Human Rights in Ireland

An alliance of human rights groups has spoken out against the forced sterilisation of women with mental disabilities in France.  See here and here.     Last week the Center for Reproductive Rights, European Disability Forum, Interights, International Disability Alliance and Mental Disability Advocacy Center; submitted written comments to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Gauer and Others v France (Application no 61521/08).  A copy of the written comments is available here.    Gauer and Others v France is a case involving five women with intellectual disabilities who were forcibly sterilised.  The decision of the European Court of Human Rights will be an important statement on the reproductive rights of persons with disabilities and the positive obligations on the States in safeguarding persons with disabilities against abuse.

The European Court of Human Rights has used the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as an interpretive aid to the European Convention on Human Rights and it is clear that the ECHR has been edging closer to the philosophy of legal capacity as set out in Article 12 of the CRPD.  In Shtukaturov v Russia the ECtHR stated “…the existence of a mental disorder, even a serious one cannot be the sole reason to justify full incapacitation”.  This was an important statement by the ECtHR acknowledging that there was a lack of proportionality in the legal response to the person’s capacity in that case.  Moreover, the Shtukaturov decision is important in that ECtHR acknowledges that the deprivation of legal capacity constitutes a serious intrusion into a persons right to respect for their private and family life under Article 8 and domestic legislation has to provide “a tailored-made response” in this area.  So this case will provide an invaluable opportunity for the Court to engage with the CRPD and further develop its jurisprudence on the right to legal capacity.  Other human rights that will be engaged under the European Convention on Human Rights include:

• Article 3 (prohibition of torture)
• Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life)
• Article 13 (right to an effective remedy)
• Article 14 (Prohibition of discrimination)

There is an interesting article in the Winnipeg Free Press about discriminatory laws that permit the payment of below minimum wages to persons with disabilities.  See here.   Employment law in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan authorise this underpayment provided that the responsible Minister issues a permit.  A freedom of information request showed that 15 permits have been issued in the past 5 years.  See here.  There is a similar provision in Irish law by way of section 35 of the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2008.  Section 35 provides that it is not unlawful for an employer to pay a different rate to an employee with a disability “by reason of that disability, the employee is restricted in his or her capacity to do the same amount of work (or to work the same hours) as a person who is employed to do work of that description but who is without that disability.”  It is my understanding that this provision is rarely used in Ireland.  The rationale presumably for allowing different rates of pay to disabled employees is to facilitate persons with disabilities to acquire the skills and experience necessary to actively participate in the labour market.  However, these types of provisions are ineffective, seldom used and ultimately serve to undermine the social capital of persons with disabilities.    Regardless of the intentions the practice raises many issues from a human rights perspective, particularly in light of the Read Full Post »

The British Equality and Human Rights Commission have published a useful guide for disabled people and disabled people’s organisations on the United Nations Convention on the rights of People with Disabilities. See here. The Equality and Human Rights Commission in line with best practice created an easy to read version of the guide, which is available here. The guide is broken into four parts. Part 1 introduces the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and explains its background, importance, its relevance to people in Britain, the rights outlined in the CRPD. It also clearly explains technical aspects of the CRPD such as reservations and how international human rights law relates to domestic law. There is also a discussion on

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We are delighted to welcome another guest post from Noelin Fox.  Noelin is a Ph.D candidate in the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway.  Her research examines the right to independent living provided for in Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of with Disabilities. Noelin has worked for many years in intellectual disability services’ in Ireland, her previous blog can be seen here.

A proposal by Birmingham City Council to limit the provision of direct support to disabled people with ‘critical’ need only was ruled to be unlawful by the High Court in May this year. The judgment is available here. This was on the basis that the policy failed to give ‘due regard’ to the impact of the proposals on disabled people as required by Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended in 2005).  Section 49A stipulates that Read Full Post »

Last month, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities engaged in constructive dialogue with Tunisia regarding its first State Report under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Tunisia was one of the first countries to ratify in 2008. This is the first state report to have been considered by the Committee, and some interesting remarks were made in its concluding observations to Tunisia, which indicate the Committee’s general approach and can serve as guidance to other states engaged in implementing the Convention.

Professor Ron McCallum, chair of the Committee, remarked at a conference in Reykjavik last week on his surprise and delight that Tunisia decided to send a delegation to the UN to engage in constructive dialogue on the State Report, since the interim government had only been appointed a few weeks prior to the event. Read Full Post »

The new Hungarian Constitution approved by parliament last month contains provisions that are discriminatory and have been widely criticised by human rights organisations. The new Constitution should enter into force on January 1, 2012. Article XXIII (6) of the new Constitution provides that ”[t]hose deprived of their right to vote by a court by reason of limited mental ability and for a criminal offense shall not have the right to vote.” See here. This provision serves to exclude persons with intellectual disability and or persons with psychosocial disabilities from voting. This is completely at odds with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 29 
of the Convention relates to participation in political and public life and requires that States Parties to the Convention “guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others”. This discriminatory provision is disappointing as Hungary was the first Member State of the European Union to Read Full Post »

The Centre for Disability Law & Policy and the Harvard Law School Project on Disability will hold a six-day Summer School from 6 – 11 June in Galway.  Information on how to register for the Summer School is available here.   The Summer School aims to equip participants with the insights and skills necessary to translate the generalities of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into tangible reform for persons with disabilities.   The participants will include persons with disabilities, their families, civil society groups of persons with disabilities as well as advocates for disability law reform, lawyers, policy makers and policy analysts and others.   The Faculty includes senior academics, practitioners and policy makers from around the world who have been directly and actively engaged in drafting and implementing the Convention and includes Human Rights in Ireland’s Dr Eilionoir Flynn.  The Faculty also includes Professor Michael Stein (Harvard Law School Project on Disability), Professor Gerard Quinn (NUI Galway, Ireland), Michael Bach (Inclusion International), Eric Rosenthal (Disability Rights International), Andrea Coomber (Interights, London), Gauthier de Beco (Associate Researcher at University of Louvain), Christian Courtis, (Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights), Sir Michael Wood Read Full Post »

This is a joint post with Charles O’Mahony and Mary Keogh.

Following on from Mairead Enright and Darren O’Donovan’s posts about human rights and equality as election issues in political party manifestos, this post will focus specifically on the key policy issues affecting people with disabilities, which have, to a large extent, been overlooked in the election debate thus far. Maman Poulet has also provided an excellent analysis of the main parties manifestos in relation to disability issues, and this post will build on this analysis to suggest concrete areas for action which should be addressed by the incoming government in their next programme for government. In addition, some insight will be provided on responses to many of these issues given by election candidates at last week’s Lifecourse Institute – Critical Perspectives event in NUI Galway. In advance of the political event, a critical perspectives paper was prepared setting out key issues for the incoming government to consider.

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We are delighted to welcome this post from the Directors of the Lifecourse Institute at National University of Ireland Galway.  The Directors are Professor Pat Dolan Academic Director of the Lifecourse Institute & Director Child & Family Research Centre; Professor Tom Scharf Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology and Professor Gerard Quinn Director of the Centre for Disability Law & Policy. The recently formed Lifecourse Institute at NUI Galway brings together the three research centres with a focus on older people, families & children and persons with disabilities.  Its primary function is to produce research that supports innovative policy reform across the lifecycle that enables citizens to achieve their potential and live fulfilling and productive lives.  
This post is based on their ‘Critical Perspectives’ paper, which is intended to provide a succinct statement of the major policy challenges facing the next Government across the lifecourse.  It is intended as a public service at a critical moment in Read Full Post »