CRPD and Structural Funds

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launches CDLP report on Structural Funds

Getting a Life - Living Independently and Being Included in the Community' is a legal study of the EU Structural Funds and their ability to contribute to the achievement of Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities authored by Professor Gerard Quinn and Suzanne Doyle. It was commissioned by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Regional Office for Europe) and was launched at a seminar in Brussels on the 7th of May 2012.

This study was drafted in the context of the EU's 'confirmation' (ratification) of the UN CRPD on the 23 December 2010. This was the first international human rights instrument to be ratified by the EU. The study analyses the current proposals for Structural Fund Regulations which will apply during the period 2014-2020. It assesses their compliance with the EU's legal obligations under the UN CRPD and specifically in the context of Article 19 which contains a very positive philosophy of independent living and being included in the community and builds on a more general trend toward restoring voice and power to the individual to determine where s/he wishes to live and with whom. The study provides an opportunity to reflect on the role the EU Structural Funds played in the past and on what needs to be clearly avoided in order for the EU to respect its international obligations under the UN CRPD in the event that the Funds were to be used to open new institutions or to refurbish existing institutions for persons with disabilities.

To read the report, click here: CDLP Report on EU Structural Funds

For further information, please see the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, available here.