Summary: August 5, 2002: Statement by Minister Counsellor Marianne Løwenhaupt Hoffmann, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the European Union: Civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union on civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights in relation to a legally binding instrument on rights of persons with disabilities. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia and the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.
I wish to mention that this statement is available on diskettes in the back of the room.
Mr. Chairman,
As stated in the 1993 Vienna Declaration "all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated". I hope therefore, Mr. Chairman, that you will allow us to address both sets of rights in this brief statement.
According to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 and the two International Covenants from 1966 on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Political Rights respectively, these rights are universally bestowed upon by all human beings: man or woman, adult or child and irrespectively of colour or personal capabilities.
This was reaffirmed in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action establishing that all human rights must be treated "in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis". It was also explicitly stated that "special attention needs to be paid to ensuring non-discrimination, and the equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by disabled persons, including their active participation in all aspect of society". The European Union supports the concept of
indivisibility and considers it essential also in relation to the discussion on a legally binding instrument on rights of persons with disabilities.
Therefore, as we mentioned in our statement regarding overarching principles, any new international legally binding instrument should mainly be based on the existing general international human rights standards in the six core UN human rights treaties. The main challenge in front of us is, in our view, to select relevant, existing human rights, and tailor these obligations to fit the circumstances of persons with disabilities in order to protect and promote their rights and dignity. The object
of the exercise must be to ensure the equal and effective enjoyment of these rights for persons with disabilities. This is not sufficiently guaranteed today.
Mr Chairman,
A legally binding instrument would require States to focus on the specific relevance of general human rights obligations with respect to persons with disabilities. The European Union will work to ensure that real value is added to the general corpus of human rights law by making it more directly and visibly relevant in the context of disability.
Without going into details the European Union wishes that the Ad Hoc Committee focuses its deliberation with respect to civil and political rights on the four main themes mentioned in the study on human rights and disability delivered according to Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/51: rights that refer to human existence, liberty rights, associational rights, and political rights.
With regard to economic, social and cultural the European Union considers it of paramount importance to include in any future legal instrument formulations that promote, inter alia, active participation and involvement of persons with disabilities in all spheres of life.
Mr Chairman,
We have listened carefully to the various interesting interventions during the previous meetings of this Ad Hoc Committee especially to the elaborations of the non-governmental organizations on the many illustrative and startling examples on the lack of possibilities for people with disabilities to take active part in society and on the obstacles to an independent private and social life based on the personal choice of each individual. These interventions underline the fact that we still have
serious work ahead of us before we reach our principle goal: non-discrimination and equality before the law vis-a-vis persons with disabilities.
One of the questions to consider now as well as during a future session of the Ad Hoc Committee is whether we should work on a legally binding instrument consisting of overarching principles or whether we should establish a catalogue of rights pertaining persons with disabilities. As mentioned earlier the initial preference of the European Union, with respect to the shape and content of a legal instrument, would be for one containing general principles including mainly equality and
non-discrimination with respect to human rights in the context of disability. The European Union assumes that the aim of the instrument is not primarily to create new international legal standards.
It is the hope of the European Union that the Ad Hoc Committee will invite states, relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, including relevant human rights treaty bodies, the regional commissions, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and national disability- and human rights institutions, with an interest in the matter, to submit proposals on possible rights and
elements that should be considered in a legally binding instrument.
A second session of the Ad Hoc Committee could then give further and more detailed consideration to these proposals.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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