Transcript module_4_a - Capacity4Dev

Disability Strategy 2010-2020
and
EU external action
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero
Deputy Head of Unit
Unit D3 Rights of Persons with Disabilities
European Commission
DG Justice
[email protected]
The UN Convention
• General Assembly resolution 56/168 - 19 Dec. 2001
• 13 December 2006 Adoption by the General Assembly
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Signature
30 March 2007 signed by the European Community
Signed by all Member States
3 May 2008 entry into force
• Ratification
• Commission proposal for Conclusion of the Convention and
accession to Optional Protocol
• 29 August 2008
• Council Decision 2010/48 concerning the conclusion
• 26 November 2009
• 2 December 2010 Adoption of the Code of Conduct
• Entry into Force for the EU 22 January 2011
• Ratified by 24 MS
Council Decision Conclusion UNCRPD
 26 November 2009: Council Decision 2010/48/EC
concerning the conclusion (formal confirmation),
by the European Community*, of the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities
 Article 2 (deposit of instruments of formal
confirmation)
 Article 3 (COM as the focal point)
 Article 4 (external representation, close cooperation)
 Articles 3 – 4 (Code of Conduct)
 Annex I (UNCRPD)
 Annex II (declaration of competence + appendix)
 Annex III (reservation)
EU Governance
• Focal point: European Commission; Unit for the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Coordination mechanism: Human Rights Group of
the Council (COHOM)
• EU Framework art 33.2: Adopted 2012
The EU Framework (art 33.2 CRPD)
Disability Strategy:
A monitoring framework will be established after
considering the possible role of a number of
existing EU bodies and institutions and
without undue administrative burden
The Commission's proposal
The members of the framework:
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European Parliament's Petitions Committee
European Ombudsman
European Commission
EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
European Disability Forum (EDF)
The rationale:
• Limited EU competence: complementarity with the MS
frameworks
• Focus on the tasks: the proposed EU institutions and bodies
exercise tasks relevant to art 33.2 within their existing mandates
• Simple, efficient and practical arrangement to maximise the
synergies between existing bodies and institutions
• No legal changes / additional resources are necessary
The EU framework's mandate
• Dual scope:
• 1. EU legislation and policy in the areas where
the Member States have transferred competences
to the EU
• 2. “Internal” implementation of the Convention
by EU institutions as a Public Administration (e.g.
staff issues, interaction with citizens)
EU Declaration of Competences
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Article 44(1) UNCRPD: a regional integration organisation in its instrument of
formal confirmation or accession is to declare the extent of its competence with
respect to matters governed by the Convention.
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EU Declaration indicates the competences transferred to the Community by the
Member States under the Treaty establishing the European Community, in the
areas covered by the Convention.
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In some matters the European Union has exclusive competence and in other
matters competence is shared between the EU and the Member States. The
Member States remain competent for all matters in respect of which no
competence has been transferred to the EU.
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EU exclusive competences: state aids, common custom tariff, its own public
administration
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EU shared competences: action to combat discrimination on the ground of
disability, free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, transport by rail,
road, sea and air transport, taxation, internal market, equal pay for male and
female workers, Trans-European network policy and statistics.
The EU and its Member States
Duty of close cooperation
Requirement of unity in international representation
Article 10 TEC, ECJ case-law
(Opinion 2/91, Opinion 1/94, C-459/03, C-246/07)
Code of Conduct
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Rules for:
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- Division of tasks and establishing positions based on competence
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• Member States competences – coordinated positions
• Exclusive (EU) competences - Union positions
• Shared competences – common positions
-Speaking
-Voting
-Nominations
-Focal point -> European Commission
-Monitoring and reporting arrangements
Annex -> statistical data
Fifth session of the Conference of States
Parties to the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities
• Preparatory work:
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COHOM
EAA
DHLG
Written procedure
Code of Conduct
Candidates and voting
LEGAL BASIS
TFEU Articles 10 and 19: the EU shall aim to combat discrimination
(mainstreaming and specific legislation)
Other legal bases can be relevant, e.g. Internal market (Art
114), Transport (Art. 90-100 TFEU), State Aid (107-109 TFEU)
Employment (145-150 TFEU ) Social Policy (151, 153 TFEU)
Education (Art. 165 TFEU), Public health (Art. 168 TFEU),
Approximation of Laws (114 TFEU, high level of protection as a
base)
CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EU
Article 21: Discrimination on the grounds of disability shall be
prohibited
Article 26: The Union recognises and respects the right of persons
with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their
independence, social and occupational integration and
participation in the life of the community.
Compliance of new EU legislation
with the UNCRPD
• Operational Guidance on taking account of Fundamental Rights in
Commission Impact Assessments
• (COM staff working paper SEC(2011) 567 final (6 May 2011)
• This Operational Guidance was prepared by DG JUSTICE
• Art 53 ref relationship between the Charter and international
agreements to which the Union or the Member States are party
• It provides practical help and advice on how to assess impacts on
fundamental rights when preparing Impact Assessments.
• Explicit reference to need to be in line with the UNCRPD.
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European Disability Strategy 2010-2020
• Adopted on 15 November 2010.
• Three main documents:
• Communication on a European Disability Strategy 20102020
• Initial plan to implement the Strategy: List of Actions
2010-2015
• Background Document with facts and figures
Main objectives
Comply with the international commitments taken by
concluding the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities:
• Empower PWD to enjoy their full rights
• Create a barrier-free Europe for all
• Bring PWD closer to EU2020 targets for employment, education
and training, risk of poverty and social exclusion
KEY FIGURES
How many persons with disabilities in the EU?
 Difficult to estimate due to lack of data and a common definition: around
80 million Europeans have a disability that ranges from mild to severe
Correlation between disability and ageing:
 63% of people with disabilities are older than 45. Nearly 30% of people in
the age group 55-64 report a disability and the incidence of disability will
increase as the EU population gets older. Over 30 % of respondents aged
over 75 are restricted to some extent, and over 20 % severely restricted.
Scope
• EU Areas of competences
• EU institutions
• Thematic Actions
• EU level
• Supplement National actions
• Governance
• Framework for implementation and monitoring, required by
the UNCRPD
• Strategy: ISG, D-HLG, MS+NGOs, EU institutions
EU 2020
Full economic and social participation of persons with disabilities is essential for
Europe 2020 to succeed in creating smart, sustainable and inclusive growth
 Market opportunities
 Key Relevant Flagship initiatives:
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Innovation Union
Youth on the move
A digital agenda for Europe
An agenda for new skills and jobs
European platform against poverty
 Relevant Targets:
 75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed
 The share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of
the younger generation should have a tertiary degree.
 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty (reduction by 25%)
Main areas for EU action
• Presented in the Communication; provide structure
for List of Actions (2010-2015):
• Accessibility of goods and services
• Participation as equal citizens in Europe and quality
community-based services
• Equality and combating discrimination
• Employment in the open labour market
• Inclusive education and training
• Social protection to combat poverty and social exclusion
• Equal access to health services and related facilities
• External action including EU enlargement, neighbourhood
and international development programmes
Area nr. 8 => EU External Action
• Specific objective:
• To promote the rights of people with disabilities
within a broader non-discriminatory
• approach in the EU external action, including the
enlargement process and development
• programmes, taking due account of the common
EU and Member States' approach to
• development
8 External Action – Key actions (I)
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– Ensure that the specific needs of persons with disabilities, including those who are
disabled as a consequence of natural and man-made disasters, are properly assessed
and addressed in the area of emergency and humanitarian aid outside the EU
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– Highlight disability where appropriate as a human rights issue in the EU human
rights dialogues with third countries, based on the principles of the UNCRPD
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– Ensure that EU development cooperation reaches persons with disabilities, both
through projects/programmes specifically targeting persons with disabilities and
by improving the mainstreaming of disability concerns
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– Enhance coherence and complementarity between the EU approach to persons with
disabilities and EU assistance to survivors of landmine and explosive remnants of
war during armed conflict and its aftermath
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– Support the national efforts of partner countries for the signature, ratification
and implementation of the UNCRPD
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– Support where appropriate the institutional strengthening of Disabled Peoples'
Organisations in partner countries and organisations dealing with disability and
development
8 External Action –Key actions (II)
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– Consolidate the network of disability focal points in EU Delegations and at Headquarters,
and increase the awareness of EU staff on disability matters
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– Promote that infrastructure financed in the framework of EU development projects meets
the accessibility requirements of people with disabilities.
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– Update the Guidance Note on Disability and Development to be in line with the UN
Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities
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– Ensure that progress is made by candidate and potential candidate countries on promoting
the rights of persons with disabilities and that accession funds are used to improve their situation
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– Encourage European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries to protect the rights of persons
with disabilities; mainstream disability-related issues through policy dialogue and exchange of
experience; and explore possibilities for financial assistance under the European Neighbourhood
Policy and Partnership Instrument
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Mix of tools to achieve the objectives
• Legislation: e.g. explore the possibility of a “European
Accessibility Act”
• Mainstreaming: ensure that all relevant EU initiatives
promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities
• Cooperation between Member States and civil society
• Funding
• Awareness-raising
• Data collection and monitoring
Data collection and monitoring
• Reporting
• UNCRPD report
• Report on strategy implementation
• On-line tool with instruments to implement UNCRPD
• Data collection
• Network of experts
• Studies
• Statistics and data collection
• Indicators  targets
UN Convention implementation
• Annual disability Ministers meeting
• Presidency Conclusions
• Annual Disability High Level Group report on implementation
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/files/dhlg_5th_report_
en.pdf
• Annual Information Note
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=431&langId=en
• Annual Presidency Conference
• Annual Work Forum
• European Disability Strategy
Implementation Historical perspective
• 1st HLG Report (2008):
• focus on challenges and solutions identified by MS and
stakeholders with regards to the implementation of the UNCRPD
• 2nd HLG Report (2009):
• focus on accessibility, legal capacity, access to justice,
independent living, voting rights, monitoring and empowerment
• 3rd HLG Report (2010):
• focus on procedural matters and governance
• 4th HLG Report (2011):
• focus on the interface between UNCRPD and the Europe 2020
headline targets for education, employment and poverty
Focus for 5th HLG Report
• National and EU legal and regulatory
frameworks to promote accessibility.
• National strategies and actions developed
in order to effectively put in practice the
UNCRPD in the area of accessibility.
Background: the online tool
1. Defined in Annex 2 of the Commission Staff Working Paper
accompanying the Strategy SEC(2010)1323
2. For each country, key instruments to achieve the effective
implementation of the UN Convention: a table, displaying
policies, practical measures and legal acts
3. With web link to reference document or relevant information
4. Via our main website:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/discrimination/disabilities/index_en.htm
The online tool
34 countries + EU
43 instruments
1,505 records
x 9 fields
= 13,545 items
Next steps
• 2013:
• EU to report on Disability Strategy (Progress report
foreseen in Communication)
• EU to report on implementation of UNCRDP
•  Update of Scoreboard
EU report to the UN: timeline
o Preparation
o April 2012 => Information to Inter-service Group
o May and October 2012=> Information to the HLG
o Study
o July– September 2012 => Tender procedure
o Winter 2012 – Spring 2013 => data collection, analysis,
conclusions
o Consultations
o COHOM
o Commission’s services
o HLG Spring 2013 meeting
o Stakeholders, DPOs
o The EU Framework
o Submission to the UN
o by July 2013
Useful weblinks
• European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0636:FIN
:EN:PDF
• Initial plan to implement the Strategy: List of Actions 2010-2015:
http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:520
10SC1324:EN:NOT
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities: http://www.un.org/disabilities/