The European Parliament formally reacted to the UN’s recommendations from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and made a report in July 2016. Information below is from the European Disability Forum, and you can read more on their website.
Drafted by the Member of European Parliament, Helga Stevens, the report outlines the European Parliament’s views on what the EU needs to do better to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
Last year, the European Union (EU) was reviewed by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on its work to protect and promote the rights of 80 million persons with disabilities in Europe. Followed that review, the UN Committee issued a list of recommendations (‘Concluding Observations’) to the EU which should report back on in four years.
In July 2016, during the European Parliament’s plenary debate in Strasbourg, Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the report calling on the European Commission and the EU Council to fully implement the UN’s recommendations . The resolution is far reaching and comprehensive and includes:
- the EU should lead the way as far as respect and promotion of human rights are concerned;
- all EU laws, policies and programmes must be compliant with the CRPD;
- the EU must consider the impact of the EU economic policy on the situation of persons with disabilities more closely and should create a social protection floor, as recommended by the CRPD Committee;
- to guarantee freedom of movement across the EU persons with disabilities should be allowed to freely move to live, work and study in the EU- and this should be supported by EU programmes.
