Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities holds a public consultation on draft general comment N°7

GENEVA (27 August 2018) - The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this afternoon held a public consultation on draft general comment N°7 (article 4.3 and 33.3) on the participation of persons with disabilities in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

In his introductory statement, Stig Langvad, Committee Expert and Chair of the Working Group on draft general comment N°7, said that the drafting of the general comment had been a very participatory process with all stakeholders such as representative organizations of persons with disabilities, specialized agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, and human rights agencies.  The Committee had collaborated with the International Disability Alliance to organize a day of general discussion of the civil society Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ forum ahead of the eleventh Conference of States parties, and to identify the key points that the general comment should address.  It was important to get as many perspectives as possible, and that was why it had decided to organize two public meetings during the current session, to enable the input from those organizations that were unable to participate in the day of general discussion that had taken place in New York.

A representative of the Secretariat said that 38 written submissions had been received, including from States parties to the Convention, representative organizations of persons with disabilities from different regions in the world, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, academia, and individuals, including the Secretary-General’s envoy on disability and accessibility.

Participating in the discussion were Insieme Switzerland, Inclusion International, Autistic Minority International, Sexual Rights Initiative, and International Commission of Jurists.  Statements by Child Rights Connect and People with Disability Australia were read out.

Contributing organizations stressed that the general comment should recognize children with disabilities as a specific group which had its own vulnerabilities and challenges, and in particular stressed the importance of the role of the family as a pathway to inclusion.  Also raised was the question of discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities on the ground of different sexual and gender orientation and identity.  An organization regretted the absence of autistic persons in the drafting of this text, noting that some of its articles, such as on early intervention, went against the interest of autistic persons.

All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings will be available via the following link: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 28 August to consider the initial report of South Africa (CRPD/C/ZAF/1).

Statements

Child Rights Connect, in a statement read out by the Committee’s Secretary, said that the general comment should recognize children with disabilities as a specific group which had its own challenges, and recognize their specific vulnerabilities.  Children with disabilities needed specific participation processes and the general comment should elaborate on the measures that needed to be taken to provide them with appropriate visibility and assistance.  The Committee should engage in two processes relevant to the general comment, the day of general discussion of Committee on the Rights of the Child on the protection and empowerment of children as human rights defenders scheduled on 28 September at the Palais des Nations, and on the 2019 resolution of the Human Rights Council which would focus on the empowerment of children with disabilities.

A representative of Insieme Switzerland, an umbrella organization of regional associations of persons with disabilities and their families, said that it was critical for persons with disabilities to be able to create a living situation where they felt good, and urged for the vote information in Switzerland to be offered in easy to read languages, to enable persons with disabilities to participate and have a voice.

Inclusion International said it had adopted a call to action from self-advocates on the big issues in the lives of persons with disabilities, especially persons with intellectual disabilities, and stressed the role of the family as a pathway to inclusion.

International Disability Alliance read out a statement on behalf of the People with Disability Australia, which stressed the critical importance of the general comment not to leave anyone behind and to recognize and respect the full diversity of the disability community.  Persons with disabilities with diverse sexual and gender identities and orientations faced intersectional discrimination that resulted in greater social exclusion, isolation, higher forms of violence, and often forced medical treatment.  The Committee had started addressing this intersection in its general comment N°3, but it was concerning that those positive steps had not progressed further; it should therefore focus on and acknowledge the discrimination experienced by persons with disabilities who were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, asexual or other persons.

Autistic Minority International regretted the absence of autistic persons in the drafting of this general comment, and said that some articles of the general comment even went against the interest of autistic persons, such as the focus on early intervention, which many autistic self-advocates saw as a form of torture and a denial of identity of autistic children.  Autistic persons and self-advocates were further excluded by the definition of a representative organization of persons with disabilities, which often needed to be formally established membership organizations, which often precluded autistic persons.

Sexual Rights Initiative said that the Committee’s recent record in relation to sexual rights, particularly in relation to gender and sexuality non-conforming persons, was of great concern.  Because of diluted language, a previous general comment had failed to protect persons with disabilities from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristic.  This exclusion was related to the absence of any form of gender analysis, which impacted participation, while the way in which sexual orientation and gender identity impacted the enjoyment of rights must be named and taken into consideration when delivering guidance to States.

International Commission of Jurists wondered about the participation of persons with disabilities in the discussions concerning reasonable accommodation.

THERESIA DEGENER, Committee Chairperson, remarked that this issue had been extensively addressed by general comment N°5 on equality and non-discrimination, which should probably be referenced in the draft general comment.

STIG LANGVAD, Committee Expert and Chair of the Working Group on draft general comment N°7, said that one key issue was the representativeness of organizations representing children with disabilities, persons with intellectual disabilities, autism, and sexual orientation and gender identity.  But the issue at the core was about allowing representative organizations of persons with disabilities to influence decisions on rules and regulations.  The Committee would carefully examine all the submissions.

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For use of the information media; not an official record