Transition to Inclusive Education Systems According to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

This article deals with the transition to inclusive education systems, and therefore concerns states that have built segregated education systems. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) proclaims the right to inclusive education for disabled people. State parties that are equipped with special schools, however, face particular challenges in progressively realising the right in question. This article therefore examines what ‘inclusive education’ truly means, what steps must be taken to achieve it, and what tools can be used to ensure the transition to inclusive education systems so as to comply with the CRPD. Considering the obstacles to inclusive education, the article argues that inclusive education is a process that needs permanent efforts to adapt the general education system to disabled children. It also considers the implementation of the right to education of disabled people through the adoption of national human rights action plans and the use of human rights indicators

Establishing a meaningful human rights due diligence process for corporations : learning from experience of human rights impact assessment

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, has constructed a new international framework, which is set to become the cornerstone for all action on human rights and business at the international level. The principle of human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the central component of the corporate duty to respect human rights within that framework. This article argues that Ruggie's HRDD principle contains the majority of the core procedural elements that a reasonable human rights impact assessment (HRIA) process should incorporate. It is likely that the majority of corporations will adopt HRIA as a mechanism for meeting their due diligence responsibilities. However, in the context of the contentious debate around corporate human rights performance, the current state of the art in HRIA gives rise to concerns about the credibility and robustness of likely practice. Additional requirements are therefore essential if HRDD is to have a significant impact on corporate human rights performance – requirements in relation to transparency; external participation and verification; and independent monitoring and review

Mechanisms and mechanics of cell competition in epithelia

When fast-growing cells are confronted with slow-growing cells in a mosaic tissue, the slow-growing cells are often progressively eliminated by apoptosis through a process known as cell competition. The underlying signalling pathways remain unknown, but recent findings have shown that cell crowding within an epithelium leads to the eviction of cells from the epithelial sheet. This suggests that mechanical forces could contribute to cell elimination during cell competition

Listeria monocytogenes Internalin B Activates Junctional Endocytosis to Accelerate Intestinal Invasion

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) uses InlA to invade the tips of the intestinal villi, a location at which cell extrusion generates a transient defect in epithelial polarity that exposes the receptor for InlA, E-cadherin, on the cell surface. As the dying cell is removed from the epithelium, the surrounding cells reorganize to form a multicellular junction (MCJ) that Lm exploits to find its basolateral receptor and invade. By examining individual infected villi using 3D-confocal imaging, we uncovered a novel role for the second major invasin, InlB, during invasion of the intestine. We infected mice intragastrically with isogenic strains of Lm that express or lack InlB and that have a modified InlA capable of binding murine E-cadherin and found that Lm lacking InlB invade the same number of villi but have decreased numbers of bacteria within each infected villus tip. We studied the mechanism of InlB action at the MCJs of polarized MDCK monolayers and find that InlB does not act as an adhesin, but instead accelerates bacterial internalization after attachment. InlB locally activates its receptor, c-Met, and increases endocytosis of junctional components, including E-cadherin. We show that MCJs are naturally more endocytic than other sites of the apical membrane, that endocytosis and Lm invasion of MCJs depends on functional dynamin, and that c-Met activation by soluble InlB or hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) increases MCJ endocytosis. Also, in vivo, InlB applied through the intestinal lumen increases endocytosis at the villus tips. Our findings demonstrate a two-step mechanism of synergy between Lm's invasins: InlA provides the specificity of Lm adhesion to MCJs at the villus tips and InlB locally activates c-Met to accelerate junctional endocytosis and bacterial invasion of the intestine

Protecting the Invisible: An Intersectional Approach to International Human Rights Law

This article researches intersectionality in the area of international human rights law. Moving attention away from the field of anti-discrimination law, it examines how an intersectional approach to international human rights law can offer stronger human rights protection to people who share a number of characteristics associated with distinct groups of marginalised people. In order to illustrate the application of this approach the article provides a case study addressing three groups of disabled people who possess such characteristics, namely: 1) disabled women; 2) disabled people who belong to racial or ethnic minorities and; 3) disabled children. It concludes by arguing for the adoption of ‘intersectional mainstreaming’ in international human rights law. The article thereby aims to close a gap in research on intersectionality in the field of human rights. Providing a novel analysis of intersectionality, it proposes a remedy for the deficiencies of anti-discrimination law and shows how intersectionality can be applied in practice

Is Obesity a disability? The Definition of Disability by the Court of Justice of the European Union and its Consequences for the Application of EU Anti-Discrimination Law

This paper examines the relevant issues pertaining to disability as defined by the Court of Justice of the European Union in light of the Kaltoft v Municipality of Billund case. It considers whether the Court’s application of the guidance on the meaning of disability in the UN CRPD is adequate for defining disability according to European Union anti-discrimination law. After discussing the concept of disability and the relevant CJEU’s jurisprudence, the paper examines the differences between European Union anti-discrimination law and European human rights law regarding non-discrimination, and explores the ways in which obese people could be protected against discrimination under European Union ant-discrimination law. It finally considers the practical and legal consequences of the Court’s application of the guidance on the meaning of disability in the UN CRPD

The right to inclusive education: why is there so much opposition to its implementation?

Although the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) proclaims the right to inclusive education, and much attention is being given to the goal of inclusive education in debates on human rights, there are doubts as to whether this right has led to a new direction in policy-making. The under-researched question is: why is there so much opposition to the implementation of the right to inclusive education? This paper examines the question by distinguishing between both the concept and practice of inclusive education. Using a specific interdisciplinary approach in order to critically analyse a legal norm, the paper looks into the very meaning of inclusive education by utilising some central conclusions from disability studies to appraise the ideal of inclusive education, and seeks to resolve related challenges by drawing upon political philosophy to investigate pragmatic solutions to the obstacles to inclusive education. This paper claims that it is thereby possible to incorporate the element of actual achievability into such an ideal