Access To Social Rights For People With Disabilities In Europe

Despite the progress made in the social rights field in Europe, many fundamental social rights are still not fully accessible to people with disabilities. This report examines key measures and identifies obstacles to full participation, particularly in the areas of education, vocational training and employment, the built environment and transport, information and communication, healthcare and social protection. It provides examples of good practice and makes cross-sectoral recommendations for integrated policy actions.

The report Access to social rights for people with disabilities in Europe describes general principles and measures designed to give people with disabilities access to social rights in Europe. However, it also identifies those obstacles that still impede access for people with disabilities to social rights and consequently to full participation in society. It gives numerous concrete examples of good practice, i.e. action taken by European states to overcome those obstacles. Finally, the report issues cross-sectoral recommendations for integrated policies aimed at facilitating access to social rights for people with disabilities in Europe.This report is one of the main Council of Europe contributions to the European Year of Persons with Disabilities 2003. Marc Maudinet.

The Council of Europe is convinced of the need to improve access to social rights as a key means of combating poverty and social exclusion and in promoting social cohesion. The report on access to social rights in Europe is mainly based on the results of the activities related to access to employment, social protection and housing, as well as relevant work carried out within the Council of Europe in the fields of health and education. This report analyses the obstacles impeding access to different social rights within and across a range of fields. It also gives examples of how obstacles are being overcome, examines integrated measures implemented in the member states of the Council of Europe and identifies the principles on which measures to improve access to social rights should be based. Finally, the report develops cross-sectoral policy guidelines aimed at facilitating access to social rights.

Recognising the right to live in the community is about enabling people to live their lives to their fullest within society and access the public sphere. A precondition for anyone to enjoy all their human rights, this right is taken for granted by the majority of the population, but is often denied to persons with disabilities, who are instead placed in segregated institutions or in settings which isolate them from the rest of the community. This Issue Paper describes the challenges faced by Council of Europe member states in complying with this right. It traces the right of people with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community to its origins in the most fundamental human rights standards both within the Council of Europe and United Nations systems. The paper draws on Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to identify the various forms that violations of this right can take, and provides guidance for community-based responses governed by choice, in order to achieve inclusion and participation. The paper shows the link between the right to live in the community and other rights, notably the rightto equal recognition before the law (legal capacity). The Issue Paper ends with a sample of indicators and guidance questions to assess the transition from violationto implementation of the right to live in the community. The Commissioner’s recommendations on the right to live independently and be included in the community are published at the beginning of the document.

This publication contains the proceedings of a Council of Europe conference, held in Strasbourg in November 2004, which reviewed current Council of Europe instruments designed to promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities. It focuses on the right of children with disabilities to grow up within a family and in a community context, and the need to end the institutionalisation of children with disabilities.

This collection of essays examines the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities from the global, European and Scandinavian perspectives and the challenge of transposing its provisions into national law. It marks the coming of age of disabilty as a core human rights concern.

This Research Handbook comes at an opportune time, and provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging exploration of relevant developments concerning disability rights at EU level. It also looks beyond the EU, focusing on how disability has been relevant in EU external relations. In addition, the Research Handbook considers the interface between EU disability law and Council of Europe law.

Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities: Equality, dignity and equal opportunities. The Council of Europe promotes, protects and monitors the implementation of human rights for all, including persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are entitled to have access to and enjoy, on an equal basis with others, the full range of human rights safeguarded by the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international treaties. The Council of Europe Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – Human Rights: A Reality for All – outlines the Organisation’s priorities in the period 2017-2023. The overall goal of the Strategy is to achieve equality, dignity and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities in specific areas where the Council of Europe can make an input. This requires ensuring independence, freedom of choice, full and active participation in all areas of life and society.

Recoge: 1. Human rights - 2. Anti-discrimination laws - 3. Achieving equality through law?

This publication analyses the reasons why women with disabilities often face double discrimination in employment opportunities, access to education and training, and in social attitudes, based on gender and handicap. It considers a range of issues involved and proposes practical actions to promote real equality.