The UN reviews the EU for the first time

It is the first time that the Union has been reviewed by a UN human rights treaty body. As the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) rightly said, “it [marked] an important step in gaining the feedback the EU needs to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are fully implemented in all its Member States”.

The UN Committee’s conclusions point out to several shortcomings in EU actions. Legislation is criticised, with the EU having neither progressed to the planned mid-term review of its 2010-2020 Disability Strategy, nor having made the necessary efforts to review existing legislation and mainstream disability issues, nor having adopted its long-awaited Accessibility Act.

On the implementation side, there is still progress to be made. Austerity measures have had ‘an adverse and retrogressive effect’ on the availability of support services. This is especially true for children, persons with intellectual and/or psycho-social disabilities, and older people with disabilities. The UN regrets that the EU is still a long way from providing inclusive education to all children in its member states and that so many people with disabilities still live in large residential institutions, sometimes even with the support of European Structural and Investment funds (ESIF), when priority should be given for support in their local communities.

What should be done?

In order to fulfil the UN CRPD’s requirements of full accessibility, adequate social protection, employment and access to community services, there is a need to boost the employment situation of persons with disabilities, notably through the collection of comparable, reliable data across the EU, the provision of appropriate training and the adaptation of the workplace. The UN also suggests that EU funds are used for developing community-based services and preventing any new institutionalisation. Stronger monitoring is required to ‘ensure [the funds] are being used strictly for the development of support services for persons with disabilities in local communities and not the re-development or expansion of institutions’. Local public social services play a key role in leading this shift, and bringing about a change of focus on people rather than structures.

Resources

• The EU and the UN Convention (ESN article)