Commission Staff Working Document: Report on the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the European Union
On 5 June 2014, the European Union published its first report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). The EU ratified the Convention in 2010 making it the first international human rights treaty ever ratified by a regional organisation like the European Union. The EU has the obligation to prepare and submit a report on the actions it took to give effect to the Convention. Considering this as a historic moment for the rights of persons with disabilities, EDF welcomes the publication of the EU report as an evolving and dynamic process to which it would like to contribute by sharing the clear and structured view of 80 million persons with disabilities.
The EU report offers a complete description and information on the actions taken by the European Commission. However, it misses the opportunity to involve the Council and the European Parliament, as well as the Commission at its highest political levels. The report also fails to include civil society, first and foremost organisations of persons with disabilities, as well as to trigger a substantial debate on the role of the EU in implementing the rights of persons with disabilities.
Among others:
- The report outlines adopted measures, but does not include an assessment of their actual implementation and of the budget available to do so. In this sense, it also lacks self-criticism;
- The report presents a too strict view of the competences of the EU and of the actions in which the EU as a whole or the European Commission have been involved and have had impact on the rights of persons with disabilities;
- The report does not address the diversity of persons with disabilities
