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee for the Eliminations of Discrimination against women often raise common issues. Ideally the experts on one committee will show expertise in all areas. In practice, this hasn't have not.

Regional commissions and courts hear many cases from disabled people. Like the CRPD, they require individuals to exhaust local remedies, but sometimes find that this isn't feasible. For instance, Russo Stanev successfully challenged Bulgaria's guardianship restrictions which meant that he was denied access to Bulgarian courts. Advocacy was supported by the NGO, Mental Disability Advocacy Center, today ''Validity. (cite)''

11. The Convention and Committee have wide support but some critics as well. add a section on debates over the CRPD, particularly claims that it erodes sovereignty and claims that it doesn't, but will need to in order to address inequality.

In the United States, which is not a party, opponents contended that ratification would jeopardize US sovereignty (see particularly Kyl). Several critical disability studies scholars have argued that the CRPD is part of a neoliberal agenda so unlikely to promote the kinds of changes necessary to advance disability rights (eg Sherry, Berghs). Criticism of western idea of "independent living" (Meekosha, Shuttlesworth). Too reliant on state sovereignty. Might be counterproductive (Meekosha and Soldatic)

Kanter is particularly concerned with the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD), a major topic in the coming weeks. The CRPD is binding for much of the world but not for the United States. China and Russia are now parties. The Convention is part of international law, but as Kanter warns “Although today there is a greater balance between State sovereignty and the role of international law, countries retain the right to decide when and how to be bound by international law.”   China, Russia, and many CRPD parties’ implementation of the CRPD has been uneven at best. Pyaneandee discusses the CRPD in detail, as a major development in international law. We’ll be discussing it after Spring Break.

Kanter points out several distinguishing advantages of the CRPD: “The CRPD offers new interpretations to well-known international human rights terms such as dignity, autonomy, independence, security, and liberty. To apply these terms to the lives of people with disabilities means the elimination of the distinction between positive and negative rights.” For instance, the right to communicate is often conceived in negative terms: government should not interfere with speech or the press. But as applied to PWD’s, the right to communicate may require positive action, such as access to augmentative speech devices or to sign language interpretation.

Kanter later adds: “The CRPD also charts a new course in international human rights law with its unique monitoring and reporting provisions. Well aware of the critique of human rights treaties as generally unenforceable, the drafters of the CRPD included in Article 33 the most stringent monitoring and reporting requirements of any human rights treaty to date.”

“New thinking on disability requires a major shift in approach; persons with disabilities are not problems to be fixed or empty vessels waiting for their fill of charity. The social model of disability breaks free of such traditional framings. It sees barriers in participation for what they are – not limitations in the individual but in society’s limited vision. Such barriers are ubiquitous in the environment, laws, attitudes, communications, and information.

This shift in perspective about disability makes a human rights-based approach to persons with disabilities possible. Disability rights is on the human rights agenda and no longer segregated in a social welfare provision, subsumed in an anti-discrimination law under the catch all, ‘social group,’ or regarded as a limited health issue.”

After break, we’ll make frequent use of the website of the United Nations “Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”  It’s where you can find the reports of state parties to the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” as well as “shadow reports” that might be written by public interest lawyers or non-governmental organizations. In some cases, you will even find statements from DPO’s, an acronym for “disabled persons’ organizations.” Everyone will be using this site as a part of the assigned reading for April 9, three weeks from today.

Books and Articles Relevant to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Byrne, Bronagh (2019) How inclusive is the right to inclusive education? An assessment of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities’ concluding observations, International Journal of Inclusive Education, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2019.1651411

The right to inclusive education has become more focused and explicit in legislative terms over time, translating into a clearer normative framework and constitutive of higher standards than has previously been the case. This is a clear ‘win’ for children and young people with disabilities generally. Yet, the higher standard that is now expected, as indicated by the Committee’s statement that segregation is a form of discrimination may, on the one hand, become a double-edged sword, producing, in normative and practical terms, significant gaps in implementation at state level than has previously been the case. Specifically, while some form of segregation and special education was accepted under previous human rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the normative shift under the CRPD points to many more, if not all, countries now falling short of the minimum standards expected

Herro, A. (2019). The Pre-negotiation of UN Human Rights Treaties: The Case of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, International Negotiation, 24(2), 240-265. doi: https://doi-org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1163/15718069-24021174

[describes esteem-seeking behavior by Mexico, China, European disability forum Landmine Survivors Network, NHRIs. 248: . As the case of the CRPD demonstrates, these types of states sought esteem through both championing the treaty and supporting negotiation, respectively. They are also more likely to be vulnerable to pressure from transnational activists and other non-state actors seeking to coerce and persuade states to support human rights commitments (Burgerman 1998; Price 2003; Hendrix & Wong 2013)

Degener, Theresia. 10 years of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Volume 35 (3) 2017. 152-157

153: Many States Parties’ reports are drafted in consultation with disabled persons’ organisations. Moreover, the two international monitoring bodies of the treaty, the CRPD Committee and the annual States Parties Conference include a high number of experts with disabilities.

155: Ten years after the adoption of the Convention, the CRPD committee has registered 39 cases and adopted 14 decisions in relation to individual complaints.

156: Committee members are elected by the Conference of States Parties (Article 40 CRPD) which meets annually in New York. While ‘‘balanced gender representation’’ (Article 34 para 4 CRPD) has been a recognised principle from the inception of the committee, the last election in July 2016 resulted in only one female member left among 18 experts.

Heyer, Katerina.

Active Role of DPOs, Especially Within Germany and Japan.

Kanter, Arlene The Development of Disability Rights Under International Law: From Charity to Human Rights. London: Routledge, 2015.

Kanter points out several distinguishing advantages of the CRPD: “The CRPD offers new interpretations to well-known international human rights terms such as dignity, autonomy, independence, security, and liberty. To apply these terms to the lives of people with disabilities means the elimination of the distinction between positive and negative rights.” For instance, the right to communicate is often conceived in negative terms: government should not interfere with speech or the press. But as applied to PWD’s, the right to communicate may require positive action, such as access to augmentative speech devices or to sign language interpretation.

Kanter later adds: “The CRPD also charts a new course in international human rights law with its unique monitoring and reporting provisions. Well aware of the critique of human rights treaties as generally unenforceable, the drafters of the CRPD included in Article 33 the most stringent monitoring and reporting requirements of any human rights treaty to date.”

“New thinking on disability requires a major shift in approach; persons with disabilities are not problems to be fixed or empty vessels waiting for their fill of charity. The social model of disability breaks free of such traditional framings. It sees barriers in participation for what they are – not limitations in the individual but in society’s limited vision. Such barriers are ubiquitous in the environment, laws, attitudes, communications, and information.

This shift in perspective about disability makes a human rights-based approach to persons with disabilities possible. Disability rights is on the human rights agenda and no longer segregated in a social welfare provision, subsumed in an anti-discrimination law under the catch all, ‘social group,’ or regarded as a limited health issue.”

Lord, Janet Here’s Why Disability Rights Must Be on the Forefront of the Human Rights Movement, Amnesty International USA, December, 2016. https://www.amnestyusa.org/heres-why-disability-rights-must-be-on-the-forefront-of-the-human-rights-movement/ Disability rights is on the human rights agenda and no longer segregated in a social welfare provision, subsumed in an anti-discrimination law under the catch all, “social group,” or regarded as a limited health issue.

Pyaneandee, Coomara. Disability International Law: A Practical Approach to the Convention at the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. London: Routledge, 2019,

Vice-Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

xvii: “The CRPD had its origins in the UN General Assembly in 2001, when the Mexican Prime Minister, Mr. Vicente Fox Quesada, proposed the establishment of an ad hoc committee to consider proposals for ‘an international convention to uphold the dignity and rights of persons with disabilities.’”

25: Degener described article 5 as “golden thread”

179: Austerity measures have a real negative impact on the inclusion of persons with disabilities within mainstream society [committee has made wide interpretation of article 19 as a result]

Ramachandran, Mallika The Future Of Disability Law In India: A Critical Analysis Of The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection Of Rights And Full Participation) Act, 1995 (2012) by Jayna Kothari: Journal of the Indian Law Institute, July-September 2012, Vol. 54, No. 3 (July-September 2012), pp. 400-404 Published by: Indian Law Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/44782479 (good on India and CRPD)

Stein, Michael.

In a Human Rights Quarterly article, Michael Stein, a law professor visiting at Harvard, and Janet Lord, from the Landmine Survivors Network, admit that skepticism about United Nations human rights protections is justified:

As one commentator archly (but accurately) put it, the current system of monitoring processes constitute some of the most powerless, under – funded, formulaic, and politically manipulated institutions of the United Nations.

Stein and Lord therefore envision the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities taking broader responsibility. They write: there is nothing to preclude the Conference of States Parties from taking on the role that many such institutional mechanisms play within the context of environmental or arms control treaties insofar as they provide opportunities for setting benchmarks and quantitative goals and targets. In this sense Conferences of States Parties could be utilized as a forum for information exchange based on data and dialogue on progressive tools to aid implementation, including, for example, disability rights budget analysis.

Books and Articles Relevant to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Byrne, Bronagh (2019) How inclusive is the right to inclusive education? An assessment of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities’ concluding observations, International Journal of Inclusive Education, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2019.1651411

The right to inclusive education has become more focused and explicit in legislative terms over time, translating into a clearer normative framework and constitutive of higher standards than has previously been the case. This is a clear ‘win’ for children and young people with disabilities generally. Yet, the higher standard that is now expected, as indicated by the Committee’s statement that segregation is a form of discrimination may, on the one hand, become a double-edged sword, producing, in normative and practical terms, significant gaps in implementation at state level than has previously been the case. Specifically, while some form of segregation and special education was accepted under previous human rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the normative shift under the CRPD points to many more, if not all, countries now falling short of the minimum standards expected

Herro, A. (2019). The Pre-negotiation of UN Human Rights Treaties: The Case of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, International Negotiation, 24(2), 240-265. doi: https://doi-org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1163/15718069-24021174

[describes esteem-seeking behavior by Mexico, China, European disability forum Landmine Survivors Network, NHRIs. 248: . As the case of the CRPD demonstrates, these types of states sought esteem through both championing the treaty and supporting negotiation, respectively. They are also more likely to be vulnerable to pressure from transnational activists and other non-state actors seeking to coerce and persuade states to support human rights commitments (Burgerman 1998; Price 2003; Hendrix & Wong 2013)

Degener, Theresia. 10 years of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Volume 35 (3) 2017. 152-157

153: Many States Parties’ reports are drafted in consultation with disabled persons’ organisations. Moreover, the two international monitoring bodies of the treaty, the CRPD Committee and the annual States Parties Conference include a high number of experts with disabilities.

155: Ten years after the adoption of the Convention, the CRPD committee has registered 39 cases and adopted 14 decisions in relation to individual complaints.

156: Committee members are elected by the Conference of States Parties (Article 40 CRPD) which meets annually in New York. While ‘‘balanced gender representation’’ (Article 34 para 4 CRPD) has been a recognised principle from the inception of the committee, the last election in July 2016 resulted in only one female member left among 18 experts.

Heyer, Katerina.

Active Role of DPOs, Especially Within Germany and Japan.

Kanter, Arlene The Development of Disability Rights Under International Law: From Charity to Human Rights. London: Routledge, 2015.

Kanter points out several distinguishing advantages of the CRPD: “The CRPD offers new interpretations to well-known international human rights terms such as dignity, autonomy, independence, security, and liberty. To apply these terms to the lives of people with disabilities means the elimination of the distinction between positive and negative rights.” For instance, the right to communicate is often conceived in negative terms: government should not interfere with speech or the press. But as applied to PWD’s, the right to communicate may require positive action, such as access to augmentative speech devices or to sign language interpretation.

Kanter later adds: “The CRPD also charts a new course in international human rights law with its unique monitoring and reporting provisions. Well aware of the critique of human rights treaties as generally unenforceable, the drafters of the CRPD included in Article 33 the most stringent monitoring and reporting requirements of any human rights treaty to date.”

“New thinking on disability requires a major shift in approach; persons with disabilities are not problems to be fixed or empty vessels waiting for their fill of charity. The social model of disability breaks free of such traditional framings. It sees barriers in participation for what they are – not limitations in the individual but in society’s limited vision. Such barriers are ubiquitous in the environment, laws, attitudes, communications, and information.

This shift in perspective about disability makes a human rights-based approach to persons with disabilities possible. Disability rights is on the human rights agenda and no longer segregated in a social welfare provision, subsumed in an anti-discrimination law under the catch all, ‘social group,’ or regarded as a limited health issue.”

Lord, Janet Here’s Why Disability Rights Must Be on the Forefront of the Human Rights Movement, Amnesty International USA, December, 2016. https://www.amnestyusa.org/heres-why-disability-rights-must-be-on-the-forefront-of-the-human-rights-movement/ Disability rights is on the human rights agenda and no longer segregated in a social welfare provision, subsumed in an anti-discrimination law under the catch all, “social group,” or regarded as a limited health issue.

Mahomed, F., Lord, J. E., & Stein, M. (2019). Transposing the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in africa: The role of disabled peoples' organisations. African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 27(3), 335-358. [Hein]

335: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was strongly supported by African state representatives throughout its negotiation,1 entry into force 2 and subsequent international monitoring.3

340: The CRPD has triggered unprecedented national level engagement with disability law among states parties, and also for the vast majority of states that have yet to ratify but that need to develop or substantially reform their domestic legal and social policies regarding persons with disabilities

341:  Even where the CRPD has been ratified without reservation, such as in Zambia, lack of political will or technical expertise have meant that provisions such as those relating to legal capacity remain unrealised. 42

342: The example of HIV/AIDS illustrates that states need to develop policies that, apart from establishing the normative rights of persons with disabilities, seek to actually operationalise them. This means specific goal-setting and clear prioritisation in the development and roll-out of national disability-specific policies so as to avoid the problem of an 'implementation gap' where legal reform occurs but does not translate into stakeholders' lived experiences.

343: as of 2017, just over half of African countries had developed a national disability policy,5 3 suggesting that considerable gaps exist even in an initial drive to implement the CRPD.

346: DPOs provide guidance, raise awareness, mobilise constituents, and apply pressure. There is considerable potential in their approaches, particularly in those states where strategic litigation has been shown to be a possible avenue for change

347: many human rights practitioners may be unfamiliar with its significant potential.92 DPOs have been a central actor in these efforts, with organisations such as MDAC supporting or directly providing capacity-building.

349: Whereas the needs of people with disabilities were largely overlooked during the MDG era,10 6 the incorporation of disability-specific language in multilateral development framework instruments like the SDGs presents an opportunity for advocates to harness. 10 7

350: [with other documents, enables promotion of disability-inclusive development]

353: Awareness-raising among disabled people themselves is a key component of the CRPD's emphasis on participation, and the funds have thus supported organisations such as the Rwanda National Union of the Deaf to engage people with disabilities on the contents of the CRPD and the rights protected by it.134

Another important role for DPOs, as recognised in CRPD Article 33(2), is their independent monitoring function. The article itself is described as 'arguably the most complete provision on national level implementation and monitoring ever in an international human rights treaty'.140  [note refers to study by OHCHR

355: Uganda, Senegal, Rwanda149 and Malawi1 5' have each designated their NHRIs as Article 33(2) national independent monitoring mechanisms.1 5

A key partner in fostering strong collaborations between African NHRIs and DPOs is the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI), an organisation that has coordinated numerous efforts to enhance the capacity of NHRIs on the continent and to facilitate cooperation on best practice throughout Africa

358: The work of NHRls also extends to advocacy and research work, which can have a significant impact on the manner in which international law is domesticated.

Pyaneandee, Coomara. Disability International Law: A Practical Approach to the Convention at the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. London: Routledge, 2019,

Vice-Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

xvii: “The CRPD had its origins in the UN General Assembly in 2001, when the Mexican Prime Minister, Mr. Vicente Fox Quesada, proposed the establishment of an ad hoc committee to consider proposals for ‘an international convention to uphold the dignity and rights of persons with disabilities.’”

25: Degener described article 5 as “golden thread”

179: Austerity measures have a real negative impact on the inclusion of persons with disabilities within mainstream society [committee has made wide interpretation of article 19 as a result]

Ramachandran, Mallika The Future Of Disability Law In India: A Critical Analysis Of The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection Of Rights And Full Participation) Act, 1995 (2012) by Jayna Kothari: Journal of the Indian Law Institute, July-September 2012, Vol. 54, No. 3 (July-September 2012), pp. 400-404 Published by: Indian Law Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/44782479 (good on India and CRPD)

Seatzu, Francesco. (2018). The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and International Human Rights Law, International Human Rights Law Review, 7(1), 82-102. doi: https://doi-org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1163/22131035-00701004

84: [relation to CEDAW, CRC: necessary to examine all three together; also influences regional rulings eg Kiss]

87: [human rights model as shift not only from medical model but also from social]

88: Precedents include international covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).22

89: [right to live independently in the community, article 19, is new and different]

90: s the first comprehensive human rights convention to be ratified by the European Union as a whole.

92: the CRPD seeks to develop more dynamic participation with civil society and stricter supervision by independent mechanisms than any other un human rights treaty to date.46

95: The CRPD Committee has adopted this approach [interpretation along with CRC, CEDAW], and in so doing has taken stock of public international and human rights norms as an aid and guidance for the interpretation of the crpd and its Optional Protocol (OP), in its ‘quasi-jurisprudence’ (i.e. concluding observations and General Comments). Primary evidence in this sense is offered by the fact that, in making its determinations, the crpd Committee regularly looks at and refers to the pronouncements of other un human rights bodies for guidance and authoritative pronouncements.67 65

98: A first illuminating example of a systemic reading of the CRPD in the light of other international legal instruments, of relevant pronouncements of international and national organs and human rights obligations and duties is offered by the CRPD Committee’s aligned interpretation of the human right to information in the health care context with the CESCR’s General Comment No. 14 that explicitly requires that such information must be available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality.68 A second example is found in the interpretation of article 3 CRPD on the ‘respect for inherent dignity’ [gives three more examples]

99: Our starting point here is that all human rights supervisory bodies may, in interpreting and applying the articles of the convention for which they have responsibility, give effect to some articles of the CRPD by using them as interpretative tools and instruments in accordance with articles 31 and 32 VCLT.75

101: To date, however, despite the increase in the quantitative incidence of disability rights being referenced,82 the UN human rights committees remain overall reluctant to embrace a human rights based approach to disability in their practices.83

Stein, Michael.

In a Human Rights Quarterly article, Michael Stein, a law professor visiting at Harvard, and Janet Lord, from the Landmine Survivors Network, admit that skepticism about United Nations human rights protections is justified:

As one commentator archly (but accurately) put it, the current system of monitoring processes constitute some of the most powerless, under – funded, formulaic, and politically manipulated institutions of the United Nations.

Stein and Lord therefore envision the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities taking broader responsibility. They write: there is nothing to preclude the Conference of States Parties from taking on the role that many such institutional mechanisms play within the context of environmental or arms control treaties insofar as they provide opportunities for setting benchmarks and quantitative goals and targets. In this sense Conferences of States Parties could be utilized as a forum for information exchange based on data and dialogue on progressive tools to aid implementation, including, for example, disability rights budget analysis.

Ken Rutherford "The Transnational Effort For Disability Rights: The Marriage of Disability Rights to Human Rights" in Rethinking Sovereignty and Human Rights after the Cold War, Michaelene Cox and Noha Shawki, eds. (Surrey, England: Ashgate Press, July 2009) 199-214.

- "Jordan and Disability Rights: A Pioneering Leader in the Arab World," The Review of Disability Studies Volume 3, Issue 4. 2007. 23-36

·       Kenneth R. Rutherford, “The Transnational Effort for Disability Rights: The Marriage of Disability Rights to Human Rights” in Noha Shawki, Michaelene Cox eds. Negotiating Sovereignty and Human Rights: Actors and Issues in Contemporary Human Rights Politics, Surrey, UK: Ashgate. 2009, pp. 199-214

o  199: Greater role of NGOs reflected in mine ban treaty, ICC, now CRPD

o  199: End of Cold War brought greater space for participation by disabled people in world politics (although not in most countries). Eventually with experienced NGOs, CRPD drafted)

o  200: Unanticipated acceleration

o  200: disability is persistently marginalized by UN system, INGOs

o  202: Many states rely on medical, charity models. Human Rights model as modern alternative. …Vicente Fox as instrumental

o  204: unexpected momentum, support from Kofi Annan

o  204: PWDs important perspective in CRPD; Mine ban survivors in MBT.

o  205: Jordan’s role; importance of cross-disability perspectives

o  207: PWDs, NGOs as full partners during 8 sessions of ad hoc general assembly committee

o  207-208: “… [T]he CRPD marks a paradigm shift in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It takes to a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as ‘objects’ of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as ‘subjects’ with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society.”

o  208: “Nearly one hundred years ago, more than 90 per cent of victims of war were combatants, while today nearly 90 per cent of war victims are non-combatants…. One can look to any situation of conflict or disaster and find increased incidence of disability. A few poignant examples include the use of weapons that are purposefully designed to main and not kill, such as land mines, and civil wars that are frequently fought with small arms and weapons such as machetes, which lead to countless casualties, many of whom must live with long-term physical and mental impairments.” [cluster munitions]

o  209: importance of CRPD with conflict, disaster, enable transition during reconstruction from “victim” to “survivor”

o  210: “[The MBT] became the first weapons control law to include obligatory assistance for victims of a weapon (Article 6.3 MBT). In only ten years, victim assistance evolved from a two-sentence sub-paragraph into a comprehensive framework for implementation and interpretation of victim assistance, which recognizes that it is a ‘human rights issue.’  While unprecedented, victim assistance provisions in the text of the MBT are vague and insufficient to effectively assist victims of landmines to enjoy their human rights.”

o  210-211: “[The] connection between human rights for persons with disabilities and armed violence, however, was not recognized by the international community until the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which prohi8bits the use of cluster munitions and provides broad obligations for victim assistance, including at the ‘highest applicable human rights standards,’ including highlighting the CRPD. When it was adopted in May 2008 and signed in Oslo, Norway on 3 December, 2008 by 94 countries, the CCM became the first international arms control treaty to mention human rights (CCM Preamble and Article 5).”

o  212: in Post Cold War environment, popular participation enables action in areas overlooked, ignored by states. CRPD not panacea, but is “Window of Opportunity”

o  ·       Janet Lord and Michael Ashley Stein, A CASE STUDY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS IN ASIA: ARTICLE: THE DOMESTIC INCORPORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, Washington Law Review, November 2008. 449-[check: did Julie Mertus coordinate this?]

o  Fewer than [*451]  fifty States Parties have any sort of systemic disability legislation, n6 and many of those are in need of drastic revision. n7 In addition, the Convention mandates that its monitoring Committee review measures taken by States Parties to incorporate the treaty's obligations into domestic legal frameworks. n8 States Parties are obligated to undertake a wide range of national-level implementation measures (some familiar to human rights treaties, and others reflecting obligations more frequently found in other international law contexts), in order to give full effect to the CRPD provisions. n9 Consequently, the CRPD initiates an unprecedented opportunity for domestic law, policy reform, and genesis on behalf of the globe's "largest minority." n10

o  466: The Convention expressly recognizes that international cooperation aids national efforts to effectively implement States Parties' obligations. n91 States Parties to the Convention are to cooperate internationally through partnerships with other States, and/or with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society in support of national measures to give effect to the CRPD. n92 Article 32 identifies a range of measures that States can take within the framework of international cooperation. Measures include "capacity building, including through the exchange and sharing of information, experiences, training programs and best-practices"; n93 the facilitation of research programs and of access to scientific knowledge; n94 and technical and economic assistance, including the facilitation of access to accessible and assistive technologies. n95

o  462: The monitoring mechanisms and implementation facilitators in the CRPD focus not only on international-level implementation, the chief focus of such measures in earlier human rights treaties, but also extend attention to the national level. This represents a particular innovation for  [*463]  international human rights conventions, although it is a standard feature of environmental and other international agreements. n76 The attention to the national level is reflective of the increased prominence of NHRIs in United Nations human rights processes in recent years. n77

o  Importantly, Article 32 makes it clear that all international cooperation efforts, including international development programs, should fully include persons with disabilities and be accessible. n96 Specifically, all States Parties are required to ensure that all aspects of their aid programs completely integrate persons with disabilities, from design through implementation and evaluation. n97 The Conference of States Parties would be an ideal vehicle to monitor this requirement, as well as a forum for sharing best practices in inclusive development in various sectors.n98. This has proved a useful practice in the Mine Ban Treaty implementation process. Regular meetings of States Parties have provided an important forum for reporting and sharing best practices in Mine Ban Treaty implementation, including, for example, expenditures on victim-assistance programming. For more on Mine Ban Treaty implementation and meetings of States Parties, see the International Campaign to Ban Landmines Treaty Meetings website, available at http://www.icbl.org/treaty/meetings (last visited Nov. 16, 2008), permanent copy available at http://www.law.washington.edu/wlr/notes/83washlrev449n98.pdf. See also Mine Ban Treaty, supra note 76.