This paper proposes a strategic approach for EBU and its national members to promote the implementation and monitoring of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Convention). It contributes to the implementation of the EBU Board's Strategic Objective for the current work period SO39 - Declaration on needs and characteristics of blind and partially sighted people and General Assembly Resolution R2003-04 - Collection of information about legislation. The paper also proposes a review and re-focussing of the Network of HERMES Link Officers.
In the autumn of 2001 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a
resolution to establish an Ad Hoc Committee (AHC) to consider proposals for a UN
Convention to protect and promote the rights and dignity of persons with
disabilities. The AHC has met approximately twice each year since that time.
Following the Committee's seventh meeting in January 2006, a new working text
was released by the AHC's Chairman, Ambassador McKay. In his closing remarks at
the end of the seventh session, he said that for most Convention Articles, the
text was now more or less settled, though any Article could be the subject of
renegotiation if a government really felt compelled to raise a concern.
He recognised that there are some contentious or difficult Articles that would
need more discussion at the next two week AHC meeting in August. The Chairman
encouraged the non- governmental organisations us to continue discussions with
States' Delegations during the ensuing months, especially on the contentious
Articles, so that the discussion would be easier during the 8th session of the
AHC. Ambassador McKay envisaged that the draft Convention would be completed at
the end of the August Ad Hoc Committee meeting, and that it would then be
referred to a drafting Committee. This Committee would review the text purely
for linguistic consistency, in such a way that no substantive changes of meaning
or inference would be made. The revised text would then return to the AHC for
consideration at a short (1 or 2 hour) meeting prior to ratification by the UN
General Assembly. It is therefore possible that the Convention will be submitted
to the UN General Assembly for adoption in 2007. The Convention will then be
open for member states' signatures.
The act of signing the Convention by a government indicates its intention to
recognise and provide the rights embodied in the document. However, this does
not mean that all states will automatically meet all of the Convention's
requirements. Some governments will review all of their existing legislation
and, over time, seek to amend those parts of their laws or constitutions that do
not comply with the Convention. Other governments will seek to pass enabling
legislation through their parliaments. The extent to which this will be
effective depends on the nature of the legislation being amended by the enabling
legislation.
Substantial sections of the Convention will be subject to the principle of
progressivity. This recognises that many (developing) countries will be unable
to implement parts of the Convention for some considerable time, perhaps because
of other priorities or limited resources. Additionally, the Convention may
permit UN member states to opt out of some parts of the Convention, if they
object to or do not agree with the provision of particular rights to persons
with disabilities (this issue has yet to be discussed). It will in consequence
be several years before some countries adopt some or all of the Convention's
provisions.
During this time, it will be essential for organisations representing the
interests of persons with disabilities to campaign for the implementation of at
least those parts of the Convention that are a priority for their constituency.
It will therefore be of practical help for EBU to make available some tools that
will assist EBU national members to campaign for the implementation of the
Convention's provisions.
When governments have finally agreed to adopt some or all of the Convention's
provisions, it will then be necessary to monitor the extent to which
implementation actually takes place. In some if not all instances, governments
may need to -
* Consult representative organisations of disabled persons about implementation;
* prepare action plans that take account of the outcome of this consultation;
* allocate sufficient resources to ensure that certain rights are exercised by
disabled persons;
* establish effective mechanisms to monitor implementation;
* publish the results of monitoring activity;
* consult representative organisations of disabled people about monitoring
results and then review action plans and resource allocation in the light of
this consultation.
If, therefore, we are to succeed in ensuring that blind and partially sighted
people in Europe benefit to the maximum possible from the provisions of this
Convention, EBU and its member organisations will need to be prepared for many
years of campaigning. This will be dynamic; the rights available to blind and
partially sighted people will change as governments work through the legislative
process. Campaigning will also be multi dimensional; it will need to address
many issues, including consultation, legislation, implementation and monitoring.
This is a formidable task for our national members. It is therefore suggested,
that, as a first step, EBU should undertake three separate but related projects.
These are -
* Derive from the Convention a list of the rights required by blind and
partially sighted people. These must be based on their needs and
characteristics.
* Establish and maintain a database on the EBU website that indicates the extent
to which each EBU member country's legislation corresponds to the provisions of
the Convention.
* Establish a network of people in EBU member organisations with a
responsibility for, and a commitment to, the implementation of the Convention
for the benefit of blind and partially sighted people.
These three projects are described in more detail below.
The working text of the Convention, although not yet complete, now provides
what is probably a fair indication of the scope and content of the final text.
Although there are some areas that do not go as far as we would wish and there
are some omissions, it seems that the Convention will provide a comprehensive
and influential statement of rights for disabled persons. For blind and
partially sighted people, some rights will be as relevant as for all disabled
persons. Other rights will not be so directly relevant. There will additionally
be some rights, eg, those relating to access to information, that will be more
important to blind and partially sighted people than to other disabled persons.
It will be helpful to EBU member organisations if the rights set out in this
Convention are analysed, examined and their relevance to blind and partially
sighted people described. In order to do this, it will be necessary to define
the needs and characteristics of blind and partially sighted people in relation
to each of the relevant Convention rights.
There is one area where the Convention does not define the rights of disabled
people and which is especially important to blind and partially sighted people.
This is in the area of prevention, treatment and amelioration of visual loss. It
will be necessary for this dimension to be included, in order to make the
analysis as comprehensive as possible. The stance taken by other UN agencies on
prevention and alleviation of visual loss, such as the World Health Organisation,
will be relevant here.
This document would be utilised by EBU member organisations as a tool to
persuade their governments to implement the Convention in a way that takes full
account of the needs and characteristics of blind and partially sighted people.
This project will also go some way to meeting Strategic Objective 39 "To
prepare, disseminate and publicise a declaration outlining the specific needs
and characteristics of blind and partially-sighted people respectively", which
was based on Resolution 2003-07 reproduced at Annex I.
It is probable that most EBU member organisations will wish to consider how
their country's legislative provisions relate to the rights that are of
importance to blind and partially sighted people are identified in the
Convention. It would be helpful for them to have access to a tool that provides
a framework for this exercise. It would also be useful for each EBU member
organisation to have comparative data that describes the extent to which other
European countries are acting to enable blind and partially sighted people to
receive the rights included in the Convention.
It is proposed that EBU establishes a legislative database on its website. This
would be based on blind and partially sighted people's rights needs and
characteristics derived from the project described in the previous section. The
database would have a space for each EBU member organisation to enter the extent
to which their country's legislation provides each specific right for blind and
partially sighted people that the 'rights, needs and characteristics' project
distilled from the Convention. EBU member organisations would be invited to
update the database as the process of implementation progresses.
As the completion of the database proceeds, it will provide a reference source
for monitoring. This will be of value to EBU and other agencies who wish to
monitor the implementation of the Convention.
This Project will contribute to the implementation of EBU General Assembly
Resolution 2003-04: The need for in-depth information on legal matters
pertaining to visually impaired persons in EBU countries, reproduced in part at
annex II
The third element of the proposed strategy is to establish and support an EBU
wide network of individuals working with EBU national members to ensure that
blind and partially sighted people in each country are given the rights
contained in the Convention and that they are appropriate to the needs of blind
and partially sighted people.
It is proposed to review the existing Rights Commission's HERMES Network. The
Commission will seek to recruit new members where necessary, who are directly
involved with campaigning to have the Convention implemented and monitored in
their country for the benefit of blind and partially sighted people. Its members
will be supported by the provision of documentation and training, as well as
direct contact with Commission members. Network members will be encouraged to
provide and update information on the legislative database and to provide mutual
support to network members.
The Board of EBU is invited to consider this strategy, comprising a package
of three projects. Assuming that the strategy is endorsed -
1. The rights/needs/characteristics project will be undertaken by the members of
the Rights Commission, lead by the Chairman.
2. The legislative database requires resources to employ a suitably qualified
person to design and install the database on the EBU website and to assist with
the training of EBU staff and Network members. It is recommended that EBU should
seek funding for this project from EU sources. It is suggested that, if
resources can be obtained, a project team is established consisting of members
drawn from the EBU Paris Office and the Rights Commission.
Subject to the Board's endorsement, a detailed project/funding proposal will be
prepared by the Rights Commission in collaboration with th