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Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Freedom from discrimination in the recognition of legal capacity restores autonomy and respects the human dignity of the person in accordance with the principles enshrined in article 3 (a) of the Convention. Freedom to make one's own choices most often requires legal capacity. Independence and autonomy include the power to have one's decisions legally respected. The need for support and reasonable accommodation in making decisions shall not be used to question a person's legal capacity. Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity (art. 3 (d)) is incompatible with granting legal capacity on an assimilationist basis.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The segregation of persons with disabilities in institutions continues to be a pervasive and insidious problem that violates a number of the rights guaranteed under the Convention. The problem is exacerbated by the widespread denial of legal capacity to persons with disabilities, which allows others to consent to their placement in institutional settings. The directors of institutions are also commonly vested with the legal capacity of the persons residing therein. This places all power and control over the person in the hands of the institution. In order to comply with the Convention and respect the human rights of persons with disabilities, deinstitutionalization must be achieved and legal capacity must be restored to all persons with disabilities, who must be able to choose where and with whom to live (art. 19). A person's choice of where and with whom to live should not affect his or her right to access support in the exercise of his or her legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Denial or restriction of legal capacity has been used to deny political participation, especially the right to vote, to certain persons with disabilities. In order to fully realize the equal recognition of legal capacity in all aspects of life, it is important to recognize the legal capacity of persons with disabilities in public and political life (art. 29). This means that a person's decision-making ability cannot be a justification for any exclusion of persons with disabilities from exercising their political rights, including the right to vote, the right to stand for election and the right to serve as a member of a jury.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- States parties have an obligation to protect and promote the right of persons with disabilities to access the support of their choice in voting by secret ballot, and to participate in all elections and referendums without discrimination. The Committee further recommends that States parties guarantee the right of persons with disabilities to stand for election, to hold office effectively and to perform all public functions at all levels of government, with reasonable accommodation and support, where desired, in the exercise of their legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The right to equality before the law has long been recognized as a civil and political right, with roots in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Civil and political rights attach at the moment of ratification and States parties are required to take steps to immediately realize those rights. As such, the rights provided for in article 12 apply at the moment of ratification and are subject to immediate realization. The State obligation, provided for in article 12, paragraph 3, to provide access to support in the exercise of legal capacity is an obligation for the fulfilment of the civil and political right to equal recognition before the law. "Progressive realization" (art. 4, para. 2) does not apply to the provisions of article 12. Upon ratifying the Convention, States parties must immediately begin taking steps towards the realization of the rights provided for in article 12. Those steps must be deliberate, well-planned and include consultation with and meaningful participation of people with disabilities and their organizations.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 50b
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, States parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:] Establish, recognize and provide persons with disabilities with access to a broad range of support in the exercise of their legal capacity. Safeguards for such support must be premised on respect for the rights, will and preferences of persons with disabilities. The support should meet the criteria set out in paragraph 29 above on the obligations of States parties to comply with article 12, paragraph 3, of the Convention;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- States parties are encouraged to develop effective mechanisms to combat both formal and informal substitute decision-making. To this end, the Committee urges States parties to ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to make meaningful choices in their lives and develop their personalities, to support the exercise of their legal capacity. This includes, but is not limited to, opportunities to build social networks; opportunities to work and earn a living on an equal basis with others; multiple choices for place of residence in the community; and inclusion in education at all levels.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Historically viewed as welfare recipients, persons with disabilities are now recognised under international law as right-holders, with a claim to the right to education without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunities. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), the World Declaration on Education for All (1990), the United Nations Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993), and the Salamanca Declaration and Framework for Action (1994) all embody measures testifying to the growing awareness and understanding of the right of persons with disabilities to education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Recognition of inclusion as the key to achieving the right to education has strengthened over the past 30 years, and is enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (herein after: the Convention), the first legally binding instrument to contain a reference to the concept of quality inclusive education. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 also affirms inclusive quality and equitable education. Inclusive education is central to achieving high quality education for all learners, including those with disabilities, and for the development of inclusive, peaceful and fair societies. Furthermore, there is a powerful educational, social, and economic case to be made. The OHCHR Thematic Study of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Education (2013) affirms that only inclusive education can provide both quality education and social development for persons with disabilities, and a guarantee of universality and non-discrimination in the right to education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4c
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] lack of knowledge about the nature and advantages of inclusive and quality education, and diversity, including regarding competitiveness, in learning for all; lack of outreach to all parents and lack of appropriate responses to support requirements, leading to misplaced fears, and stereotypes, that inclusion will cause a deterioration in the quality of education, or otherwise impact negatively on others;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The Committee calls States parties' attention to general comment on article 12 (CRPD/C/GC/1) and stresses that inclusive education provides an opportunity to develop the expression of the will and preferences of students with disabilities, particularly those with psychosocial or intellectual impairments. States parties must ensure that inclusive education supports learners with disabilities in building their confidence to exercise legal capacity, providing the necessary support at all educational levels including to diminish future requirements for support in its exercise if they so wish.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- States parties must take effective measures, to provide habilitation and rehabilitation services within the education system, including healthcare, occupational, physical, social, counselling and other services (article 26). Such services must begin at the earliest stage possible, adopt a multidisciplinary assessment of a student's strengths, and support maximum independence, autonomy, respect of dignity, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability and inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. The Committee stresses the significance of supporting the development of community-based rehabilitation, that addresses early identification, and peer support.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Full participation in political and public life is enhanced through the realisation of the right to inclusive education. Curricula for all students must include the topic of citizenship and the skills of self-advocacy and self-representation as fundamental basis for participation in political and societal processes. Public affairs include forming and participating in student organisations such as students' unions and States Parties should promote an environment in which persons with disabilities can form, join and effectively and fully participate in such student organisations through all forms of communication and language of their choice (art 29).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- States parties must remove barriers and promote accessibility and availability of inclusive opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in play, recreation and sport in the school system, extra-currilar activities and other educational environments(article 30). Appropriate measures must be in place within the educational environment to ensure opportunities for persons with disabilities to access to cultural life and to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit but also for the enrichment of the society. Such measures must ensure that persons with disabilities are entitled to recognition of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61b
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] A clear definition of inclusion and the specific objectives it seeks to achieve at all educational levels. Inclusion principles and practices must be considered as integral to reform, and not simply an add-on programme.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- A process of educating all teachers at pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational education levels must be initiated to provide them with the necessary core competencies and values to work in inclusive educational environments. This requires adaptations to both pre and in-service training to develop appropriate skill levels in the shortest time possible to facilitate the transition to an inclusive education system. All teachers must be provided with dedicated units/modules to prepare them to work in inclusive settings, as well as practical experiential learning, where they can build the skills and confidence to problem-solve through diverse inclusion challenges. The core content of teacher education must address a basic understanding of human diversity, growth and development, the human rights model of disability, and inclusive pedagogy including how to identify students' functional abilities -strengths, abilities and learning styles- to ensure their participation in inclusive educational environments. Teacher education should include learning about the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, such as Braille, large print, accessible multimedia, easyread, plain language, sign language and deaf culture, education techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities. In addition, teachers need practical guidance and support in, among others: the provision of individualized instruction; teaching the same content using varied teaching methods to respond to the learning styles and unique abilities of each person; the development and use of individual educational plans to support specific learning requirements; and the introduction of a pedagogy centred around students' educational objectives.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Quality inclusive education requires methods of appraising and monitoring students' progress that considers the barriers faced by students with disabilities. Traditional systems of assessment, utilising standardized achievement test scores as the sole indicator of success for both students and schools may disadvantage students with disabilities. The emphasis should be on individual progress towards broad goals. With appropriate teaching methodologies, support and accommodations, all curricula can be adapted to meet the needs of all students, including those with disabilities. Inclusive student assessment systems can be strengthened through a system of individualized supports.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes the growth in many countries of private sector education. States parties must recognize that the right to inclusive education extends to the provision of all education, not merely that provided by public authorities. States parties must adopt measures to protect against infringements of rights by third parties, including the business sector. Regarding the right to education, such measures must address the obligation to guarantee the provision of inclusive education, and as necessary, involve legislation and regulation, monitoring, oversight, and enforcement, and adoption of policies to frame how business enterprises can impact on the effective enjoyment and exercise of rights by persons with disabilities. Educational institutions, including private educational institutions and enterprises, should not charge additional fees for reasons of accessibility and/or reasonable accommodation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- There is strong evidence to show that women and girls with disabilities face barriers in most areas of life. These barriers create situations of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities, particularly, with regard to equal access to education, access to economic opportunities, access to social interaction, access to justice and equal recognition before the law , the ability to participate politically, and the ability to exercise control over their own lives across a range of contexts, for example: with regard to healthcare, including sexual and reproductive health; and where and with whom they wish to live.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Gender equality is central to human rights. Equality is a fundamental human rights principle that is inherently relative and context specific. Ensuring the human rights of women requires, firstly, a comprehensive understanding of the social structures and power relations that frame laws and policies as well as the economy, social dynamics, family and community life, and cultural beliefs. Gender stereotypes can also limit women's capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives and life plans. Both hostile/negative or seemingly benign stereotypes can be harmful. There is a recognized need to address harmful gender stereotypes in order to promote gender equality . The Convention equally enshrines an obligation to combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- This general comment reflects an interpretation of article 6 which is premised on the general principles of the Convention, as outlined in article 3, namely, respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy - including the freedom to make one's own choices -, and independence of persons; non-discrimination; full and effective participation and inclusion in society; respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity; equality of opportunity; accessibility; equality between men and women; and respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 paragraph 1 recognizes that women with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and requires that States parties take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by women with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Convention references multiple discrimination in article 5 paragraph 2 which not only requires States parties to prohibit any kind of discrimination based on disability, but also to protect against discrimination on other grounds . Jurisprudence by the CRPD Committee has included measures to address multiple and intersectional discrimination .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The right to freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse for women with disabilities can be impacted negatively by harmful stereotypes that heighten their risk of experiencing violence. Harmful stereotypes that infantilize women with disabilities, call into question their ability to make judgements, and perceptions of women with disabilities as being asexual, or hypersexual; and erroneous beliefs and myths, heavily influenced by superstition, which increase the risk of sexual violence against women with albinism , all contribute to women with disabilities not exercising their rights as set out in article 16.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The lack of consideration of gender and/or disability aspects in policies relating to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas, prevents women with disabilities from living independently and participating fully in all areas of life on an equal basis with others. This is specially relevant in their access to safe houses, support services and procedures in order to provide effective and meaningful protection from violence, abuse and exploitation or when providing health care, particularly reproductive health care.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a ii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Adopting appropriate laws, policies and actions to ensure the rights of women with disabilities are included in all policies, especially in policies related to women in general, as well as in policies on disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Forced contraception and sterilization can also result in sexual violence without the consequence of pregnancy, especially for women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities and those in psychiatric or other institutions or custody. Therefore, it is particularly important to reaffirm that the legal capacity of women with disabilities should be recognised on an equal basis with others, that women with disabilities have the right to found a family and be provided with appropriate assistance to raise their children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Violations relating to deprivation of liberty disproportionately affect women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and those in institutional settings. Those deprived of their liberty in places such as psychiatric institutions, on the basis of actual or perceived impairment, are subject to higher levels of violence as well as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment , are segreggated and exposed to the risk of sexual violence and trafficking within care and special education institutions . Violence against women with disabilities in institutions includes: involuntary undressing by male staff against the will of the woman concerned; forced psychiatric medication; and overmedication which can reduce the ability to describe and/or remember sexual violence. Perpetrators may act with impunity because they perceive little risk of discovery or punishment as access to judicial remedies is severely restricted, and women with disabilities subjected to such violence are unlikely to be able to access helplines or other forms of support to report such violations.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The right of women with disabilities to choose their place of residence may be adversely affected by cultural norms and patriarchal family values that limit autonomy and oblige them to live in a particular living arrangement. Thus, multiple discrimination can prevent the full and equal enjoyment of the right to live independently in the community. In the case of older persons with disabilities, age and impairment, separately or jointly, can increase their risk of institutionalization . In addition, it has been widely documented that institutionalization may expose persons with disabilities to violence and abuse, with women with disabilities particularly exposed .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States parties' obligation to replace substitute decision-making regimes by supported decision-making requires both the abolition of substitute decision-making regimes and the development of supported decision-making alternatives. The development of supported decision-making systems in parallel with the maintenance of substitute decision-making regimes is not sufficient to comply with article 12 of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Committee encourages States parties to undertake or devote resources to the research and development of best practices respecting the right to equal recognition of the legal capacity of persons with disabilities and support in the exercise of legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- A lack of access to sexuality information for women with disabilities, especially women with intellectual disabilities, deaf and deafblind women, can increase their risk of sexual violence .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Support in the exercise of legal capacity must respect the rights, will and preferences of persons with disabilities and should never amount to substitute decision-making. Article 12, paragraph 3, does not specify what form the support should take. "Support" is a broad term that encompasses both informal and formal support arrangements, of varying types and intensity. For example, persons with disabilities may choose one or more trusted support persons to assist them in exercising their legal capacity for certain types of decisions, or may call on other forms of support, such as peer support, advocacy (including self-advocacy support), or assistance with communication. Support to persons with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity might include measures relating to universal design and accessibility - for example, requiring private and public actors, such as banks and financial institutions, to provide information in an understandable format or to provide professional sign language interpretation - in order to enable persons with disabilities to perform the legal acts required to open a bank account, conclude contracts or conduct other social transactions. Support can also constitute the development and recognition of diverse, non-conventional methods of communication, especially for those who use non-verbal forms of communication to express their will and preferences. For many persons with disabilities, the ability to plan in advance is an important form of support, whereby they can state their will and preferences which should be followed at a time when they may not be in a position to communicate their wishes to others. All persons with disabilities have the right to engage in advance planning and should be given the opportunity to do so on an equal basis with others. States parties can provide various forms of advance planning mechanisms to accommodate various preferences, but all the options should be non-discriminatory. Support should be provided to a person, where desired, to complete an advance planning process. The point at which an advance directive enters into force (and ceases to have effect) should be decided by the person and included in the text of the directive; it should not be based on an assessment that the person lacks mental capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Equality before the law is a basic general principle of human rights protection and is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifically guarantee the right to equality before the law. Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities further describes the content of this civil right and focuses on the areas in which people with disabilities have traditionally been denied the right. Article 12 does not set out additional rights for people with disabilities; it simply describes the specific elements that States parties are required to take into account to ensure the right to equality before the law for people with disabilities, on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Where, after significant efforts have been made, it is not practicable to determine the will and preferences of an individual, the "best interpretation of will and preferences" must replace the "best interests" determinations. This respects the rights, will and preferences of the individual, in accordance with article 12, paragraph 4. The "best interests" principle is not a safeguard which complies with article 12 in relation to adults. The "will and preferences" paradigm must replace the "best interests" paradigm to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy the right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- All people risk being subject to "undue influence", yet this may be exacerbated for those who rely on the support of others to make decisions. Undue influence is characterized as occurring, where the quality of the interaction between the support person and the person being supported includes signs of fear, aggression, threat, deception or manipulation. Safeguards for the exercise of legal capacity must include protection against undue influence; however, the protection must respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, including the right to take risks and make mistakes.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Article 12, paragraph 5, requires States parties to take measures, including legislative, administrative, judicial and other practical measures, to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities with respect to financial and economic affairs, on an equal basis with others. Access to finance and property has traditionally been denied to persons with disabilities based on the medical model of disability. That approach of denying persons with disabilities legal capacity for financial matters must be replaced with support to exercise legal capacity, in accordance with article 12, paragraph 3. In the same way as gender may not be used as the basis for discrimination in the areas of finance and property, neither may disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- States parties have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the right of all persons with disabilities to equal recognition before the law. In this regard, States parties should refrain from any action that deprives persons with disabilities of the right to equal recognition before the law. States parties should take action to prevent non-State actors and private persons from interfering with the ability of persons with disabilities to realize and enjoy their human rights, including the right to legal capacity. One of the aims of support in the exercise of legal capacity is to build the confidence and skills of persons with disabilities so that they can exercise their legal capacity with less support in the future, if they so wish. States parties have an obligation to provide training for persons receiving support so that they can decide when less support is needed or when they no longer require support in the exercise of their legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- States parties must holistically examine all areas of law to ensure that the right of persons with disabilities to legal capacity is not restricted on an unequal basis with others. Historically, persons with disabilities have been denied their right to legal capacity in many areas in a discriminatory manner under substitute decision-making regimes such as guardianship, conservatorship and mental health laws that permit forced treatment. These practices must be abolished in order to ensure that full legal capacity is restored to persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The World Report on Disability Summary, published in 2011 by the World Health Organization and the World Bank within the framework of the largest consultation ever and with the active involvement of hundreds of professionals in the field of disability, stresses that the built environment, transport systems and information and communication are often inaccessible to persons with disabilities (p. 10). Persons with disabilities are prevented from enjoying some of their basic rights, such as the right to seek employment or the right to health care, owing to a lack of accessible transport. The level of implementation of accessibility laws remains low in many countries and persons with disabilities are often denied their right to freedom of expression owing to the inaccessibility of information and communication. Even in countries where sign language interpretation services exist for deaf persons, the number of qualified interpreters is usually too low to meet the increasing demand for their services, and the fact that the interpreters have to travel individually to clients makes the use of their services too expensive. Persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities as well as deaf-blind persons face barriers when attempting to access information and communication owing to a lack of easy-to-read formats and augmentative and alternative modes of communication. They also face barriers when attempting to access services due to prejudices and a lack of adequate training of the staff providing those services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29a
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] Supported decision-making must be available to all. A person's level of support needs, especially where these are high, should not be a barrier to obtaining support in decision-making;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29b
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] All forms of support in the exercise of legal capacity, including more intensive forms of support, must be based on the will and preference of the person, not on what is perceived as being in his or her objective best interests;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29c
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] A person's mode of communication must not be a barrier to obtaining support in decision-making, even where this communication is non-conventional, or understood by very few people;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29e
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] In order to comply with the requirement, set out in article 12, paragraph 3, of the Convention, for States parties to take measures to "provide access" to the support required, States parties must ensure that support is available at nominal or no cost to persons with disabilities and that lack of financial resources is not a barrier to accessing support in the exercise of legal capacity;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29f
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] Support in decision-making must not be used as justification for limiting other fundamental rights of persons with disabilities, especially the right to vote, the right to marry, or establish a civil partnership, and found a family, reproductive rights, parental rights, the right to give consent for intimate relationships and medical treatment, and the right to liberty;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12c
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Whole person approach: recognition is given to the capacity of every person to learn, and high expectations are established for all learners, including learners with disabilities. Inclusive education offers flexible curricula, teaching and learning methods adapted to different strengths, requirements and learning styles. This approach implies the provision of support and reasonable accommodation and early intervention so that they are able to fulfil their potential. The focus is on learners' capacities and aspirations rather than content when planning teaching activities. It commits to ending segregation within educational settings by ensuring inclusive classroom teaching in accessible learning environments with appropriate supports. The education system must provide a personalized educational response, rather than expecting the student to fit the system.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Interpreting article 12, paragraph 3, in the light of the right to live in the community (art. 19) means that support in the exercise of legal capacity should be provided through a community-based approach. States parties must recognize that communities are assets and partners in the process of learning what types of support are needed in the exercise of legal capacity, including raising awareness about different support options. States parties must recognize the social networks and naturally occurring community support (including friends, family and schools) of persons with disabilities as key to supported decision-making. This is consistent with the Convention's emphasis on the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in the community.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The denial of reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination and the duty to provide reasonable accommodation is immediately applicable and not subject to progressive realization. States parties must ensure that independent systems are in place to monitor the appropriateness and effectiveness of accommodations, and provide safe, timely, and accessible mechanisms for redress when students with disabilities, and if relevant, their families, consider that they have not been adequately provided or have experienced discrimination. Measures to protect victims of discrimination against victimization during the redress process are essential.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- According to article 24, paragraph 5, States parties should ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. Attitudinal, physical, linguistic, communication, financial, legal and other barriers to education at these levels must be identified and removed in order to ensure equal access. Reasonable accommodation must be provided to ensure that persons with disabilities do not face discrimination. States parties should consider taking affirmative action measures in tertiary education in favour of learners with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- States parties should respect, protect and fulfill each of the essential features of the right to inclusive education: availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability. The obligation to respect requires avoiding measures that hinder the enjoyment of the right, such as legislation excluding certain children with disabilities from education, or denial of accessibility or reasonable accommodation. The obligation to protect requires taking measures that prevent third parties from interfering with the enjoyment of the right, for example, parents refusing to send girls with disabilities to school, or private institutions refusing to enrol persons with disabilities based on their impairment. The obligation to fulfill requires taking measures that enable and assist persons with disabilities to enjoy the right to education, for example, that education institutions are accessible and that education systems are adapted appropriately with resources and services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 40a
- Paragraph text
- [Progressive realization does not prejudice those obligations that are immediately applicable. Drawing from CESCR's General Comment, States parties have "a minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels" of each of the features of the right to education. Therefore States parties should implement the following core rights with immediate effect:] Non-discrimination in all aspects of education and encompassing all internationally prohibited grounds of discrimination. States parties must ensure non-exclusion from education for persons with disabilities and eliminate structural disadvantages to achieve effective participation and equality for all persons with disabilities. They must take urgent steps to remove all legal, administrative and other forms of discrimination impeding the right of access to inclusive education. The adoption of affirmative action measures does not constitute a violation of the right to non discrimination with regard to education, so long as such measures do not lead to the maintenance of unequal or separate standards for different groups.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 40b
- Paragraph text
- [Progressive realization does not prejudice those obligations that are immediately applicable. Drawing from CESCR's General Comment, States parties have "a minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels" of each of the features of the right to education. Therefore States parties should implement the following core rights with immediate effect:] Reasonable accommodations to ensure non-exclusion from education for persons with disabilities. Failure to provide reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination on disability grounds.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 40c
- Paragraph text
- [Progressive realization does not prejudice those obligations that are immediately applicable. Drawing from CESCR's General Comment, States parties have "a minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels" of each of the features of the right to education. Therefore States parties should implement the following core rights with immediate effect:] Compulsory, free primary education available to all. States parties must take all appropriate measures to guarantee this right, on the basis of inclusion, to all children and youth with disabilities. The Committee urges States parties to "ensure access to and completion of quality education for all children and youth to at least 12 years of free, publicly funded, inclusive and equitable quality primary and secondary education, of which at least nine years are compulsory, as well as access to quality education for out-of- school children and youth through a range of modalities" as per the Education 2030 Framework for Action.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- With regard to international cooperation, and in line with SDG 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action, all bilateral and multilateral cooperation must advance inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, including support for capacity building, exchange and information sharing and best practices, research, technical and economic assistance, and facilitating access to accessible and assistive technologies. All data and spending of international assistance on education should be disaggregated by impairment. Consideration of an international coordination mechanism on inclusive education to operationalize SDG 4 and to build evidence, contribute to a better policy dialogue and monitor progress.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- State parties must commit sufficient financial and human resources throughout the development of Education Sector and cross-sector Plans to support the implementation of inclusive education, consistent with progressive realization. States parties must reform their governance systems and financing mechanisms to ensure the right to education of all persons with disabilities. States parties should also allocate budgets using mechanisms available under public procurement processes and partnerships with the private sector. These allocations must prioritise, inter alia, ensuring adequate resources for rendering existing educational settings accessible in a time bound manner, investment in inclusive teacher education, making available reasonable accommodations, providing accessible transport to school, making available appropriate and accessible text books, teaching and learning materials, ensuring assistive technology provisioning and Sign Language, and providing awareness raising initiatives to address stigma and discrimination, particularly bullying in educational settings.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The Committee urges States parties to achieve a transfer of resources from segregated to inclusive environments. States parties should develop a funding model that allocates resources and incentives for inclusive educational environments to provide the necessary support to persons with disabilities. The determination of the most appropriate approach to funding will be informed to a significant degree by the existing educational environment and the requirements of potential learners with disabilities who are affected by it.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The Convention sets out that States parties must take "all appropriate measures" to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities. These measures are legislative, educational, administrative, cultural, political, linguistic, and others. Measures are appropriate if they respect the principles of the Convention, including achieving the goal of guaranteeing women with disabilities the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Convention. Measures may be temporary or long term and should overcome de jure and de facto inequality. While special temporary measures such as quotas, might be necessary to overcome structural and systemic multiple discrimination, long term measures such as reforming laws and policies to ensure the equal participation of women with disabilities in all areas of life are essential prerequisites for achieving substantive equality for women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- All measures must ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities. Although development relates to economic growth and eradication of poverty, it is not limited to these fields. While gender and disability-sensitive development in the field of, among others, education, employment, income generation, and relating to combating violence may be appropriate measures to ensure the full economic empowerment of women with disabilities, additional measures are necessary with regard to health, political and cultural and sports participation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subjected to the same harmful practices committed against women without disabilities such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, crimes committed in the name of so called honour, dowry related violence, widowhood practices and accusations of witchcraft . The consequences of harmful practices goes far beyond social exclusion. It reinforces harmful gender stereotypes, perpetuates inequalities and contributes to discrimination against women and girls. They can result in physical, and psychological violence and economic exploitation. Harmful practice based on patriarchal interpretations of culture cannot be evoked to justify violence against women and girls with disabilities. In addition, women and girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of 'virgin testing' and, regarding HIV/AIDS misbeliefs, "virgin rapes" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are not a homogenous group. They include: indigenous women; refugee, migrant, asylum seeker and internally displaced women; women in detention (hospitals, residential institutions, juvenile or correctional facilities and prisons); women living in poverty; women from different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds; women with multiple disabilities and high levels of support; women with albinism; and lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender women, and intersex persons. The diversity of women with disabilities also includes all types of impairments which is understood as physical, psychosocial, intellectual or sensory conditions which may or may not come with functional limitations. Disability is understood as the social effect of the interaction between individual impairment and the social and material environment, as described in article 1.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies are at an increased risk of sexual violence as outlined in the previous section. In addition, the lack of sanitation facilities increases discrimination against women with disabilities. They face a number of barriers to accessing humanitarian aid. Although women and children are prioritised in the distribution of humanitarian relief, women with disabilities cannot always obtain information on relief projects as this is often not available in accessible formats. If women with disabilities do receive information, they may not be able to physically access distribution points, and if they do get access, women with disabilities many not be able to communicate with staff. Likewise, if women with disabilities are subjected to violence, exploitation or abuse, information and communication helplines and hotlines may not be accessible. Refugee camps often lack child protection mechanisms for children with disabilities. In addition, accessible sanitation facilities to ensure hygienic menstrual management are often unavailable which can in turn increase their risk of violence. Single women with disabilities face barriers to accessible evacuation as a result of an emergency or disaster situation, particularly if they are accompanied by their children at the time of evacuation. This disproportionately affects internally displaced women with disabilities who are without an adult family member, friends or caregivers. There are additional barriers faced by displaced girls with disabilities, to access formal and non-formal education, especially in crisis settings.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities, more often than men with disabilities and than the broader population of women, are denied their right to legal capacity. Their rights to maintain control over their reproductive health, including on the basis of free and informed consent , the right to found a family, the right to choose where and with whom to live, the right to physical and mental integrity, the right to own and inherit properties, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit are often violated through patriarchal systems of substituted decision-making.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face barriers to accessing justice including with regard to exploitation, violence and abuse, due to harmful stereotypes, discrimination and lack of procedural and reasonable accommodations, which can lead to their credibility being doubted and their accusations being dismissed . Procedures or enforcement attitudes may intimidate victims or discourage them from pursuing justice. These can include: complicated or degrading reporting procedures; referral of victims to social services rather than legal remedies; dismissive attitudes by police or other enforcement agencies. This can lead to impunity and invisibility of the issue, resulting in violence lasting for extended periods of time . Women with disabilities may also fear reporting violence, exploitation or abuse because they are concerned they may lose their support requirements from caregivers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are more likely to be subjected to forced interventions than other women in general and men with disabilities, and are 'wrongfully justified by theories of incapacity and therapeutic necessity (and) are legitimized under national laws, and may enjoy wide public support as being in the alleged "best interest" of the person concerned' . Forced interventions violate a number of articles of the Convention, namely: the right to equal recognition before the law; freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse; the right to found a family; protecting the integrity of the person; sexual and reproductive health and rights; and freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 is a binding non-discrimination and equality provision that unequivocally outlaws discrimination against women with disabilities and promotes equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes. Women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be discriminated against than men and boys with disabilities and the larger population of women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities goes beyond the goal of development in so far as measures must also target the improvement of the situation of women with disabilities throughout their lifespan. It is not enough to recognize women with disabilities in development measures rather, they must also be able to participate in and contribute to society.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- State parties to the Convention have an obligation to respect, to protect and to fulfil the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 and all other substantive provisions in order to guarantee them the enjoyment and exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. These duties imply the undertaking of legal, political, administrative, educational and other measures.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28a
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Violence against women with disabilities (art. 16);
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Article 9, paragraph 1, requires States parties to identify and eliminate obstacles and barriers to accessibility to, inter alia: (a) Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces; (b) Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services. The other indoor and outdoor facilities, mentioned above, should include law enforcement agencies, tribunals, prisons, social institutions, areas for social interaction and recreation, cultural, religious, political and sports activities, and shopping establishments. Other services should include postal, banking, telecommunication and information services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Since a lack of accessibility is often the result of insufficient awareness and technical know-how, article 9 requires that States parties provide training to all stakeholders on accessibility for persons with disabilities (para. 2 (c)). Article 9 does not attempt to enumerate the relevant stakeholders; any exhaustive list should include the authorities that issue building permits, broadcasting boards and ICT licences, engineers, designers, architects, urban planners, transport authorities, service providers, members of the academic community and persons with disabilities and their organizations. Training should be provided not only to those designing goods, services and products, but also to those who actually produce them. In addition, strengthening the direct involvement of persons with disabilities in product development would improve the understanding of existing needs and the effectiveness of accessibility tests. Ultimately, it is the builders on the construction site who make a building accessible or not. It is important to put in place training and monitoring systems for all these groups in order to ensure the practical application of accessibility standards.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- All persons with disabilities, including those with physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments, can be affected by denial of legal capacity and substitute decision-making. However, persons with cognitive or psychosocial disabilities have been, and still are, disproportionately affected by substitute decision-making regimes and denial of legal capacity. The Committee reaffirms that a person's status as a person with a disability or the existence of an impairment (including a physical or sensory impairment) must never be grounds for denying legal capacity or any of the rights provided for in article 12. All practices that in purpose or effect violate article 12 must be abolished in order to ensure that full legal capacity is restored to persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Legal capacity and mental capacity are distinct concepts. Legal capacity is the ability to hold rights and duties (legal standing) and to exercise those rights and duties (legal agency). It is the key to accessing meaningful participation in society. Mental capacity refers to the decision-making skills of a person, which naturally vary from one person to another and may be different for a given person depending on many factors, including environmental and social factors. Legal instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 6), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 16) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (art. 15) do not specify the distinction between mental and legal capacity. Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, however, makes it clear that "unsoundedness of mind" and other discriminatory labels are not legitimate reasons for the denial of legal capacity (both legal standing and legal agency). Under article 12 of the Convention, perceived or actual deficits in mental capacity must not be used as justification for denying legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In most of the State party reports that the Committee has examined so far, the concepts of mental and legal capacity have been conflated so that where a person is considered to have impaired decision-making skills, often because of a cognitive or psychosocial disability, his or her legal capacity to make a particular decision is consequently removed. This is decided simply on the basis of the diagnosis of an impairment (status approach), or where a person makes a decision that is considered to have negative consequences (outcome approach), or where a person's decision-making skills are considered to be deficient (functional approach). The functional approach attempts to assess mental capacity and deny legal capacity accordingly. It is often based on whether a person can understand the nature and consequences of a decision and/or whether he or she can use or weigh the relevant information. This approach is flawed for two key reasons: (a) it is discriminatorily applied to people with disabilities; and (b) it presumes to be able to accurately assess the inner-workings of the human mind and, when the person does not pass the assessment, it then denies him or her a core human right - the right to equal recognition before the law. In all of those approaches, a person's disability and/or decision-making skills are taken as legitimate grounds for denying his or her legal capacity and lowering his or her status as a person before the law. Article 12 does not permit such discriminatory denial of legal capacity, but, rather, requires that support be provided in the exercise of legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Harmful gender and/or disability stereotypes such as incapacity and inability, can lead to mothers with disabilities facing legal discrimination. As such, they are significantly overrepresented in child protection proceedings and disproportionately lose contact and custody of their children who are subject to adoption proceedings and/or can be placed in institutions. In addition, husbands can be granted separation and/or divorce on the basis of his wife's psychosocial disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In situations of armed conflict, occupation of territories, natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies women with disabilities are at increased risk of sexual violence and are less likely to be able to have access to recovery and rehabilitation services or access to justice . Women refugees, migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities may also face an increased risk of violence because they are denied the right to access health and justice systems because of their citizenship status.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- International and national laws and policies on disability have historically neglected aspects related to women and girls with disabilities. In turn, laws and policies addressing women have traditionally ignored disability. This invisibility has perpetuated the situation of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities. Women with disabilities are discriminated against on the grounds of gender and/or disability, or other possible grounds.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2 (b) requires that persons with disabilities can access inclusive, quality and free primary and secondary education and ensure a smooth transition between the two on an equal basis with others in the communities where they live. The Committee draws on the interpretation by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) that to fulfil this obligation, the education system must comprise the four following interrelated features.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61a
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Compliance with international human rights standards.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12b
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Whole educational environment: the committed leadership of educational institutions is essential to introduce and embed the culture, policies and practices to achieve inclusive education at all levels: classroom teaching and relationships, board meetings, teacher supervision, counselling services and medical care, school trips, budgetary allocations and any interface with parents of learners with and without disability when applicable, the local community or wider public.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Substitute decision-making regimes can take many different forms, including plenary guardianship, judicial interdiction and partial guardianship. However, these regimes have certain common characteristics: they can be defined as systems where (i) legal capacity is removed from a person, even if this is in respect of a single decision; (ii) a substitute decision-maker can be appointed by someone other than the person concerned, and this can be done against his or her will; and (iii) any decision made by a substitute decision-maker is based on what is believed to be in the objective "best interests" of the person concerned, as opposed to being based on the person's own will and preferences.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities have the right to a name and registration of their birth as part of the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (art. 18, para. 2). States parties must take the necessary measures to ensure that children with disabilities are registered at birth. This right is provided for in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 7); however, children with disabilities are disproportionately likely not to be registered as compared with other children. This not only denies them citizenship, but often also denies them access to health care and education, and can even lead to their death. Since there is no official record of their existence, their death may occur with relative impunity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12h
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Recognition of partnerships. Teacher associations, student associations and federations and OPDs, school boards, parent-teacher associations, and other functioning school support groups, both formal and informal, are all encouraged to increase their understanding and knowledge of disability. Involvement of parents/caregivers and the community must be viewed as assets with resources and strengths to contribute. The relationship between the learning environment and the wider community must be recognized as a route towards inclusive societies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters disproportionately impact the right to inclusive education. States parties should adopt inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction strategies for comprehensive school safety and security in emergencies, which are sensitive to learners with disabilities. Temporary learning environments in such contexts must ensure the right of persons, and particularly children, with disabilities to education on the basis of equality with others. This includes accessible educational materials, school facilities, counselling, or access to training in local sign language for deaf learners. According to Article 11, and recognizing the heightened risk of sexual violence in such settings, measures must be taken to ensure that learning environments are safe and accessible for women and girls with disabilities. Learners with disabilities must not be denied access to educational establishments on the basis that their evacuation in emergency situations would be impossible, and reasonable accommodation must be provided.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- According to article 24, paragraph 1(b) education should be directed to the development of the personality, talents and creativity of persons with disabilities as well as their mental, physical and communicational abilities to the fullest potential. The education of persons with disabilities too often focuses on a deficit approach, on their actual or perceived impairment and limiting opportunities to pre-defined and negative assumptions of their potential. States parties must support the creation of opportunities to build on the unique strengths and talents of each individual with a disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Acceptability is the obligation to design and implement all education-related facilities, goods and services taking full account of and respecting the requirements, cultures, views and languages of persons with disabilities. The form and substance of education provided must be acceptable for all. States parties must adopt affirmative action measures to ensure that education is of good quality for all. Inclusion and quality are reciprocal: an inclusive approach can makes a significant contribution to the quality of education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Adaptability - the Committee encourages States parties to apply the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach. UDL is a set of principles, providing teachers and other staff with a structure to create adaptable learning environments and develop instruction to meet the diverse needs of all learners. It recognizes that each student learns in a unique manner and involves developing flexible ways to learn: creating an engaging classroom environment; maintaining high expectations for all students, while allowing multiple ways to meet expectations; empowering teachers to think differently about their own teaching; and focusing on educational outcomes for all, including those with disabilities. Curricula must be conceived, designed and applied to meet and adjust to the requirements of every student, and providing appropriate educational responses. Standardised assessments must be replaced by flexible and multiple forms of assessments and recognition of individual progress towards broad goals that provide alternative routes for learning.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2(b) also requires that persons with disabilities are able to attend primary and secondary schools within the communities where they live. Students should not be sent away from home. The educational environment must be within safe physical reach for persons with disabilities, including safe and secure transport, or accessible via information communication technology. However, States parties should avoid relying exclusively on technology as a substitute for direct involvement of students with disabilities and interaction with teachers and role models within the educational environment itself. Active participation with other students, including siblings of learners with disabilities, is an important component of the right to inclusive education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The definition of what is proportionate will necessarily vary according to context. Availability of accommodations should be considered with respect to a larger pool of educational resources available in the education system, and not limited to resources available at the academic institution in question; transfer of resources within the system should be possible. There is no "one size fits all" formula to reasonable accommodation, and different students with the same impairment may require different accommodations. Accommodations may include changing the location of a class, providing different forms of in-class communication, enlarging print, materials and/or subjects in sign, or providing all handouts in an alternative format, providing students with a note-taker, or a language interpreter or allowing students to use assistive technology in learning and assessment situations. Provision of non-material accommodations, such as allowing a student more time, reducing levels of background noise, sensitivity to sensory overload, alternative evaluation methods or replacing an element of curriculum by an alternative element, must also be considered. Discussions between the educational authorities and providers, the academic institution, the student with a disability, and depending on the student's age and capacity, if appropriate, their parents/caregivers and/or family members must take place to ensure that the accommodation meets the requirements, will, preferences and choices of the student and can be implemented by the institution provider. Provision of reasonable accommodation may not be conditional on a medical diagnosis of impairment and should be based instead on the evaluation of social barriers to education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61d
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] A guarantee for students with and without disabilities to the same right to access inclusive learning opportunities, within the general education system, and for individual learners to the necessary support services at all levels.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34b
- Paragraph text
- Deaf and hard of hearing students must be provided with the opportunity to learn sign language, and measures taken to recognise and promote the linguistic identity of the deaf community. The Committee draws the attention of States parties to UNESCO's Convention against Discrimination in Education which establishes the right of children to be taught in their own language, and reminds States parties that Article 30(4) requires that persons with disabilities are entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition of and support for their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign language and deaf culture. In addition, hard-of-hearing students must also have access to quality speech therapy services, induction loop technology and captioning.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61f
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Introduction of comprehensive quality standards for inclusive education and disability-inclusive monitoring mechanisms to track progress in implementation at all levels and ensure that policies and programmes are implemented and backed by the requisite investment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 recognises that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and States parties must adopt measures to ensure the equal enjoyment of their rights. Intersectional discrimination and exclusion pose significant barriers to the realization of the right to education for women and girls with disabilities. States parties must identify and remove these barriers including, inter alia, gender-based violence and lack of value placed on education of women and girls, and put in place specific measures to ensure that their right to education is not impeded by gender and/or disability discrimination, stigma or prejudice. Harmful gender and/or disability stereotypes must be combatted in textbooks and curricula. Education plays a vital role in combating traditional notions of gender that perpetuate patriarchal and paternalistic societal frameworks. States parties must ensure the access and retention of girls and women with disabilities in education and rehabilitation services as instruments for their development, advancement and empowerment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Articles 9 and 24 are closely interconnected. Accessibility is a precondition for the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society. Persons with disabilities cannot effectively enjoy their right to inclusive education without accessibly built environment, including schools and all other places of education, without accessible public transport, services, information and communication. Modes and means of teaching should be accessible and should be conducted in accessible environments. The whole environment of students with disabilities must be designed in a way that fosters inclusion. Inclusive education itself, on the other hand, is a powerful tool for the promotion of accessibility and universal design.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Responsibility for the education of persons with disabilities at all levels, together with the education of others, must rest with the education ministry. In many countries, the education of persons with disabilities is currently marginalized within ministries of social welfare and/or health which has resulted in, inter alia, exclusion from mainstream education legislation, policy, planning and resourcing, lower levels of per capita investment in the education of persons with disabilities, a lack of overarching and coherent structures in place to support inclusive education, a lack of integrated data collection on enrolment, retention and attainment, and a failure to develop inclusive teacher education. States parties must take urgent measures to put education of learners with disabilities under the competence of the ministry of education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- States parties must ensure a comprehensive and inter-sectoral commitment to inclusive education across government. It cannot be realized by education ministries in isolation. All relevant ministries and commissions with responsibilities that cover substantive articles of the Convention must commit to and align their understanding of the implications of an inclusive education system in order to achieve an integrated approach to work collaboratively towards a shared agenda. Accountability measures for all ministries involved must be put into place to uphold such commitments. Partnerships should also be forged with service providers, OPDs, media, wider civil society organisations, local authorities, students associations and federations, universities, and teacher education colleges.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Early childhood interventions can be particularly valuable for children with disabilities, serving to strengthen their capacity to benefit from education and promoting their enrolment and attendance. All such interventions must guarantee respect for the dignity and autonomy of the child. In line with SDG 4, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, States parties are urged to ensure access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education, together with the provision of support and training to parents and caregivers of young children with disabilities. If identified and supported early, young children with disabilities are more likely to transit smoothly into pre-primary and primary inclusive education settings. States parties must ensure coordination between all relevant ministries, authorities and bodies as well as OPDs and other NGO partners.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61i
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] All legislation that potentially impacts upon inclusive education within a country should clearly state inclusion as a concrete goal.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61j
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] A consistent framework for the early identification, assessment and support required to enable persons with disabilities to flourish in inclusive learning environments.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Authorities at all levels must have the capacity, commitment and resources to implement the laws, policies and programmes in place to support inclusive education. States parties must ensure the development and delivery of training to inform all relevant authorities of their responsibilities under the law, and to provide an understanding of the rights of persons with disabilities. The skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to implement inclusive education policies and practice will include: understanding of the concept of the right to inclusive education and its aims, knowledge of the relevant international and national legislation and policies, development of local inclusive education plans, collaboration and partnerships, support, guidance and supervision of local education institutions, monitoring and evaluation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In line with a human rights-based approach, ensuring the empowerment of women with disabilities means promoting their participation in public decision-making. Women and girls with disabilities have historically encountered many barriers to participation in public decision-making. Due to power imbalances and multiple forms of discrimination, they have had fewer opportunities to establish or join organizations that can represent their needs as women and persons with disabilities. States parties should reach out directly to women and girls with disabilities andestablish adequate measures to guarantee that the perspectives of women and girls with disabilities are fully taken into account and that they will not be subjected to any reprisals for expressing their viewpoints and concerns, especially in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence including sexual violence. Finally, States parties must promote the participation of representative organizations of women with disabilities beyond disability-specific consultative bodies and mechanisms .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to respect requires States parties to refrain from interfering with the enjoyment of the rights of women with disabilities. As such, existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against women with disabilities must be abolished. Laws that do not allow women with disabilities to marry or choose the number and spacing of their children on an equal basis with others are frequent examples of such discrimination. Further, the duty to respect implies refraining from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with article 6 and other substantive provisions, to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with it .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Inclusive education is incompatible with institutionalisation. States parties must engage in a well-planned and structured process of de-institutionalisation of persons with disabilities. Such a process must address: a managed transition setting out a defined time frame for the transition; the introduction of a legislative requirement to develop community based provision, the re-direction of funds and the introduction of multi-disciplinary frameworks to support and strengthen community-based services; the provision of support for families; and collaboration and consultation with OPDs, including children, as well as parents/caregivers of persons with disabilities. Pending the process of de-institutionalisation, persons in institutional care settings should be given access to inclusive education with immediate effect through linking them with inclusive academic institutions in the community.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Certain forms of violence, exploitation or abuse may be considered as cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment and breaches a number of international human rights treaties. Among these are forced, coerced and otherwise involuntary pregnancy or sterilisation ; as well as any other medical procedure or intervention performed without free and informed consent, including those related to contraception and abortion; the invasive and irreversible surgical practises including psychosurgery, female genital mutilation or surgery or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent; the administration of electroshocks, chemical, physical or mechanical restraints; isolation or seclusion.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The often preferential care and treatment of boys means that violence against girls with disabilities is more prevalent when compared to boys with disabilities or the broader population of girls. Violence against girls with disabilities includes gender-specific neglect, humiliation, concealment, abandonment, abuse, including sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, which increases during puberty. Children with disabilities are also disproportionately likely to experience non-registration at birth , which exposes them to exploitation and violence. Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of violence from family members and caregivers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Girls with disabilities are particularly at risk of harmful practices, which are justified by invoking sociocultural and religious customs and values. For example, girls with disabilities are more likely to die through "mercy killings" than boys with disabilities because their families are unwilling or lack the support to raise a girl with an impairment . Other examples of harmful practices include: infanticide , accusations of "spirit possession" and restrictions in feeding and nutrition. In addition, the marriage of girls with disabilities, especially girls with intellectual disabilities, is justified under the pretext of providing future security, care and finance for her. In turn, child marriage contributes to higher rates of school drop-out as well as early and frequent childbirth. The social isolation, segregation and exploitation of girls with disabilities inside the family, includes: exclusion from family activities, prevention from leaving home, forced unpaid housework and being forbidden from attending school.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b v
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Support and promotion of international cooperation and assistance in a manner consistent with all national efforts to eliminate the legal, procedural, practical or social barriers to the full development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities in their communities as well as at the national, regional and global levels and the inclusion of women with disabilities in the design, implementation and monitoring of international cooperation projects and programmes that affect their lives.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Harmful gender and disability stereotypes combine to fuel discriminatory attitudes, policies and practices, such as: the higher valuing of education of boys over girls, educational material perpetuating wrongful gender and disability stereotypes, child marriage of girls with disabilities, gender-based family activities, female caregiver roles, lack of accessible sanitation facilities at schools to ensure hygienic menstrual management. In turn this results in high rates of illiteracy, school failure, uneven daily attendance rates, absenteeism and dropping out of school entirely.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face barriers to accessing health and rehabilitation services; these include but are not limited to: lack of education and information on sexual and reproductive health and rights; physical barriers to gynaecological, obstetric and oncology services; and attitudinal barriers to fertility and hormone treatments. In addition, physical and psychological rehabilitation service provision, including counselling for acts of gender-based violence, may not be accessible, inclusive, age or gender sensitive.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a i
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Repealing discriminatory laws, policies and practices that prevent women with disabilities from enjoying all the rights of the Convention; outlawing gender and disability-based discrimination and its intersectional forms; criminalizing sexual violence against girls and women with disabilities; prohibiting all forms of forced sterilization, forced abortion and non-consensual birth control; prohibiting all forms of forced gender and/or disability related medical treatment and taking all appropriate legislative steps to protect women with disabilities against discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination against women and girls with disabilities can take many forms of discrimination: direct or indirect discrimination, discrimination by association, denial of reasonable accommodation, structural and systemic discrimination. Irrespective of the form it takes, the impact of discrimination violates the rights of women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17b
- Paragraph text
- Indirect discrimination means that law, policies or practices appear neutral at face value, but have a disproportionate negative impact on women with disabilities. For example, healthcare facilities may appear neutral, but do not include accessible examination beds for gynaecological screening.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The recommendations of the relevant United Nations bodies dealing with gender equality shall be taken into account by all States parties and applied to women and girls with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination clearly establish the right of access as part of international human rights law. Accessibility should be viewed as a disability-specific reaffirmation of the social aspect of the right of access. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes accessibility as one of its key underlying principles - a vital precondition for the effective and equal enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights by persons with disabilities. Accessibility should be viewed not only in the context of equality and non-discrimination, but also as a way of investing in society and as an integral part of the sustainable development agenda.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- While different people and organizations understand differently what information and communications technology (ICT) means, it is generally acknowledged that ICT is an umbrella term that includes any information and communication device or application and its content. Such a definition encompasses a wide range of access technologies, such as radio, television, satellite, mobile phones, fixed lines, computers, network hardware and software. The importance of ICT lies in its ability to open up a wide range of services, transform existing services and create greater demand for access to information and knowledge, particularly in underserved and excluded populations, such as persons with disabilities. Article 12 of the International Telecommunication Regulations (adopted in Dubai in 2012) enshrines the right for persons with disabilities to access international telecommunication services, taking into account the relevant International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendations. The provisions of that article could serve as a basis for reinforcing States parties' national legislative frameworks.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- In its general comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights evoked the duty of States to implement the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The Standard Rules highlight the significance of the accessibility of the physical environment, transport, information and communication for the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. The concept is developed in rule 5, in which access to the physical environment, and access to information and communication are targeted as areas for priority action for States. The significance of accessibility can be derived also from general comment No. 14 (2000) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to the highest attainable standard of health (para. 12). In its general comment No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children with disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasizes that the physical inaccessibility of public transportation and other facilities, including governmental buildings, shopping areas and recreational facilities, is a major factor in the marginalization and exclusion of children with disabilities and markedly compromises their access to services, including health and education (para. 39). The importance of accessibility was reiterated by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its general comment No. 17 (2013) on the right of the child to rest, leisure, play, recreational activities, cultural life and the arts.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility was recognized by the mainstream ICT community since the first phase of the World Summit on Information Society, held in Geneva in 2003. Introduced and driven by the disability community, the concept was incorporated in the Declaration of Principles adopted by the Summit, which in paragraph 25 state, "the sharing and strengthening of global knowledge for development can be enhanced by removing barriers to equitable access to information for economic, social, political, health, cultural, educational, and scientific activities and by facilitating access to public domain information, including by universal design and the use of assistive technologies".
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has considered accessibility as one of the key issues in each of the 10 interactive dialogues it has held with States parties during the consideration of their initial reports, prior to the drafting of the present general comment. The concluding observations on those reports all contain recommendations concerning accessibility. One common challenge has been the lack of an adequate monitoring mechanism to ensure the practical implementation of accessibility standards and relevant legislation. In some States parties, monitoring was the responsibility of local authorities that lacked the technical knowledge and the human and material resources to ensure effective implementation. Another common challenge has been the lack of training provided to the relevant stakeholders and insufficient involvement of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the process of ensuring access to the physical environment, transport, information and communication.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has also addressed the issue of accessibility in its jurisprudence. In the case of Nyusti and Takács v. Hungary (communication No. 1/2010, Views adopted on 16 April 2013), the Committee was of the view that all services open or provided to the public must be accessible in accordance with the provisions of article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The State party was called upon to ensure that blind persons had access to automatic teller machines (ATMs). The Committee recommended, inter alia, that the State party establish "minimum standards for the accessibility of banking services provided by private financial institutions for persons with visual and other types of impairments; … create a legislative framework with concrete, enforceable and time-bound benchmarks for monitoring and assessing the gradual modification and adjustment by private financial institutions of previously inaccessible banking services provided by them into accessible ones; … and ensure that all newly procured ATMs and other banking services are fully accessible for persons with disabilities" (para. 10.2 (a)).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stipulates that, "to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communication, including information and communication technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas". It is important that accessibility is addressed in all its complexity, encompassing the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services. The focus is no longer on legal personality and the public or private nature of those who own buildings, transport infrastructure, vehicles, information and communication, and services. As long as goods, products and services are open or provided to the public, they must be accessible to all, regardless of whether they are owned and/or provided by a public authority or a private enterprise. Persons with disabilities should have equal access to all goods, products and services that are open or provided to the public in a manner that ensures their effective and equal access and respects their dignity. This approach stems from the prohibition against discrimination; denial of access should be considered to constitute a discriminatory act, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a public or private entity. Accessibility should be provided to all persons with disabilities, regardless of the type of impairment, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, legal or social status, gender or age. Accessibility should especially take into account the gender and age perspectives for persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Without access to information and communication, enjoyment of freedom of thought and expression and many other basic rights and freedoms for persons with disabilities may be seriously undermined and restricted. Article 9, paragraph 2 (f) to (g), of the Convention therefore provide that States parties should promote live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters (para. 2 (e)), promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information, and promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet, through the application of mandatory accessibility standards. Information and communication should be available in easy-to-read formats and augmentative and alternative modes and methods to persons with disabilities who use such formats, modes and methods.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- New technologies can be used to promote the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society, but only if they are designed and produced in a way that ensures their accessibility. New investments, research and production should contribute to eliminating inequality, not creating new barriers. Article 9, paragraph 2 (h), therefore calls on States parties to promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost. The use of hearing enhancement systems, including ambient assistive systems to assist hearing aid and induction loop users, and passenger lifts pre-equipped to allow use by persons with disabilities during emergency building evacuations constitute just some of the examples of technological advancements in the service of accessibility.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- States parties should adopt action plans and strategies to identify existing barriers to accessibility, set time frames with specific deadlines and provide both the human and material resources necessary to remove the barriers. Once adopted, such action plans and strategies should be strictly implemented. States parties should also strengthen their monitoring mechanisms in order to ensure accessibility and they should continue providing sufficient funds to remove barriers to accessibility and train monitoring staff. As accessibility standards are often implemented locally, continuous capacity-building of the local authorities responsible for monitoring implementation of the standards is of paramount importance. States parties are under an obligation to develop an effective monitoring framework and set up efficient monitoring bodies with adequate capacity and appropriate mandates to make sure that plans, strategies and standardization are implemented and enforced.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- There can be no effective access to justice if the buildings in which law-enforcement agencies and the judiciary are located are not physically accessible, or if the services, information and communication they provide are not accessible to persons with disabilities (art. 13). Safe houses, support services and procedures must all be accessible in order to provide effective and meaningful protection from violence, abuse and exploitation to persons with disabilities, especially women and children (art. 16). Accessible environment, transportation, information and communication, and services are a precondition for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in their respective local communities and for them to have an independent life (art. 19).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Articles 9 and 21 intersect on the issue of information and communication. Article 21 provides that States parties "shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on an equal basis with others and through all forms of communication of their choice". It goes on to describe in detail how the accessibility of information and communication can be ensured in practice. It requires that States parties "provide information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities" (art. 21 (a)). Furthermore, it provides for "facilitating the use of sign languages, Braille, augmentative and alternative communication, and all other accessible means, modes and formats of communication of their choice by persons with disabilities in official interactions" (art. 21 (b)). Private entities that provide services to the general public, including through the Internet, are urged to provide information and services in accessible and usable formats for persons with disabilities (art. 21 (c)) and the mass media, including providers of information through the Internet, are encouraged to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities (art. 21 (d)). Article 21 also requires States parties to recognize and promote the use of sign languages, in accordance with articles 24, 27, 29 and 30 of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Article 12, paragraph 4, outlines the safeguards that must be present in a system of support in the exercise of legal capacity. Article 12, paragraph 4, must be read in conjunction with the rest of article 12 and the whole Convention. It requires States parties to create appropriate and effective safeguards for the exercise of legal capacity. The primary purpose of these safeguards must be to ensure the respect of the person's rights, will and preferences. In order to accomplish this, the safeguards must provide protection from abuse on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 31a
- Paragraph text
- [When reviewing their accessibility legislation, States parties must consider and, where necessary, amend their laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. As a minimum, the following situations in which lack of accessibility has prevented a person with disabilities from accessing a service or facility open to the public should be considered as prohibited acts of disability-based discrimination:] Where the service or facility was established after relevant accessibility standards were introduced;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Women represent a disproportionate percentage of the world's poor as a consequence of discrimination, leading to a lack of choice and opportunities, especially formal employment income. Poverty is both a compounding factor and the result of multiple discrimination. Older women with disabilities, especially, face many difficulties in accessing adequate housing, they are more likely to be institutionalized and do not have equal access to social protection and poverty reduction programs .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 is a cross-cutting article related to all articles of the Convention to remind States parties to include the rights of women and girls with disabilities in all actions aimed at implementing the Convention. In particular, positive action measures need to be taken in order to ensure that women with disabilities are protected against multiple discrimination and can enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse compared to the broader population of women. Violence may be interpersonal, institutional and/or structural in nature. Institutional and/or structural violence is any form of structural inequality or institutional discrimination that maintains a woman in a subordinate position, whether physical or ideological, with regard to other people within her family , household or community.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Recognition of legal capacity is inextricably linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights provided for in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including, but not limited to, the right to access justice (art. 13); the right to be free from involuntary detention in a mental health facility and not to be forced to undergo mental health treatment (art. 14); the right to respect for one's physical and mental integrity (art. 17); the right to liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18); the right to choose where and with whom to live (art. 19); the right to freedom of expression (art. 21); the right to marry and found a family (art. 23); the right to consent to medical treatment (art. 25); and the right to vote and stand for election (art. 29). Without recognition of the person as a person before the law, the ability to assert, exercise and enforce those rights, and many other rights provided for in the Convention, is significantly compromised.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- States parties have an obligation to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to justice on an equal basis with others. The recognition of the right to legal capacity is essential for access to justice in many respects. In order to seek enforcement of their rights and obligations on an equal basis with others, persons with disabilities must be recognized as persons before the law with equal standing in courts and tribunals. States parties must also ensure that persons with disabilities have access to legal representation on an equal basis with others. This has been identified as a problem in many jurisdictions and must be remedied, including by ensuring that persons who experience interference with their right to legal capacity have the opportunity to challenge such interference - on their own behalf or with legal representation - and to defend their rights in court. Persons with disabilities have often been excluded from key roles in the justice system as lawyers, judges, witnesses or members of a jury.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Police officers, social workers and other first responders must be trained to recognize persons with disabilities as full persons before the law and to give the same weight to complaints and statements from persons with disabilities as they would to non-disabled persons. This entails training and awareness-raising in these important professions. Persons with disabilities must also be granted legal capacity to testify on an equal basis with others. Article 12 of the Convention guarantees support in the exercise of legal capacity, including the capacity to testify in judicial, administrative and other legal proceedings. Such support could take various forms, including recognition of diverse communication methods, allowing video testimony in certain situations, procedural accommodation, the provision of professional sign language interpretation and other assistive methods. The judiciary must also be trained and made aware of their obligation to respect the legal capacity of persons with disabilities, including legal agency and standing.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Respecting the right to legal capacity of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others includes respecting the right of persons with disabilities to liberty and security of the person. The denial of the legal capacity of persons with disabilities and their detention in institutions against their will, either without their consent or with the consent of a substitute decision-maker, is an ongoing problem. This practice constitutes arbitrary deprivation of liberty and violates articles 12 and 14 of the Convention. States parties must refrain from such practices and establish a mechanism to review cases whereby persons with disabilities have been placed in a residential setting without their specific consent.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The right to enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (art. 25) includes the right to health care on the basis of free and informed consent. States parties have an obligation to require all health and medical professionals (including psychiatric professionals) to obtain the free and informed consent of persons with disabilities prior to any treatment. In conjunction with the right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others, States parties have an obligation not to permit substitute decision-makers to provide consent on behalf of persons with disabilities. All health and medical personnel should ensure appropriate consultation that directly engages the person with disabilities. They should also ensure, to the best of their ability, that assistants or support persons do not substitute or have undue influence over the decisions of persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- As has been stated by the Committee in several concluding observations, forced treatment by psychiatric and other health and medical professionals is a violation of the right to equal recognition before the law and an infringement of the rights to personal integrity (art. 17); freedom from torture (art. 15); and freedom from violence, exploitation and abuse (art. 16). This practice denies the legal capacity of a person to choose medical treatment and is therefore a violation of article 12 of the Convention. States parties must, instead, respect the legal capacity of persons with disabilities to make decisions at all times, including in crisis situations; must ensure that accurate and accessible information is provided about service options and that non-medical approaches are made available; and must provide access to independent support. States parties have an obligation to provide access to support for decisions regarding psychiatric and other medical treatment. Forced treatment is a particular problem for persons with psychosocial, intellectual and other cognitive disabilities. States parties must abolish policies and legislative provisions that allow or perpetrate forced treatment, as it is an ongoing violation found in mental health laws across the globe, despite empirical evidence indicating its lack of effectiveness and the views of people using mental health systems who have experienced deep pain and trauma as a result of forced treatment. The Committee recommends that States parties ensure that decisions relating to a person's physical or mental integrity can only be taken with the free and informed consent of the person concerned.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12e
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Respect for and value of diversity: All members of the learning community are welcomed equally, with respect for diversity according to, inter alia, disability, race, colour, sex, language, linguistic culture, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status. All students must feel valued, respected, included and listened to. Effective measures to prevent abuse and bullying are in place. Inclusion takes an individual approach to students.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- According to Article 24, paragraph 1(c) the aims of education must be directed towards enabling persons with disabilities to participate fully and effectively in a free society. Article 23 of the CRC stresses that, regarding children with disabilities, assistance must be provided to ensure that they have 'effective access to …..education… in a manner conducive to achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development.' States parties must recognise that individual support and reasonable accommodation are priority matters and should be free of charge at all compulsory levels of education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Committee highlights the widespread lack of textbooks and learning materials in accessible formats and languages, including sign language. States parties must invest in the timely development of resources in ink or Braille, and digital formats, including through the use of innovative technology. They should also consider developing standards and guidelines for the conversion of printed material into accessible formats and languages, and making accessibility a central aspect of education-related procurement. The Committee recalls the urgency of ratifying and implementing the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2 (c) requires States parties to provide reasonable accommodation, for individual students to enable them to access an education on an equal basis with others. "Reasonableness" is understood as the result of a contextual test that involves an analysis of the relevance and the effectiveness of the accommodation, and the expected goal of countering discrimination. The availability of resources and financial implications is recognized when assessing disproportionate burden. The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is enforceable from the moment it is requested. Policies that commit to reasonable accommodation must be adopted at national, local and education institution levels, and at all levels of education. The extent to which reasonable accommodation is provided must be considered in light of the overall obligation to develop an inclusive education system, maximising the use of existing resources and developing new ones. Using the lack of resources and financial crises as justification for failure to make progress towards inclusive education violates article 24.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Committee reiterates the distinction between the general accessibility duty and the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation. Accessibility benefits groups of the population and is based on a set of standards that are implemented gradually. Disproportionality or undue burden cannot be claimed to defend the failure to provide accessibility. Reasonable accommodation relates to an individual and is complementary to the accessibility duty. An individual can legitimately request reasonable accommodation measures even if the State party has fulfilled its accessibility duty.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12i
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Monitoring: As a continuing process, inclusive education must be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that segregation or integration is not happening either formally or informally. Monitoring, according to article 33, should involve persons with disabilities, including children and persons with intensive support requirements, through OPDs, as well as parents or caregivers of children with disabilities where appropriate. Disability-inclusive indicators must be developed and used consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Consistent with the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education, paragraph 1 affirms that the right to education must be assured without discrimination and on the basis of equality of opportunity. States parties must prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to all persons with disabilities equal and effective protection against discrimination on all grounds. Persons with disabilities can experience intersectional discrimination based on disability, gender, religion, legal status, ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation or language. Additionally, parents, siblings, and other relatives can also experience discrimination on grounds of disability by association. The measures needed to address all forms of discrimination include identifying and removing legal, physical, communication and language, social, financial and attitudinal barriers within the educational institutions and the community. The right to non-discrimination includes the right not to be segregated and to be provided with reasonable accommodation and must be understood in the context of the duty to provide accessible learning environments and reasonable accommodation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Article 24, paragraph 4 requires States parties to take appropriate measures to employ administration, teaching and non-teaching staff with the skills to work effectively in inclusive education environments and qualified in sign language and/or Braille, orientation and mobility skills. An adequate number of qualified and committed school staff is a key asset in the introduction and sustainability of inclusive education. The lack of understanding and capacity remain significant barriers to inclusion. States parties must ensure that all teachers are trained in inclusive education based on the human rights model of disability.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- States parties must recognize the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights. Education is integral to the full and effective realization of other rights. Conversely, the right to inclusive education can only be realized if certain other rights are implemented. It must be underpinned by the creation of inclusive environments at the wider societal level. This will necessitate the adoption of the human rights model of disability whereby recognition is afforded to the obligation to remove the societal barriers that serve to exclude and marginalize persons with disabilities and the adoption of measures to ensure implementation of the following rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61g
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Introduction of accessible monitoring mechanisms to ensure that policy, together with the requisite investment, is implemented.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61h
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Recognition of the need for reasonable accommodations to support inclusion, based on human rights standards, rather than on the efficient use of resources, together with sanctions for failure to provide reasonable accommodation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination on the basis of disability is defined by the Convention as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation" . Discrimination against women is defined by CEDAW as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, or enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The Convention defines "reasonable accommodation" as 'necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms' requiring that State parties guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds . Recent jurisprudence from the CEDAW Committee has referenced reasonable accommodation with respect to women with disabilities' access to employment . The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is an ex nunc duty, meaning it is enforceable from the moment a person requests it in a given situation in order to enjoy their rights on an equal basis in a particular context. Failure to provide reasonable accommodation for women with disabilities may amount to discrimination under articles 5 and 6 . An example of reasonable accommodation could be a woman with a disability in the workplace requiring an accessible place to breast feed.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Intersectional discrimination recognizes that individuals do not experience discrimination as members of a homogenous group but rather, as individuals with multidimensional layers of identities, statuses and life circumstances. It means acknowledging the lived realities and experiences of heightened disadvantage of individuals caused by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, which requires targeted measures with respect to disaggregated data collection, consultation, policymaking, enforceability of non-discrimination and provision of effective remedies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17a
- Paragraph text
- Direct discrimination occurs when women with disabilities are treated less favourably than another person in a similar situation for a reason related to a prohibited ground. It also includes detrimental acts or omissions on the basis of prohibited grounds where there is no comparable similar situation . For example, direct discrimination occurs when the testimonies of women with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities are dismissed from court proceedings because of legal capacity, thus denying them justice and effective remedies as victims of violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination not only in the public, but also in the private sphere, for example, within family relations or by private social service providers. International human rights law has long acknowledged State party responsibility for discrimination perpetrated by private, non-state actors . States parties must adopt legal provisions and procedures which explicitly recognise multiple discrimination to ensure complaints made on the basis of more than one ground of discrimination are considered in the context of the determination of both liability and remedies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The present draft was prepared by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in accordance with rule 47 of its rules of procedure, which states that the Committee may prepare general comments based on the various articles and provisions of the Convention with a view to assisting States parties in fulfilling their reporting obligations, as well as paragraphs 54-57 of its working methods.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28c
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Spheres of discrimination against women with disabilities in other relevant articles.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4b
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] persistent discrimination against persons with disabilities, compounded by the isolation of those still living in long-term residential institutions, and low expectations about those in mainstream settings, allowing prejudices and fear to escalate and remain unchallenged;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities may be targeted for economic exploitation because of their impairment, which can in turn expose them to further violence. For example, women with physical or visible impairments can be trafficked into forced begging because it is believed they may have a stronger impact on public sympathy .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 28b
- Paragraph text
- [The cross-cutting nature of article 6 inextricably links it to all other substantive provisions of the Convention. In addition to the articles that have an explicit reference to sex and/or gender, the rights of women with disabilities under article 6 are particularly interrelated with the following provisions:] Sexual and reproductive health and rights, including respect for home and the family (art. 25 and 23);
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Healthcare facilities and equipment, including mammogram machines and gynaecological examination beds, are often physically inaccessible for women with disabilities . Safe transport for women with disabilities to attend healthcare facilities or screening programmes may be unavailable, unaffordable or inaccessible.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Even though ensuring access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services open to the public is often a precondition for the effective enjoyment of various civil and political rights by persons with disabilities, States parties can ensure that access is achieved through gradual implementation when necessary as well as through the use of international cooperation. An analysis of the situation to identify the obstacles and barriers that need to be removed can be carried out in an efficient manner and within a short- to mid-term framework. Barriers should be removed in a continuous and systematic way, gradually yet steadily.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination guarantees everyone the right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport, hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks (art. 5 (f)). Thus, a precedent has been established in the international human rights legal framework for viewing the right to access as a right per se. Admittedly, for members of different racial or ethnic groups, the barriers to free access to places and services open to the public were the result of prejudicial attitudes and a readiness to use force in preventing access to spaces that were physically accessible. However, persons with disabilities face technical and environmental - in most cases, human-built environmental - barriers such as steps at the entrances of buildings, the absence of lifts in multi-floor buildings and a lack of information in accessible formats. The built environment always relates to social and cultural development as well as customs; therefore the built environment is under the full control of society. Such artificial barriers are often the result of a lack of information and technical know-how rather than a conscious will to prevent persons with disabilities from accessing places or services intended for use by the general public. In order to introduce policies that allow better accessibility for persons with disabilities, it is necessary to change attitudes towards persons with disabilities in order to fight against stigma and discrimination, through ongoing education efforts, awareness-raising, cultural campaigns and communication.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Health care and social protection would remain unattainable for persons with disabilities without access to the premises where those services are provided. Even if the buildings where the health-care and social protection services are provided are themselves accessible, without accessible transportation, persons with disabilities are unable to travel to the places where the services are being provided. All information and communication pertaining to the provision of health care should be accessible through sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication. It is especially important to take into account the gender dimension of accessibility when providing health care, particularly reproductive health care for women and girls with disabilities, including gynaecological and obstetric services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- On the basis of the initial reports of various States parties that it has reviewed so far, the Committee observes that there is a general misunderstanding of the exact scope of the obligations of States parties under article 12 of the Convention. Indeed, there has been a general failure to understand that the human rights-based model of disability implies a shift from the substitute decision-making paradigm to one that is based on supported decision-making. The aim of the present general comment is to explore the general obligations deriving from the various components of article 12.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The present general comment reflects an interpretation of article 12 which is premised on the general principles of the Convention, as outlined in article 3, namely, respect for the inherent dignity, individual autonomy - including the freedom to make one's own choices -, and independence of persons; non-discrimination; full and effective participation and inclusion in society; respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity; equality of opportunity; accessibility; equality between men and women; and respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 46a
- Paragraph text
- [Article 30, paragraph 5, of the Convention provides that, in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States parties shall take appropriate measures:] To encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Given the importance of this article, the Committee facilitated interactive forums for discussions on legal capacity. From the very useful exchange on the provisions of article 12 by experts, States parties, disabled persons' organizations, non-governmental organizations, treaty monitoring bodies, national human rights institutions and United Nations agencies, the Committee found it imperative to provide further guidance in a general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12g
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Effective transitions: Learners with disabilities receive the support to ensure the effective transition from learning at school to vocational and tertiary education, and finally to work. Learners' capacities and confidence are developed and learners receive reasonable accommodation and equality regarding assessment and examination procedures, and certification of their capacities and attainments on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Article 5 enshrines the principle of equal protection of all persons before and under the law. State parties must prohibit all disability-based discrimination and provide persons with disabilities effective and equal protection against discrimination on all grounds. To address systemic and structural discrimination and to ensure "equal benefit of the law" State parties must take affirmative action measures, such as removing architectural and communicative or other barriers to mainstream education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- According to article 24, paragraph 1, States parties must ensure the realization of the right of persons with disabilities to education through an inclusive education system at all levels, including pre-schools, primary, secondary and tertiary education, vocational training and lifelong learning, extracurricular and social activities, and for all students, including persons with disabilities, without discrimination and on equal terms with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- While article 12 of the Convention protects equality before the law for all persons, regardless of age, article 7 of the Convention recognizes the developing capacities of children and requires that "in all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child … be a primary consideration" (para. 2) and that "their views [be] given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity" (para. 3). To comply with article 12, States parties must examine their laws to ensure that the will and preferences of children with disabilities are respected on an equal basis with other children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The rights provided for in article 12 are closely tied to State obligations relating to accessibility (art. 9) because the right to equal recognition before the law is necessary to enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life. Article 9 requires the identification and elimination of barriers to facilities or services open or provided to the public. Lack of accessibility to information and communication and inaccessible services may constitute barriers to the realization of legal capacity for some persons with disabilities, in practice. Therefore, States parties must make all procedures for the exercise of legal capacity, and all information and communication pertaining to it, fully accessible. States parties must review their laws and practices to ensure that the right to legal capacity and accessibility are being realized.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Fulfilment of the right of persons with disabilities to enjoy the highest possible standard of health without discrimination (article 25) is integral to the opportunity to benefit fully from education. The ability to attend educational environments and learn effectively is seriously compromised by lack of access to health and to appropriate treatment and care. States parties should establish health, hygiene and nutrition programmes with a gender perspective that are integrated with education services and allow for continual monitoring of all health needs. Such programmes should be developed on the principles of universal design and accessibility, provide regular school nurse visits and health screening, and build community partnerships. Persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, must be provided with age-appropriate, comprehensive and inclusive sexuality education, based on scientific evidence and human rights standards, and in accessible formats.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Gradual changes in law and policy have occurred since the 1980s and the recognition of women with disabilities has increased. Jurisprudence developed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) have highlighted concerns that need to be addressed regarding women and girls with disabilities and recommendations to be implemented. At a policy level, various United Nations bodies have started addressing issues facing women with disabilities and a number of regional strategies addressing disability inclusive development include them.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 of the Convention is a response to the lack of recognition of the rights of women and girls with disabilities, who worked hard for its inclusion in the treaty text. It reinforces the non-discriminatory approach of the Convention in its particular application to women and girls and requires that States parties go beyond refraining from discriminatory actions, to adopting measures aiming at the development, advancement and empowerment of women and girls with disabilities and promotes measures to empower them, by recognizing these constituencies as distinct right holders, providing channels for voice and agency, raising their self-confidence and increasing their power and authority to take decisions in all areas affecting their lives. Article 6 serves as an interpretation tool to approach the responsibilities of States parties across the Convention, to promote, protect and fulfill the human rights of women and girls with disabilities, from a human rights-based approach and a development perspective.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Terminology used in this general comment includes: a. ‘Women with disabilities’ refers to all adult women, girls and adolescents. b. Sex and gender: Where sex refers to biological differences and gender refers to the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine. c. Multiple discrimination is a situation where a person can experience discrimination on two or several grounds, in the sense that discrimination is compounded or aggravated . Intersectional discrimination refers to a situation where several grounds operate and interact with each other at the same time in such a way that they are inseparable . Grounds for discrimination include, but are not limited to: age, disability, ethnic, indigenous, national or social origin, gender identity, political or other opinion, race, refugee, migrant or asylum status, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Wrongful stereotyping related to disability and gender are a form of discrimination, which particularly impacts the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the right to a found a family. Harmful stereotypes of women with disabilities include but are not limited to beliefs that they are: asexual, incapable, irrational, lacking control and/or hypersexual. Like all women, women with disabilities have the right to choose the number and spacing of their children, as well as the right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities face multiple barriers to the enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health and rights, equal recognition before the law and access to justice, which are addressed below. In addition to barriers resulting from multiple discrimination on the grounds of gender and disability, some women with disabilities, such as refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, face additional barriers because they are denied access to healthcare. Likewise, women with disabilities may face harmful eugenic stereotypes when it is assumed that women with disabilities give birth to children with disabilities and are thus discouraged or prevented from realizing their right to motherhood .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities may also be denied access to information and communication, including comprehensive sexuality education, based on harmful stereotypes which assume they are asexual and thus that they do not require such information. Information may also not be available in accessible formats. Sexual and reproductive health information includes, but is not limited to information, on the basis of equality with others, about "all aspects of sexual and reproductive health, including maternal health, contraceptives, family planning, sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevention, safe abortion and post abortion care, infertility and fertility options, and reproductive cancers" .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In practice, the choices of women with disabilities, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are often ignored, their decisions are often substituted by third parties, including legal representatives, service providers, guardians and family members, thus violating their rights under article 12 . All women with disabilities must be able to exercise their legal capacity by taking their own decisions, with support when desired with regard to medical and/or therapeutic treatment, including decisions on: retaining their fertility, reproductive autonomy, their right to choose the number and spacing of children, to consent and accept a statement of fatherhood, and the right to establish relationships. Restricting or removing legal capacity can facilitate forced interventions, such as: sterilisation, abortion, contraception, female genital mutilation, or surgery, or treatment performed on intersex children without their informed consent and forced detention in institutions .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Availability: Public and private educational institutions and programmes must be available in sufficient quantity and quality. States parties must guarantee a broad availability of educational places for learners with disabilities at all levels throughout the community.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 40 cont.
- Paragraph text
- States parties must adopt and implement a national educational strategy which includes provision of education at all levels for all learners, on the basis of inclusion and equality of opportunity. The educational objectives elaborated in article 24, paragraph 1, place equivalent obligations on States parties and must therefore be regarded on a comparable basis of immediacy.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Quality inclusive education must provide persons with disabilities with preparation for work life through the foundation of the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary for participation in the open labour market and in an open, inclusive and accessible work environment (article 27).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The Committee has identified a number of consistent challenges facing States parties in the implementation of Article 24. The following measures need to be addressed at the national level in order to implement and sustain an inclusive education system for all persons with disabilities:
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- However, despite progress achieved, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (herein after: the Committee) is concerned that profound challenges persist. Many millions of persons with disabilities continue to be denied a right to education, and for many more, education is available only in settings where they are isolated from their peers and receive an inferior quality of provision.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4a
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] the failure to understand or implement the human rights model of disability, in which barriers within the community and society, rather than personal impairments, exclude persons with disabilities;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Sexual violence against women with disabilities includes rape . Sexual abuse occurs in all scenarios within both state and non-state institutions, within the family or the community . Some women with disabilities, in particular, deaf and deafblind women , and women with intellectual disabilities, may be further at risk of violence and abuse because of their isolation, dependency or oppression.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Since accessibility is a precondition for persons with disabilities to live independently, as provided for in article 19 of the Convention, and to participate fully and equally in society, denial of access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication technologies, and facilities and services open to the public should be viewed in the context of discrimination. Taking "all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities" (art. 4, para. 1 (b)) constitutes the main general obligation for all States parties. "States parties shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds" (art. 5, para. 2). "In order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, States parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided" (art. 5, para. 3).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- A clear distinction should be drawn between the obligation to ensure access to all newly designed, built or produced objects, infrastructure, goods, products and services and the obligation to remove barriers and ensure access to the existing physical environment and existing transportation, information and communication, and services open to the general public. Another of the States parties' general obligations is to "undertake or promote research and development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities, as defined in article 2 of the Convention, which should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and use, and to promote universal design in the development of standards and guidelines" (art. 4, para. 1 (f)). All new objects, infrastructure, facilities, goods, products and services have to be designed in a way that makes them fully accessible for persons with disabilities, in accordance with the principles of universal design. States parties are obliged to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to the existing physical environment, transportation, information and communication and services open to the general public. However, as this obligation is to be implemented gradually, States parties should establish definite time frames and allocate adequate resources for the removal of existing barriers. Furthermore, States parties should clearly prescribe the duties of the different authorities (including regional and local authorities) and entities (including private entities) that should be carried out in order to ensure accessibility. States parties should also prescribe effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure accessibility and monitor sanctions against anyone who fails to implement accessibility standards.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The duty to provide reasonable accommodation is an ex nunc duty, which means that it is enforceable from the moment an individual with an impairment needs it in a given situation, for example, workplace or school, in order to enjoy her or his rights on an equal basis in a particular context. Here, accessibility standards can be an indicator, but may not be taken as prescriptive. Reasonable accommodation can be used as a means of ensuring accessibility for an individual with a disability in a particular situation. Reasonable accommodation seeks to achieve individual justice in the sense that non-discrimination or equality is assured, taking the dignity, autonomy and choices of the individual into account. Thus, a person with a rare impairment might ask for accommodation that falls outside the scope of any accessibility standard.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The duty of States parties to ensure access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services open to the public for persons with disabilities should be seen from the perspective of equality and non-discrimination. Denial of access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services open to the public constitutes an act of disability-based discrimination that is prohibited by article 5 of the Convention. Ensuring accessibility pro futuro should be viewed in the context of implementing the general obligation to develop universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities (art. 4, para. 1 (f)).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Ensuring full access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services open to the public is indeed a vital precondition for the effective enjoyment of many rights covered by the Convention. In situations of risk, natural disasters and armed conflict, the emergency services must be accessible to persons with disabilities, or their lives cannot be saved or their well-being protected (art. 11). Accessibility must be incorporated as a priority in post-disaster reconstruction efforts. Therefore, disaster risk reduction must be accessible and disability-inclusive.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Article 28 of the Convention addresses an adequate standard of living and social protection for persons with disabilities. States parties should take the necessary measures to ensure that both mainstream and disability-specific social protection measures and services are provided in an accessible manner, in accessible buildings, and that all information and communication pertaining to them is accessible through sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication. Social housing programmes should offer housing that is, inter alia, accessible for persons with disabilities and the elderly.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Article 29 of the Convention guarantees persons with disabilities the right to participate in political and public life, and to take part in running public affairs. Persons with disabilities would be unable to exercise those rights equally and effectively if States parties failed to ensure that voting procedures, facilities and materials were appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use. It is also important that political meetings and materials used and produced by political parties or individual candidates participating in public elections are accessible. If not, persons with disabilities are deprived of their right to participate in the political process in an equal manner. Persons with disabilities who are elected to public office must have equal opportunities to carry out their mandate in a fully accessible manner.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Article 12, paragraph 2, recognizes that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all areas of life. Legal capacity includes the capacity to be both a holder of rights and an actor under the law. Legal capacity to be a holder of rights entitles a person to full protection of his or her rights by the legal system. Legal capacity to act under the law recognizes that person as an agent with the power to engage in transactions and create, modify or end legal relationships. The right to recognition as a legal agent is provided for in article 12, paragraph 5, of the Convention, which outlines the duty of States parties to "take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and … ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property".
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Article 12, paragraph 3, recognizes that States parties have an obligation to provide persons with disabilities with access to support in the exercise of their legal capacity. States parties must refrain from denying persons with disabilities their legal capacity and must, rather, provide persons with disabilities access to the support necessary to enable them to make decisions that have legal effect.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Consistent with Article 4, paragraph 3, States parties must consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organisations (OPDs), in all aspects of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of inclusive education policies. Persons with disabilities and, when appropriate, their families, must be recognised as partners and not merely recipients of education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility is related to groups, whereas reasonable accommodation is related to individuals. This means that the duty to provide accessibility is an ex ante duty. States parties therefore have the duty to provide accessibility before receiving an individual request to enter or use a place or service. States parties need to set accessibility standards, which must be adopted in consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities, and they need to be specified for service-providers, builders and other relevant stakeholders. Accessibility standards must be broad and standardized. In the case of individuals who have rare impairments that were not taken into account when the accessibility standards were developed or who do not use the modes, methods or means offered to achieve accessibility (not reading Braille, for example), even the application of accessibility standards may not be sufficient to ensure them access. In such cases, reasonable accommodation may apply. In accordance with the Convention, States parties are not allowed to use austerity measures as an excuse to avoid ensuring gradual accessibility for persons with disabilities. The obligation to implement accessibility is unconditional, i.e. the entity obliged to provide accessibility may not excuse the omission to do so by referring to the burden of providing access for persons with disabilities. The duty of reasonable accommodation, contrarily, exists only if implementation constitutes no undue burden on the entity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12d
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Supported teachers: All teachers and other staff receive education and training giving them the core values and competencies to accommodate inclusive learning environments, which include teachers with disabilities. The inclusive culture provides an accessible and supportive environment which encourages working through collaboration, interaction and problem-solving.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Given these precedents and the fact that accessibility is indeed a vital precondition for persons with disabilities to participate fully and equally in society and enjoy effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Committee finds it necessary to adopt a general comment on article 9 of the Convention on accessibility, in accordance with its rules of procedure and the established practice of the human rights treaty bodies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States parties are obliged to adopt, promulgate and monitor national accessibility standards. If no relevant legislation is in place, adopting a suitable legal framework is the first step. States parties should undertake a comprehensive review of the laws on accessibility in order to identify, monitor and address gaps in legislation and implementation. Disability laws often fail to include ICT in their definition of accessibility, and disability rights laws concerned with non-discriminatory access in areas such as procurement, employment and education often fail to include access to ICT and the many goods and services central to modern society that are offered through ICT. It is important that the review and adoption of these laws and regulations are carried out in close consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations (art. 4, para. 3), as well as all other relevant stakeholders, including members of the academic community and expert associations of architects, urban planners, engineers and designers. Legislation should incorporate and be based on the principle of universal design, as required by the Convention (art. 4, para. 1 (f)). It should provide for the mandatory application of accessibility standards and for sanctions, including fines, for those who fail to apply them.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Awareness-raising is one of the preconditions for the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Since accessibility is often viewed narrowly, as accessibility to the built environment (which is significant, but only one aspect of access for persons with disabilities), States parties should strive systematically and continuously to raise awareness about accessibility among all relevant stakeholders. The all-encompassing nature of accessibility should be addressed, providing for access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services. Awareness-raising should also stress that the duty to observe accessibility standards applies equally to the public and to the private sector. It should promote the application of universal design and the idea that designing and building in an accessible way from the earliest stages is cost-effective and economical. Awareness-raising should be carried out in cooperation with persons with disabilities, their representative organizations and technical experts. Special attention should be paid to capacity-building for the application and monitoring of the implementation of accessibility standards. The media should not only take into account the accessibility of their own programmes and services for persons with disabilities, but should also take an active role in promoting accessibility and contributing to awareness-raising.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Some persons with disabilities only seek recognition of their right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others, as provided for in article 12, paragraph 2, of the Convention, and may not wish to exercise their right to support, as provided for in article 12, paragraph 3.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In order to fully recognize "universal legal capacity", whereby all persons, regardless of disability or decision-making skills, inherently possess legal capacity, States parties must abolish denials of legal capacity that are discriminatory on the basis of disability in purpose or effect.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In its concluding observations on States parties' initial reports, in relation to article 12, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has repeatedly stated that States parties must "review the laws allowing for guardianship and trusteeship, and take action to develop laws and policies to replace regimes of substitute decision-making by supported decision-making, which respects the person's autonomy, will and preferences".
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 46e
- Paragraph text
- [Article 30, paragraph 5, of the Convention provides that, in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States parties shall take appropriate measures:] To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to services from those involved in the organization of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls, can be disproportionately affected by violence and abuse, including physical and humiliating punishments by educational personnel, for example, the use of restraints and seclusion, and bullying by others in and on route to school. Article 16 requires that States parties take all appropriate measures to protect from and prevent all forms of violence and abuse towards persons with disabilities, including sexual violence. Such measures must be age, gender and disability sensitive. The Committee strongly endorses the recommendations of the CRC, the Human Rights Committee and CESCR that States parties must prohibit all forms of corporal punishment, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in all settings, including schools, and ensure effective sanctions against perpetrators. It encourages schools and other educational centers to involve students, including students with disabilities, in the development of policies, including accessible protection mechanisms, to address disciplinary measures and bullying, including cyberbullying, which is increasingly recognized as a growing feature of the lives of students, particularly children.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Document code
- CRPD/C/GC/1
Document
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The Committee highlights the importance of recognising the differences between exclusion, segregation, integration and inclusion. Exclusion occurs when students are directly or indirectly prevented from or denied access to education in any form. Segregation occurs when the education of students with disabilities is provided in separate environments designed or used to respond to a particular or various impairments, in isolation from students without disabilities. Integration is a process of placing persons with disabilities in existing mainstream educational institutions, as long as the former can adjust to the standardized requirements of such institutions. Inclusion involves a process of systemic reform embodying changes and modifications in content, teaching methods, approaches, structures and strategies in education to overcome barriers with a vision serving to provide all students of the relevant age range with an equitable and participatory learning experience and environment that best corresponds to their requirements and preferences. Placing students with disabilities within mainstream classes without accompanying structural changes to, for example, organisation, curriculum and teaching and learning strategies, does not constitute inclusion. Furthermore, integration does not automatically guarantee the transition from segregation to inclusion.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Article 24, paragraph 1 (a) reiterates the aims of education in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the CRC, that education must be directed to the full development of the human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, strengthening of respect for human rights and human diversity.States parties must ensure that education conforms to the aims and objectives of ICESCR as interpreted in the light of the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990) (art. 1), the CRC (art. 29 (1)), the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part I, para. 33 and Part II, para. 80), and the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (para. 2). These include additional elements such as references to gender equality and respect for the environment. The right to education is a matter of access as well as content, and should be directed to a wide range of values, including understanding and tolerance. Inclusive education must aim at promoting mutual respect and value for all persons and at building educational environments in which the approach to learning, the culture of the educational institution, and the curriculum itself, reflect the value of diversity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Any support measures provided must be compliant with the goal of inclusion. Accordingly, they must be designed to strengthen opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in the classroom and in out-of-school activities alongside their peers, rather than marginalise them.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that contributions from its half day of general discussion on women and girls with disabilities which took place during its 9th session in April 2013, highlighted a range of topics and identified three main subjects of concern with respect to the protection of their human rights: (1) violence, (2) sexual and reproductive health and rights and (3) discrimination. Furthermore, concluding observations issued by this Committee to date on women with disabilities express concern about: the prevalence of multiple discrimination and intersectional discrimination against women with disabilities , on account of their gender, disability and other factors which are not sufficiently addressed in legislation and policies ; the right to life , equal recognition before the law , the persistence of violence against women and girls with disabilities , including sexual violence and abuse , forced sterilization , female genital mutilation , sexual and economic exploitation ; institutionalization , the lack of or insufficient participation of women with disabilities in decision-making processes in public and political life ; the lack of inclusion of a gender perspective in disability policies , the lack of a disability rights perspective in gender policies ; and the lack of or insufficient specific measures to promote the education and employment of women with disabilities .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Besides the general barriers which persons with disabilities face when trying to exercise their right to work, women with disabilities also face unique barriers to their equal participation in the workplace, including sexual harrassment and unequal pay and the lack of access to seek redress because of discriminatory attitudes dismissing their claims, as well as physical, information and communication barriers .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The voices of women and girls with disabilities have historically been silenced and thus women and girls with disabilities are disproportionately underrepresented in public decision-making. Due to power imbalances and multiple forms of discrimination, they have had fewer opportunities to establish or join organizations that can represent their needs as women, children and persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- In its examination of States parties' reports, the Committee has identified that States parties face a number of consistent challenges to guarantee to women with disabilities the full enjoyment of all their rights without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, in compliance with article 6 and other related articles of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Legal capacity is an inherent right accorded to all people, including persons with disabilities. As noted above, it consists of two strands. The first is legal standing to hold rights and to be recognized as a legal person before the law. This may include, for example, having a birth certificate, seeking medical assistance, registering to be on the electoral role or applying for a passport. The second is legal agency to act on those rights and to have those actions recognized by the law. It is this component that is frequently denied or diminished for persons with disabilities. For example, laws may allow persons with disabilities to own property, but may not always respect the actions taken by them in terms of buying and selling property. Legal capacity means that all people, including persons with disabilities, have legal standing and legal agency simply by virtue of being human. Therefore, both strands of legal capacity must be recognized for the right to legal capacity to be fulfilled; they cannot be separated. The concept of mental capacity is highly controversial in and of itself. Mental capacity is not, as is commonly presented, an objective, scientific and naturally occurring phenomenon. Mental capacity is contingent on social and political contexts, as are the disciplines, professions and practices which play a dominant role in assessing mental capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Article 8 calls for measures to raise awareness and challenge stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices regarding persons with disabilities, particularly targeting those affecting women and girls with disabilities and persons with intellectual disabilities and intensive support requirements. These barriers impede both access to, and effective learning within the education system. The Committee notes the practice of some parents of children without disabilities removing their children from inclusive schools, based on lack of awareness and understanding of the nature of disability. States parties must adopt measures to build a culture of diversity, participation and involvement into community life and to highlight inclusive education as a means to achieve a quality education for all students, with and without disabilities, parents, teachers and school administrations, as well as the community and society. States parties must ensure that mechanisms are in place to foster, at all levels of the education system, and among parents and the wider public, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities. Civil society, in particular OPDs, should be involved in all awareness raising activities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17e
- Paragraph text
- Structural or systemic discrimination are hidden or overt patterns of discriminatory institutional behaviour, discriminatory cultural traditions, social norms and/or rules. Harmful gender and disability stereotyping can lead to such discrimination, inextricably linked to a lack of policies, regulation and service provision specifically for women with disabilities. For example, due to stereotyping based on the intersection of gender and disability, women with disabilities may face barriers when reporting violence, such as disbelief and dismissal by police, prosecutors and courts. Likewise, harmful practices are strongly connected to and reinforce socially constructed gender roles and power relations that can reflect negative perceptions of, or discriminatory beliefs regarding women with disabilities, such as the belief that men with HIV/AIDS can be cured by engaging in sexual intercourse with women with disabilities . The lack of awareness training and policies to prevent harmful stereotyping of women with disabilities by public officials, be it teachers, health service providers, police officers, prosecutors, judges,. and the public at large can often lead to individual instances of violations of rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
- Document code
- CRPD/C/GC/2
Document
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4f
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] inappropriate and inadequate funding mechanisms to provide incentives and reasonable accommodations for inclusion of students with disabilities, inter-ministerial coordination, support and sustainability;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12f
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Learning-friendly environment: Inclusive learning environments must create an accessible environment where everyone feels safe, supported, stimulated and able to express themselves, with a strong emphasis on involving students themselves in building a positive school community. Recognition is afforded to the peer group in learning, building positive relationships, friendships and acceptance.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Regarding article 24, paragraph 3, many States parties are failing to make appropriate provision for persons with disabilities, particularly persons on the autism spectrum, those with communication impairments and with sensory disabilities, to acquire the life, language and social skills essential for participation in education and within their communities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34a
- Paragraph text
- Blind and partially sighted students must be provided with opportunities to learn Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, as well as orientation and mobility skills. Investment in access to appropriate technology and alternative communication systems to facilitate learning should be supported. Peer support and mentoring schemes should be introduced and encouraged.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Article 25 (c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights enshrines the right of every citizen to have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his or her country. The provisions of this article could serve as a basis to incorporate the right of access into the core human rights treaties.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Women with disabilities are exposed to compounded stereotypes that can be particularly harmful. Disability and gender stereotypes applying to women with disabilities include, but are not limited to: being burdensome to others (that they must be cared for, are a cause of hardship, an affliction, a responsibility, require protection), vulnerable (defenceless, unsafe, dependent, reliant, unsafe) and/or victims (suffering, passive, helpless), inferior (inability, inadequacy, weak, worthless); have a sexual abnormality (for example, women with disabilities are stereotyped as asexual, inactive, overactive, incapable, sexually perverse), being mystical or sinister (stereotyped as cursed, possessed by spirits, practitioners of witchcraft, as being good or bad luck, harmful). Gender and/or disability stereotyping is the practice of ascribing to a specific individual a stereotypical belief, and it is wrongful when it results in a violation or violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. An example of this is the failure of the justice system to hold the perpetrator of sexual violence against a woman with disability accountable based on stereotypical views about her sexuality or on her credibility as a witness.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women provides for women's legal capacity on an equal basis with men, thereby acknowledging that recognition of legal capacity is integral to equal recognition before the law: "States parties shall accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity. In particular, they shall give women equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property and shall treat them equally in all stages of procedure in courts and tribunals" (para. 2). This provision applies to all women, including women with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes that women with disabilities may be subject to multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination based on gender and disability. For example, women with disabilities are subjected to high rates of forced sterilization, and are often denied control of their reproductive health and decision-making, the assumption being that they are not capable of consenting to sex. Certain jurisdictions also have higher rates of imposing substitute decision-makers on women than on men. Therefore, it is particularly important to reaffirm that the legal capacity of women with disabilities should be recognized on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4e
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] lack of political will, technical knowledge, and capacity in implementing the right to inclusive education including insufficient education of all teaching staff;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- States parties, at every level, must implement or introduce legislation, based on the human rights model of disability that fully complies with article 24. The Committee recalls that article 4 (5) requires federal states to ensure that article 24 is implemented without limitations or exceptions in all parts of the State party.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Article 4.2 requires that States parties undertake measures to the maximum of their available resources regarding economic, social and cultural rights, and, where needed, within a framework of international cooperation, with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation of those rights. Progressive realization means that States parties have a specific and continuing obligation "to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible" towards the full realization of article 24. This is not compatible with sustaining two systems of education: mainstream and special/segregated education systems. Progressive realization must be read according to the overall objective of the Convention to establish clear obligations for States parties in respect of the full realization of the rights in question. Similarly, States parties are encouraged to redefine budgetary allocations for education, including transferring budgets to develop inclusive education. Any deliberately retrogressive measures in that regard must not disproportionately target learners with disabilities at any level of education. They must be only a temporary measure limited to the period of crisis, be necessary and proportionate, not be discriminatory and comprise all possible measures to mitigate inequalities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Attitudinal barriers by health care staff and related personnel may result in refusal of access of women with disabilities to healthcare practitioners and/or services, especially women with psychosocial or intellectual impairments, deaf and deafblind women, and women that are still institutionalized .
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Article 12, paragraph 1, reaffirms the right of persons with disabilities to be recognized as persons before the law. This guarantees that every human being is respected as a person possessing legal personality, which is a prerequisite for the recognition of a person's legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- Document code
- CRPD/C/GC/4
Document
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Non-discrimination includes the right to reasonable accommodation in the exercise of legal capacity (art. 5, para. 3). Reasonable accommodation is defined in article 2 of the Convention as "necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms". The right to reasonable accommodation in the exercise of legal capacity is separate from, and complementary to, the right to support in the exercise of legal capacity. States parties are required to make any necessary modifications or adjustments to allow persons with disabilities to exercise their legal capacity, unless it is a disproportionate or undue burden. Such modifications or adjustments may include, but are not limited to, access to essential buildings such as courts, banks, social benefit offices and voting venues; accessible information regarding decisions which have legal effect; and personal assistance. The right to support in the exercise of legal capacity shall not be limited by the claim of disproportionate or undue burden. The State has an absolute obligation to provide access to support in the exercise of legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29d
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] Legal recognition of the support person(s) formally chosen by a person must be available and accessible, and States have an obligation to facilitate the creation of support, particularly for people who are isolated and may not have access to naturally occurring support in the community. This must include a mechanism for third parties to verify the identity of a support person as well as a mechanism for third parties to challenge the action of a support person if they believe that the support person is not acting in accordance with the will and preferences of the person concerned;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- To achieve equal recognition before the law, legal capacity must not be denied discriminatorily. Article 5 of the Convention guarantees equality for all persons under and before the law and the right to equal protection of the law. It expressly prohibits all discrimination on the basis of disability. Discrimination on the basis of disability is defined in article 2 of the Convention as "any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms". Denial of legal capacity having the purpose or effect of interfering with the right of persons with disabilities to equal recognition before the law is a violation of articles 5 and 12 of the Convention. States have the ability to restrict the legal capacity of a person based on certain circumstances, such as bankruptcy or criminal conviction. However, the right to equal recognition before the law and freedom from discrimination requires that when the State denies legal capacity, it must be on the same basis for all persons. Denial of legal capacity must not be based on a personal trait such as gender, race, or disability, or have the purpose or effect of treating the person differently.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The General Comment is applicable to all persons with actual or perceived disabilities. The Committee recognizes that some groups are more at risk of exclusion from education than others, such as: persons with intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities, persons who are deafblind, persons with autism or persons with disabilities in humanitarian emergencies.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 10a
- Paragraph text
- [Inclusive education is to be understood as:] A fundamental human right of all learners. Notably, education is the right of the individual learner, and not, in the case of children, the right of a parent or caregiver. Parental responsibilities in this regard are subordinate to the rights of the child.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 10d
- Paragraph text
- [Inclusive education is to be understood as:] the result of a process of continuing and pro-active commitment to eliminate barriers impeding the right to education, together with changes to culture, policy and practice of regular schools to accommodate and effectively include all students.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Acts of violence, exploitation and/or abuse against women with disabilities that violate article 16 includes, but is not limited to: women who aquire a disability as a consequence of violence, physical force; economic coercion; trafficking, deception; misinformation; abandonment; the absence of free and informed consent and legal compulsion; neglect, including the withholding or denying access to medication; removing or controlling communication aids or refusal of assistance to communicate; denying personal mobility and accessibility such as removing or destroying accessibility features such as ramps, or assistive devices such as a white cane or mobility devices such as a wheelchair, refusal of caregivers to assist with daily living such as bathing, menstrual and/or sanitation management, dressing and eating, thus denying the right to live independently and freedom from degrading treatment; denial of food or water, or threat of any of these acts; bullying, verbal abuse and ridicule on the grounds of disability causing fear by intimidation; harming or threatening to harm, removing or killing pets or assistance dogs, or destroying objects; psychological manipulation; and controlling behaviours involving restricting face-to-face or virtual access to family, friends or others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Article 7 asserts that, in all actions, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. The best interests is a concept aimed at ensuring the full and effective enjoyment by the child of all human rights and the child's holistic development. Any determination of the best interests of a child with a disability must consider the child's own views and individual identity, the preservation of the family, care, protection and safety of the child, any particular vulnerability, and the child's right to health and education. The CRC has affirmed that the best interests of the child must be the basis on which education policies and provision are determined. Article 7 further asserts that children with disabilities have the right to express their views and the latter be given due weight on all matters affecting them, according to their age and maturity on an equal basis with other children, and that they must be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance. Guaranteeing the right of children to participate in their education must be applied equally to children with disabilities - in their own learning and individualized education plans, within the classroom pedagogy, through schools councils, in the development of school policies and systems, and in the development of wider educational policy.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Inclusive education requires recognition of the right of persons with disabilities to live within the community and enjoy inclusion and participation in the community (article 19). It also demands recognition of the equal right of persons with disabilities to family life, or, failing that, to alternative care within a community setting. Children in the care of the State party, residing for example in foster care or care homes, must be ensured the right to inclusive education and the right to appeal against decisions of the State party which deny them the right to inclusive education. Too many persons with disabilities remain living in long-term institutional care, lacking access to community-based services, including education, consistent with their right to, inter alia, family life, community living, freedom of association, protection from violence and access to justice. The introduction of inclusive education in the local community must take place alongside a strategic commitment to the ending of institutions for persons with disabilities (see para 64). States parties should note the role that exercising the right to inclusive education will play in building the strengths, skills and competencies necessary for all persons with disabilities to enjoy, benefit from and contribute to their local communities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- States parties shall take appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential (art. 30, para. 2). "States parties shall take all appropriate steps, in accordance with international law, to ensure that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials" (art. 30, para. 3). The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled of the World Intellectual Property Organization, adopted in June 2013, should ensure access to cultural material without unreasonable or discriminatory barriers for persons with disabilities, including people with disabilities living abroad or as a member of a minority in another country and who speak or use the same language or means of communication, especially those facing challenges accessing classic print materials. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides that persons with disabilities are entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity. Article 30, paragraph 4, stresses the recognition of and support for sign languages and deaf culture.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 46c
- Paragraph text
- [Article 30, paragraph 5, of the Convention provides that, in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States parties shall take appropriate measures:] To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 46d
- Paragraph text
- [Article 30, paragraph 5, of the Convention provides that, in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States parties shall take appropriate measures:] To ensure that children with disabilities have equal access with other children to participation in play, recreation and leisure and sporting activities, including those activities in the school system;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- International cooperation, as described in article 32 of the Convention, should be a significant tool in the promotion of accessibility and universal design. The Committee recommends that international development agencies recognize the significance of supporting projects aimed at improving ICT and other access infrastructure. All new investments made within the framework of international cooperation should be used to encourage the removal of existing barriers and prevent the creation of new barriers. It is unacceptable to use public funds to perpetuate new inequalities. All new objects, infrastructure, facilities, goods, products and services must be fully accessible for all persons with disabilities. International cooperation should be used not merely to invest in accessible goods, products and services, but also to foster the exchange of know-how and information on good practice in achieving accessibility in ways that will make tangible changes that can improve the lives of millions of persons with disabilities worldwide. International cooperation on standardization is also important, as is the fact that organizations of persons with disabilities must be supported so that they can participate in national and international processes to develop, implement and monitor accessibility standards. Accessibility must be an integral part of any sustainable development effort, especially in the context of the post-2015 development agenda.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- This general comment focuses primarily on the normative content of article 12 and the State obligations that emerge therefrom. The Committee will continue to carry out work in this area so as to provide further in-depth guidance on the rights and obligations deriving from article 12 in future concluding observations, general comments and other documents.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29g
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] The person must have the right to refuse support and terminate or change the support relationship at any time;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29h
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] Safeguards must be set up for all processes relating to legal capacity and support in exercising legal capacity. The goal of safeguards is to ensure that the person's will and preferences are respected.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 29i
- Paragraph text
- [A supported decision-making regime comprises various support options which give primacy to a person's will and preferences and respect human rights norms. It should provide protection for all rights, including those related to autonomy (right to legal capacity, right to equal recognition before the law, right to choose where to live, etc.) and rights related to freedom from abuse and ill-treatment (right to life, right to physical integrity, etc.). Furthermore, systems of supported decision-making should not over-regulate the lives of persons with disabilities. While supported decision-making regimes can take many forms, they should all incorporate certain key provisions to ensure compliance with article 12 of the Convention, including the following:] The provision of support to exercise legal capacity should not hinge on mental capacity assessments; new, non-discriminatory indicators of support needs are required in the provision of support to exercise legal capacity.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 50a
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, States parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:] Recognize persons with disabilities as persons before the law, having legal personality and legal capacity in all aspects of life, on an equal basis with others. This requires the abolition of substitute decision-making regimes and mechanisms that deny legal capacity and which discriminate in purpose or effect against persons with disabilities. It is recommended that States parties create statutory language protecting the right to legal capacity on an equal basis for all;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The right to inclusive education encompasses a transformation in culture, policy and practice in all formal and informal educational environments to accommodate the differing requirements and identities of individual students, together with a commitment to remove the barriers that impede that possibility. It involves strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners. It focuses on the full and effective participation, accessibility, attendance and achievement of all students, especially those who, for different reasons, are excluded or at risk of being marginalized. Inclusion involves access to and progress in high-quality formal and informal education without discrimination. It seeks to enable communities, systems and structures to combat discrimination, including harmful stereotypes, recognize diversity, promote participation and overcome barriers to learning and participation for all by focusing on well-being and success of students with disabilities. It requires an in-depth transformation of education systems in legislation, policy, and the mechanisms for financing, administration, design, delivery and monitoring of education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2 (a) prohibits the exclusion of persons with disabilities from the general education system, including any legislative or regulatory provisions that limit their inclusion on the basis of their impairment or its "degree", such as by conditioning their inclusion "to the extent of the potential of the individual", or by alleging a disproportionate and undue burden to evade the obligation to provide reasonable accommodation. General education means all regular learning environments and the education department. Direct exclusion would be to classify certain students as 'non-educable', and thereby ineligible for access to education. Non-direct exclusion would be the requirement to pass a common test as a condition for school entry without reasonable accommodations and support. In line with Article 4 (b), all legislation and policy must be reviewed to ensure that it is not discriminatory for persons with disabilities and in violation of Article 24, and where necessary repealed or amended in a systematic and time-bound manner.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility - consistent with article 9 of the Convention, and with the Committee's General Comment No. 2, educational institutions and programmes must be accessible to everyone, without discrimination. The entire education system must be accessible, including buildings, information and communication, comprising ambient or frequency modulation assistive systems, curriculum, education materials, teaching methods, assessment and language and support services. The environment of students with disabilities must be designed to foster inclusion and guarantee their equality throughout their education, for example, school transport, which should be inclusive, accessible and safe; water and sanitation facilities, including hygiene and toilet facilities; school cafeterias; and recreational spaces. States parties must commit to the prompt introduction of Universal Design. States parties should prohibit and sanction the building of any future education infrastructures that are inaccessible, together with establishing an efficient monitoring mechanism and time frame for all existing education environments to be rendered accessible. States parties must also commit to the provision of reasonable accommodation in educational environments when so required. The Universal Design approach does not exclude the provision of assistive devices, applications, and software to those learners with disabilities who may require them. Accessibility is a dynamic concept and its application requires periodic regulatory and technical adjustments. States parties must ensure that the rapid development of innovations and new technologies designed to enhance learning are accessible to all students, including those with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Accessibility requires that education at all levels be affordable for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodation should not entail additional costs for learners with disabilities. Compulsory, quality, free and accessible primary education is an immediate obligation. In line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, States parties must progressively adopt measures to ensure that all children, including children with disabilities, complete free, equitable and quality secondary education, and to ensure equal access for all women and men with disabilities to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university, and life-long learning. States parties must ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access education in both public and private academic institutions on an equal basis with others.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- States parties must invest in and support the recruitment and continuous education of teachers with disabilities. This includes removing any legislative or policy barriers requiring candidates to fulfil specific medical eligibility criteria, and the provision of reasonable accommodations for their participation as teachers. Their presence will serve to promote equal rights for persons with disabilities to enter the teaching profession, bring unique expertise and skills into learning environments, contribute to breaking down barriers and serve as important role models.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2 (d) affirms that students with disabilities are entitled to the support they require to facilitate their effective education and enable them to fulfil their potential on an equal basis with others. Support in terms of general availability of services and facilities within the education system should ensure that students with disabilities are able to fulfil their potential to the maximum extent possible, including, for example, the provision of sufficient trained and supported teaching staff, school counsellors, psychologists, and other relevant health and social service professionals, as well as access to scholarships and financial resources.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 2 (e) requires that adequate continuous personalised support is provided directly. The Committee emphasizes the necessity for the provision of individualised education plans, which can identify the reasonable accommodations and specific support required for an individual student, including the provision of assistive compensatory aids, specific learning materials in alternative/accessible formats, modes and means of communication, and communication aids and assistive and information technology. Support can also consist of a qualified learning support assistant, either shared or on a one-to-one basis, depending on the requirements of the student. Individualized education plans must address the transitions experienced by the learners from segregated settings and between levels of education. Effectiveness of these plans should be regularly monitored and evaluated with the direct involvement of the learner concerned. The nature of provision must be determined in collaboration with the student, together, where appropriate, with the parents or caregivers/third parties. The learner must have access to recourse mechanisms if the support is unavailable or inadequate.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61e
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] A requirement for all new schools to be designed and built following the principle of Universal Design through accessibility standards, together with a time frame for adaptation of existing schools in line with the Committee's general comment No. 2 (CRPD/C/GC/2). The use of public procurement to implement this element is encouraged.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34c
- Paragraph text
- Students who are blind, deaf or deafblind must be provided with education delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize personal, academic and social development both within and outside formal school settings. The Committee emphasises that for such inclusive environments to occur, States parties should provide the required support, including by way of resources, assisted technology, and provision of orientation and mobility skills.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34d
- Paragraph text
- Learners with communication impairments must be provided with the opportunity to express themselves and learn using alternative or augmentative communication. This may include but is not limited to provision of sign language, low or high tech communication aids such as tablets with speech output, voice output communication aids (VOCAS) or communication books. States parties should invest in developing expertise, technology and services in order to promote access to appropriate technology and alternative communication systems to facilitate learning.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- For inclusive education to be realised effectively, persons with disabilities must be guaranteed personal mobility on an independent basis (article 20). Where transportation is not readily available, and where no personal assistants are available to support access to educational institutions, persons with disabilities, particularly blind and visually impaired persons, must be given adequate training in mobility skills to promote greater independence. States parties should also provide persons with disabilities with the opportunity to acquire mobility aids and appliances at affordable cost.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61c
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] A substantive right to inclusive education as a key element of the legislative framework. Provisions, for example, which define certain categories of students as 'uneducable' must be repealed.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61k
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] An obligation on local authorities to plan and provide for all learners, including persons with disabilities, within inclusive settings and classes, including in the most appropriate languages, accessible formats, modes and means of communication.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61l
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Establishment of legislation to guarantee all persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, the right to be heard and their opinion given consideration within the education system, including through school councils, governing bodies, local and national government, as well as mechanisms through which to challenge and to appeal decisions concerning education.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 61m
- Paragraph text
- [A comprehensive and co-ordinated legislative and policy framework for inclusive education must be introduced, together with a clear and adequate time frame for implementation and sanctions for violations. It must address issues of flexibility, diversity and equality in all educational institutions for all learners, and identify responsibilities at all levels of government. Key elements will include:] Creation of partnerships and coordination between all stakeholders, including persons with disabilities through OPDs, different agencies, development organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and with parents/caregivers.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Legislation must be supported by an Education Sector Plan, developed in consultation with OPDs, including children, and detailing the process for the implementation of an inclusive education system. It should contain a timeframe and measurable goals, including measures to ensure consistency. The Plan should be informed by a comprehensive analysis of the current context pertaining to inclusive education in order to provide a baseline from which to progress, including data on, for example, current budgetary allocations, quality of data collection, numbers of children with disabilities out of school, challenges and barriers, existing laws and policies, key concerns of both persons with disabilities, families and the State party.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- States parties must introduce independent, effective, accessible, transparent, safe and enforceable complaints mechanisms and legal remedies in cases of violations of the right to education. Persons with disabilities must have access to justice systems which understand how to accommodate persons with disabilities and are capable of addressing disability-based claims. States parties must also ensure that information about the right to education itself, and how to challenge denial or violations must be widely disseminated and publicized to persons with disabilities, with the involvement of OPDs.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to protect means that States parties have to ensure that the rights of women with disabilities are not infringed upon by third parties. Thus, States parties must take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex and/or impairment by any person, organization or private enterprise. It also includes the duty to exercise due diligence through preventing violence or violations of human rights, protecting victims and witnesses from violations, investigating, prosecuting and punishing those responsible, including private actors, and providing access to redress and reparations where human rights violations occur . For example, promoting the training of professionals in the justice sector to ensure there are effective remedies for women with disabilities who have been subjected to violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The obligation to fulfil imposes an ongoing and dynamic duty to adopt and apply the measures needed to secure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities. States parties must adopt a twin track approach through: a) systematically mainstreaming the interests and rights of women and girls with disabilities across all national action plans, strategies and policies concerning women, chilhood and disability as well as in sectoral plans concerning, for example: gender equality, health, violence, education, political participation, employment, access to justice and social protection; and b) targeted and monitored action aimed specifically at women with disabilities. A twin track approach is an essential pre-cursor to reducing inequality with regard to participation and enjoyment of rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a iii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Addressing all barriers that prevent or restrict the participation of women with disabilities and ensuring that women with disabilities as well as the views and opinions of girls with disabilities, through their representative organizations, are included in the design, implementation and monitoring of all programmes which have an impact on their lives; including women with disabilities in all branches and bodies of the national monitoring system.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a iv
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Collecting and analysing data on the situation of women with disabilities in all areas relevant to them in consultation with organizations of women with disabilities with a view to guiding policy planning for the implementation of article 6, and eliminating all forms of discrimination, especially multiple and intersectional discrimination and improving data collection systems for adequate monitoring and evaluation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62a v
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Combat multiple discrimination through inter alia: Ensuring that all international cooperation is disability and gender sensitive and inclusive, and including data and statistics on women with disabilities in the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, targets and indicators, as well as other international frameworks.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b i
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Repealing any law or policy that restricts women with disabilities from their effective and full participation in political and public life on an equal basis with others, including the right to form and join organizations and networks of women in general, and of women with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b ii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: The adoption of affirmative action measures for the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities, in consultation with organizations of women with disabilities, aiming to immediately address inequalities and to ensure that women with disabilities have equality of opportunity with others. Such measures should be adopted particularly regarding access to justice, the elimination of violence, respect for home and the family, sexual health and reproductive rights, health, education, employment, and social protection. States parties should ensure that public and private services and facilities used by women with disabilities are fully accessible in compliance with article 9 and in line with General comment on article 9, and that public and private service providers are trained and educated to provide appropriate attention, support and assistance to women with disabilities, on applicable human rights standards, and on identifying and combating discriminatory norms and values; the adoption of effective measures to provide women with disabilities access to the support they may require to exercise their legal capacity, in line with General comment on article 12, to give their free and informed consent and to take decisions about their own lives.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 62b iii
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, State parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, providing adequate resources in this regard:] Take all appropriate measures to ensure the development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities through, inter alia: Support and promotion of the creation of organizations and networks of women with disabilities and the promotion and support for women with disabilities to take leadership roles in public decision-making bodies at all levels.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 4d
- Paragraph text
- [Barriers that impede access to inclusive education for persons with disabilities can be attributed to multiple factors, including:] lack of disaggregated data and research, necessary for accountability and program development, impeding the development of effective policies and interventions to promote inclusive and quality education;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 12a
- Paragraph text
- [The core features of inclusive education are:] Whole systems approach: education ministries must ensure that all resources are invested toward advancing inclusive education, and toward introducing and embedding the necessary changes in institutional culture, policies and practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17c
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination by association applies where discrimination can occur based on association with a person with a disability. For example often the association is made for women in a caregiver role. For example, a mother of a child with a disability may be discriminated against by a potential employer due to the fear of the employer that she will be a less engaged/available worker because of her child.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Article 6 paragraph 2 addresses the development, advancement and empowerment of women. It assumes that women can be ensured the rights designated in the Convention if States parties strive to achieve and promote these goals with appropriate means, and in all of the fields addressed by the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 34e
- Paragraph text
- Learners with social communication difficulties must be supported through adaptions to classroom organisation, including working in pairs, peer tutoring, seating close to the teacher and the creation of a structured and predictable environment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Article 9, paragraph 2, stipulates the measures States parties must take in order to develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum national standards for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public. Those standards shall be in accordance with the standards of other States parties in order to ensure interoperability with regard to free movement within the framework of liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18) of persons with disabilities. States parties are also required to take measures to ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services that are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities (art. 9, para. 2 (b)).
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Movement and orientation in buildings and other places open to the public can be a challenge for some persons with disabilities if there is no adequate signage, accessible information and communication or support services. Article 9, paragraph 2 (d) and (e), therefore provides that buildings and other places open to the public should have signage in Braille and in easy-to-read and understand forms, and that live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign-language interpreters should be provided to facilitate accessibility. Without such signage, accessible information and communication and support services, orientation and movement in and through buildings may become impossible for many persons with disabilities, especially those experiencing cognitive fatigue.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 of the Convention clearly enshrines accessibility as the precondition for persons with disabilities to live independently, participate fully and equally in society, and have unrestricted enjoyment of all their human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others. Article 9 has roots in existing human rights treaties, such as article 25 (c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the right to equal access to public service, and article 5 (f) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on the right of access to any place or service intended for public use. When those two core human rights treaties were adopted, the Internet, which has changed the world dramatically, did not exist. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the first human rights treaty of the 21st century to address access to ICTs; and it does not create new rights in that regard for persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the notion of equality in international law has also changed over the past decades, with the conceptual shift from formal equality to substantive equality having an impact on the duties of States parties. States' obligation to provide accessibility is an essential part of the new duty to respect, protect and fulfil equality rights. Accessibility should therefore be considered in the context of the right to access from the specific perspective of disability. The right to access for persons with disabilities is ensured through strict implementation of accessibility standards. Barriers to access to existing objects, facilities, goods and services aimed at or open to the public shall be removed gradually in a systematic and, more importantly, continuously monitored manner, with the aim of achieving full accessibility.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The strict application of universal design to all new goods, products, facilities, technologies and services should ensure full, equal and unrestricted access for all potential consumers, including persons with disabilities, in a way that takes full account of their inherent dignity and diversity. It should contribute to the creation of an unrestricted chain of movement for an individual from one space to another, including movement inside particular spaces, with no barriers. Persons with disabilities and other users should be able to move in barrier-free streets, enter accessible low-floor vehicles, access information and communication, and enter and move inside universally designed buildings, using technical aids and live assistance where necessary. The application of universal design does not automatically eliminate the need for technical aids. Its application to a building from the initial design stage helps to make construction much less costly: making a building accessible from the outset might not increase the total cost of construction at all in many cases, or only minimally in some cases. On the other hand, the cost of subsequent adaptations in order to make a building accessible may be considerable in some cases, especially with regard to certain historical buildings. While the initial application of universal design is more economical, the potential cost of subsequent removal of barriers may not be used as an excuse to avoid the obligation to remove barriers to accessibility gradually. Accessibility of information and communication, including ICT, should also be achieved from the outset because subsequent adaptations to the Internet and ICT may increase costs. It is therefore more economical to incorporate mandatory ICT accessibility features from the earliest stages of design and production.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The application of universal design makes society accessible for all human beings, not only persons with disabilities. It is also significant that article 9 explicitly imposes on States parties the duty to ensure accessibility in both urban and rural areas. Evidence has shown that accessibility is usually better in bigger cities than in remote, less developed rural areas, although extensive urbanization can sometimes also create additional new barriers that prevent access for persons with disabilities, in particular to the built environment, transport and services, as well as more sophisticated information and communication services in heavily populated, bustling urban areas. In both urban and rural areas, access should be available for persons with disabilities to the natural and heritage parts of the physical environment that the public can enter and enjoy.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- It is helpful to mainstream accessibility standards that prescribe various areas that have to be accessible, such as the physical environment in laws on construction and planning, transportation in laws on public aerial, railway, road and water transport, information and communication, and services open to the public. However, accessibility should be encompassed in general and specific laws on equal opportunities, equality and participation in the context of the prohibition of disability-based discrimination. Denial of access should be clearly defined as a prohibited act of discrimination. Persons with disabilities who have been denied access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, or services open to the public should have effective legal remedies at their disposal. When defining accessibility standards, States parties have to take into account the diversity of persons with disabilities and ensure that accessibility is provided to persons of any gender and of all ages and types of disability. Part of the task of encompassing the diversity of persons with disabilities in the provision of accessibility is recognizing that some persons with disabilities need human or animal assistance in order to enjoy full accessibility (such as personal assistance, sign language interpretation, tactile sign language interpretation or guide dogs). It must be stipulated, for example, that banning guide dogs from entering a particular building or open space would constitute a prohibited act of disability-based discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- It is necessary to establish minimum standards for the accessibility of different services provided by public and private enterprises for persons with different types of impairments. Reference tools such as the ITU-T recommendation Telecommunications Accessibility Checklist for standardization activities (2006) and the Telecommunications accessibility guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities (ITU-T recommendation F.790) should be mainstreamed whenever a new ICT-related standard is developed. That would allow the generalization of universal design in the development of standards. States parties should establish a legislative framework with specific, enforceable, time-bound benchmarks for monitoring and assessing the gradual modification and adjustment by private entities of their previously inaccessible services into accessible ones. States parties should also ensure that all newly procured goods and services are fully accessible for persons with disabilities. Minimum standards must be developed in close consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 3, of the Convention. The standards can also be developed in collaboration with other States parties and international organizations and agencies through international cooperation, in accordance with article 32 of the Convention. States parties are encouraged to join ITU study groups in the radiocommunication, standardization and development sectors of the Union, which actively work at mainstreaming accessibility in the development of international telecommunications and ICT standards and at raising industry's and governments' awareness of the need to increase access to ICT for persons with disabilities. Such cooperation can be useful in developing and promoting international standards that contribute to the interoperability of goods and services. In the field of communication-related services, States parties must ensure at least a minimum quality of services, especially for the relatively new types of services, such as personal assistance, sign language interpretation and tactile signing, aiming at their standardization.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 31b
- Paragraph text
- [When reviewing their accessibility legislation, States parties must consider and, where necessary, amend their laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. As a minimum, the following situations in which lack of accessibility has prevented a person with disabilities from accessing a service or facility open to the public should be considered as prohibited acts of disability-based discrimination:] Where access could have been granted to the facility or service (when it came into existence) through reasonable accommodation.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- As part of their review of accessibility legislation, States parties must also consider their laws on public procurement to ensure that their public procurement procedures incorporate accessibility requirements. It is unacceptable to use public funds to create or perpetuate the inequality that inevitably results from inaccessible services and facilities. Public procurements should be used to implement affirmative action in line with the provisions of article 5, paragraph 4, of the Convention in order to ensure accessibility and de facto equality for persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Without accessible transport to schools, accessible school buildings, and accessible information and communication, persons with disabilities would not have the opportunity to exercise their right to education (art. 24 of the Convention). Thus schools have to be accessible, as is explicitly indicated in article 9, paragraph 1 (a), of the Convention. However, it is the entire process of inclusive education that must be accessible, not just buildings, but all information and communication, including ambient or FM assistive systems, support services and reasonable accommodation in schools. In order to foster accessibility, education as well as the content of school curricula should promote and be conducted in sign language, Braille, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation (art. 24, para. 3 (a)), with special attention to the appropriate languages and modes and means of communication used by blind, deaf and deaf-blind students. Modes and means of teaching should be accessible and should be conducted in accessible environments. The whole environment of students with disabilities must be designed in a way that fosters inclusion and guarantees their equality in the entire process of their education. Full implementation of article 24 of the Convention should be considered in conjunction with the other core human rights instruments as well as the provisions of the Convention against Discrimination in Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities cannot effectively enjoy their work and employment rights, as described in article 27 of the Convention, if the workplace itself is not accessible. Workplaces therefore have to be accessible, as is explicitly indicated in article 9, paragraph 1 (a). A refusal to adapt the workplace constitutes a prohibited act of disability-based discrimination. Besides the physical accessibility of the workplace, persons with disabilities need accessible transport and support services to get to their workplaces. All information pertaining to work, advertisements of job offers, selection processes and communication at the workplace that is part of the work process must be accessible through sign language, Braille, accessible electronic formats, alternative script, and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication. All trade union and labour rights must also be accessible, as must training opportunities and job qualifications. For example, foreign language or computer courses for employees and trainees must be conducted in an accessible environment in accessible forms, modes, means and formats.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Everyone has the right to enjoy the arts, take part in sports and go to hotels, restaurants and bars. However, wheelchair users cannot go to a concert if there are only stairs in the concert hall. Blind persons cannot enjoy a painting if there is no description of it they can hear in the gallery. Hard of hearing persons cannot enjoy a film if there are no subtitles. Deaf persons cannot enjoy a theatrical play if there is no sign language interpretation. Persons with intellectual disabilities cannot enjoy a book if there is no easy-to-read version or a version in augmentative and alternative modes. Article 30 of the Convention requires that States parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part in cultural life on an equal basis with others. States parties are required to take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities: (a) Enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats; (b) Enjoy access to television programmes, films, theatre and other cultural activities, in accessible formats; (c) Enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance. The provision of access to cultural and historical monuments that are part of national heritage may indeed be a challenge in some circumstances. However, States parties are obliged to strive to provide access to these sites. Many monuments and sites of national cultural importance have been made accessible in a way that preserves their cultural and historical identity and uniqueness.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The monitoring of accessibility is a crucial aspect of the national and international monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. Article 33 of the Convention requires States parties to designate focal points within their governments for matters relating to the implementation of the Convention, as well as to establish national frameworks to monitor implementation which include one or more independent mechanisms. Civil society should also be involved and should participate fully in the monitoring process. It is crucial that the bodies established further to article 33 are duly consulted when measures for the proper implementation of article 9 are considered. Those bodies should be provided with meaningful opportunities to, inter alia, take part in the drafting of national accessibility standards, comment on existing and draft legislation, submit proposals for draft legislation and policy regulation, and participate fully in awareness-raising and educational campaigns. The processes of national and international monitoring of the implementation of the Convention should be performed in an accessible manner that promotes and ensures the effective participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations. Article 49 of the Convention requires that the text of the Convention be made available in accessible formats. This is an innovation in an international human rights treaty and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should be seen as setting a precedent in that respect for all future treaties.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities each specify that the right to equal recognition before the law is operative "everywhere". In other words, there are no permissible circumstances under international human rights law in which a person may be deprived of the right to recognition as a person before the law, or in which this right may be limited. This is reinforced by article 4, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which allows no derogation from this right, even in times of public emergency. Although an equivalent prohibition on derogation from the right to equal recognition before the law is not specified in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the provision in the International Covenant covers such protection by virtue of article 4, paragraph 4, of the Convention, which establishes that the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities do not derogate from existing international law.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The right to equality before the law is also reflected in other core international and regional human rights treaties. Article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women guarantees women's equality before the law and requires the recognition of women's legal capacity on an equal basis with men, including with regard to concluding contracts, administering property and exercising their rights in the justice system. Article 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights provides for the right of every person to be equal before the law and to enjoy equal protection of the law. Article 3 of the American Convention on Human Rights enshrines the right to juridical personality and the right of every person to recognition as a person before the law.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- The report, Making Television Accessible, published in 2011 by the International Telecommunication Union in cooperation with the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies, highlights that a significant proportion of the one billion people who live with some form of disability are unable to enjoy the audiovisual content of television. This is due to the inaccessibility of content, information and/or devices necessary for them to access those services.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- To fully realize the rights provided for in article 12, it is imperative that persons with disabilities have opportunities to develop and express their will and preferences, in order to exercise their legal capacity on an equal basis with others. This means that persons with disabilities must have the opportunity to live independently in the community and to make choices and to have control over their everyday lives, on an equal basis with others, as provided for in article 19.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Substitute decision-making regimes, in addition to being incompatible with article 12 of the Convention, also potentially violate the right to privacy of persons with disabilities, as substitute decision-makers usually gain access to a wide range of personal and other information regarding the person. In establishing supported decision-making systems, States parties must ensure that those providing support in the exercise of legal capacity fully respect the right to privacy of persons with disabilities.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 50c
- Paragraph text
- [In the light of the normative content and obligations outlined above, States parties should take the following steps to ensure the full implementation of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:] Closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the development and implementation of legislation, policies and other decision-making processes that give effect to article 12.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Women and girls with disabilities 2016, para. 17d
- Paragraph text
- Denial of reasonable accommodation is discrimination if necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments (that do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden) are denied and are needed to ensure women with disabilities enjoy equal exercise of a human right or fundamental freedom . For example, a woman with a disability may be denied reasonable accommodation if she cannot undergo a mammogram at a health centre due to the physical inaccessibility of the built environment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Accessibility 2014, para. 46b
- Paragraph text
- [Article 30, paragraph 5, of the Convention provides that, in order to enable persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States parties shall take appropriate measures:] To ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability-specific sporting and recreational activities and, to this end, encourage the provision, on an equal basis with others, of appropriate instruction, training and resources;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Equal recognition before the law 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The type and intensity of support to be provided will vary significantly from one person to another owing to the diversity of persons with disabilities. This is in accordance with article 3 (d), which sets out "respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity" as a general principle of the Convention. At all times, including in crisis situations, the individual autonomy and capacity of persons with disabilities to make decisions must be respected.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- States parties must have regard for the underlying general principles of the Convention in all measures undertaken to implement inclusive education and must ensure that both the process and outcomes of developing an inclusive education system comply with article 3.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to inclusive education 2016, para. 10b
- Paragraph text
- [Inclusive education is to be understood as:] A principle that values the well-being of all students, respects their inherent dignity and autonomy, acknowledges individual requirements and ability to effectively be included in and contribute to society.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph