The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is reviewing the United Kingdom’s (UK) progress in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – which the UK signed in 2009.
Guardian article, by Jane Campbell, 14 March 2017: Disabled people are once again confronting the spectre of social isolation
On Monday, disabled representatives from disability organisations across England, Scotland and Wales presented reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Geneva.
It is now eight years since the UK ratified the UNCRPD with cross-party support and this is the committee’s first full examination of the UK’s performance. So how are we doing? The government is fond of claiming that the UK is a “world leader” on disability rights. Superficially, this claim remains fairly accurate. We have the most comprehensive and proactive equality law anywhere in the world; social care legislation and practice that embodies the principle of choice and control; a social security system that claims to recognise the extra costs of disability; and law and regulations to advance accessibility. It is important to remind ourselves of what disabled people have achieved over the past 30-40 years of disability rights activism, as we have charted our journey from objects of care and charity to becoming active, contributing citizens. But any assessment of progress cannot be confined solely to what we now have, or where we were in the past. And judging by the UK’s direction of travel, the government’s claim of world leadership quickly unravels: we are seeing big cuts to services and watering down of rights and opportunities of disabled people. Read more
Disability Rights UK blog post, 9 March 2017: DR UK launches UNCRPD evidence report in House of Lords
Launch of Disabled People’s Human Rights Reports: our experiences in Britain today
Event hosted by DR UK ambassador Baroness Jane Campbell on 9 March, 1.30 – 3.30, Committee Room G, House of Lords for our report to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
