UN inquiry for UK disability rights violations
Vox Political reader Tony Dean writes, “I would love to know how the DWP are going to explain this”:
UK ‘is first country to face UN inquiry into disability rights violations’
By John Pring
The UK government appears to have become the first country to face a high-level inquiry by a United Nations committee, as a result of “grave or systemic violations” of the rights of disabled people.
The committee has the power to launch an inquiry if it receives “reliable information” that such violations have been committed by a country signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and its optional protocol.
These investigations are conducted “confidentially”, so the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – which is carrying out the inquiry – has refused to confirm or deny that the UK is being investigated.
But a recording has emerged [watch from one hour and four minutes] of a former CRPD member revealing that the inquiry has been launched.
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It is about time. Too late for too many :(
They will try to ignore it but it is a good start.
x
what is the point? nothing can be done, all it seems to be is talking without any teeth!! People in this country need someone to actually Fight for them not make pillow talk. Without proper solutions ( which, can you see the two main lovers IDS and Fester agreeing to any solution to make things right? No)!! All it is doing is giving false hope to people who deserve better!!!
Can you imagine the outcry if prisoners were starved?
thank you for fixing it so that I can comment again Mike!
the tories will maintain the confidentiality by not letting people know the results, nor acting on them
I ave no doubts at all that the Govt and DWP know this is taking place but will be hush hush to the EA’s and DEA’s at jobcentres, they need to know because when this investigation is done they will all be prime targets for public prosecutions.
Now is the time they stand up and be counted and refuse to do the dirty work of IDS as simply saying I was only following orders will not stand up, they need to walkout en mass and bring these disgusting practises to an end
Prosecutions from Who? From watching the video above, I am sure the UK
government are absolutely wetting themselves in fear? Not Laughter Yes!!!
As for the excuse “only following orders” why would anyone need to use it? Seeing as the UN have no real powers!!
When and why did Britain become the UK??
if found guilty what can the UN do?how can they enforce whatever it is they decide?
http://www.inclusionlondon.co.uk/UN-inquiry-into-disability-rights-violations
14 August 2014
Only last month, a new report, Dignity and Opportunity for All: Securing the Rights of Disabled People in the Austerity Era, laid bare the coalition’s failure to meet its international human rights obligations under both UNCRPD and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
That report – published by the Just Fair coalition, which includes Disabled People Against Cuts and Inclusion London – suggested that the UK had gone from being an international leader in disability rights to risking becoming a “systematic violator of these same rights”.
Last week, Disability News Service (DNS) reported that CRPD appeared to have postponed its public examination of how the UK has been implementing the disability convention until after next year’s general election.
Some activists were unhappy that the committee’s decision to postpone the examination would allow the UK government to avoid having to justify a clear regression in disability rights since the 2010 election.
But it now appears that the committee may have taken this decision because it had launched the much more serious – and so far unprecedented – inquiry into the UK’s violation of disabled people’s rights.
A DPAC spokeswoman said: “DPAC is not in a position to comment on the UN inquiry on the UK’s breaches of the UNCRPD, but we would share the view that there have been grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s rights especially, but not exclusively, articles 19 [on living independently and being included in the community] and 28 [on providing an adequate standard of living and social protection].”
Jorge Araya, CRPD’s secretary, told DNS in a statement: “Inquiry proceedings regulated in article six and seven [which relate to the inquiry procedure] of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are confidential.
“So, for this very reason, stated in this treaty, I apologise but I cannot respond to your queries.”
So far, the Conservative minister for disabled people, Mark Harper, has failed to comment on the CRPD inquiry.
Another slating for the DWP from the MPA today, too
“20. The Department for Work & Pensions, in consultation with the MPA, published the delivery confidence assessment of the Universal Credit project as ‘reset’ at the reporting date of September 2013. The ‘reset’ category was introduced for the 2013-14 report and was only applied to this one project.[44] The MPA confirmed that the decision to give Universal Credit a reset rating was ultimately made by ministers.[45] However, the MPA also told us that the decision to give this rating “was a good thing for the project” as it allowed the project team a “bit of breathing space to get themselves back on the front foot”.[46] The MPA confirmed that Universal Credit would still be subject to its assurance reviews and that, in line with the transparency policy, a normal delivery confidence assessment would be published in May 2015. This is a long time to wait for an update on a project as important as Universal Credit.[47] ”
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmpubacc/147/14706.htm