UK: Government must ratify international disability treaty

[LONDON, 20 March 2008] - UK charity Scope is calling on the Government to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities without reservation by the end of this year - to ensure that disabled people in the UK are fully supported by a legal framework that protects and promotes their rights.

The Convention - which opened for signatures at the United Nations in New York on 30 March last year - is aimed at strengthening the rights of disabled people worldwide – including 11 million disabled people in the UK.

Britain was one of the first States to sign the treaty but has not yet ratified it. Signing the treaty is just the first step before ratification. Seventeen countries have now ratified the Convention including Spain, Cuba, India and Bangladesh - 20 States need to ratify it before it becomes legally binding.

Scope is urging the Government to ratify the treaty in full, including an Optional Protocol, which will give groups and individuals the right to petition the UN Committee on Rights of Persons with Disabilities once they have exhausted all avenues within their own country. Countries that ratify the Convention will have to introduce laws ensuring that disabled people are treated fairly.

Following lobbying by Scope, the UK Government has now agreed to ratify the Convention by December 2008. However, Scope has concerns that it will ratify the treaty but reserve on, or opt out of, some articles. Reserving against certain articles would mean that some parts of the Convention would not be legally binding in the UK. This would significantly undermine the value of the Convention as a tool for protecting the rights of disabled people in Britain.

The Convention is the first international treaty in history to create a specific legal framework to protect the human rights of disabled people across the globe and to recognise that disabled and non-disabled people share a common humanity. It covers a wide range of areas covering all aspects of disabled people’s lives, including articles on equal recognition before the law and legal capacity, the right to fertility and respect for privacy.

Scope is part of a coalition of organisations which is lobbying the Government to ratify the treaty without reservation by December 2008. Scope has recently launched an online petition calling for this.

Andy Rickell, an Executive Director at Scope, said:

“This treaty is of fundamental importance and when ratified will make a significant difference to disabled people’s lives by helping strengthen and protect their rights. The need for this treaty is more urgent than ever, particularly in light of the widespread abuse of disabled people’s human rights. This has been highlighted recently by the increasing incidence of disability hate crime and the often disgraceful treatment of disabled people in the UK’s healthcare system.

“We are seriously concerned that the Government will not ratify this treaty in its entirety. There cannot be a ‘pick and mix’ approach on this. It will weaken the value of the Convention and also undermine the Government’s record on promoting disabled people’s human rights.”

Further information

• Build support for US ratification of the disability Convention (31 March 2008)
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• The new disability Convention and the protection of children (Gerison Lansdown, December 2006)
• Human Rights, Yes! Action and advocacy on the rights of persons with disabilities (University of Minnesota, December 2007)