1. Introduction
1. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (UNCRPD) came into force on 3 May 2008. The
Optional Protocol (which provides for individual petitions alleging
a violation of the Convention by a State Party to be considered
by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) entered
into force on the same day as the Convention. The Government was
closely involved in the negotiation and agreement of this Convention
and was one of its first signatories, signing on the day the Convention
opened for signature.[1]
Although the UK has signed, it has not yet ratified the Convention.[2]
2. The monitoring body for the Convention, the
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, was elected
after the first meeting of the Conference of State Parties (which
took place on 3 November 2008). Twelve members of that Committee
have been elected, although a further six members will be appointed
after 80 states have ratified the Convention. Only States that
have ratified the Convention were able to participate in the formation
of this monitoring body, including by proposing or electing Committee
members.
3. We examined the UNCRPD during our recent inquiry
into the human rights of adults with learning disabilities. We
concluded that the Convention presented a "valuable opportunity
to confirm that disabled people, including adults with learning
disabilities, are entitled to respect for their human rights."
We recommended that the UK ratify the Convention without delay.[3]
4. In May 2008, in response to our Report, the
then Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire MP, confirmed
that the Government intended to ratify the Convention by December
2008. However, the Government indicated that it was considering
several reservations to the UNCRPD, including in respect of service
in the armed forces, immigration and education.[4]
5. Reservations or interpretative declarations
are statements that a State makes on signing or ratifying an international
treaty which, in short, may limit the effect of that treaty.[5]
Article 46 UNCRPD permits reservations to the Convention only
in so far as they are compatible with the object and purpose of
the Convention.
6. On 28 August 2008, we wrote to the then Minister
for Disabled People to ask for further information on progress
towards UK ratification of the Convention.[6]
We specifically asked for:
- details of each and every reservation
or interpretative declaration being considered by the Government
and the reasons for them;
- how each reservation could be considered compatible
with the object and purpose of the Convention;
- how the Government was working with the European
Community (which is also a signatory to the Convention) on ratification;
- what barriers existed in domestic law to ratification
and whether the Government intended to publish the results of
its internal review of the compatibility of existing domestic
legislation and administrative practice;
- whether a recent decision of the House of Lords,
which narrowed existing protection for people with disabilities
(Malcolm) rendered our existing domestic anti-discrimination
legislation incompatible with the requirements of the Convention,
and if so, whether the government intended to bring forward a
remedy;[7] and
- whether the Government had identified any benefits
of, or barriers to, ratification of the Optional Protocol which
accompanied the UNCRPD.
7. The then Minister responded on 24 September
2008.[8] She said:
"The process involved in ratification is both
a very complex and a very challenging one. It is my intention
to make a further announcement on progress after Parliament has
resumed in October. We are still considering the implications
of the work that needs to be done and I will indicate my expectations
for the timetable then."
8. She outlined the Government's view on a number
of issues and promised to write again with a more detailed response,
explaining that:
- Reservations or interpretative
declarations to the Convention were being sought by the Ministry
of Defence, the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools
and Families. Discussions were continuing in respect of the exercise
of legal capacity and in respect of cultural services (interpretative
declarations were being considered).
- Although the Office for Disability Issues (ODI)
was coordinating the UK ratification, individual departments have
been responsible for their own positions on reservations and interpretative
declarations. Full rationale would not be provided until the final
package was announced. This would be in the final Explanatory
Memorandum laid before Parliament immediately before ratification.
- The Government did not underestimate the importance
of the House of Lords decision in Malcolm. If legislative
measures were necessary, a consultation would take place before
any remedial measures were included in the forthcoming Equality
Bill.
- The UK traditionally saw "little practical
benefit" in the right of individual petition. Explaining
this comment, the Minister said "decisions of the relevant
UN Committee are not binding and are not, therefore, equivalent
to judicial decisions."
- The Government proposed to appoint the Equality
and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the Scottish Human Rights
Commission, the Northern Ireland Equality Commission and the Northern
Ireland Human Rights Commission as parts of the national independent
monitoring mechanisms required by Article 33 of the Convention.
9. In the light of this new position, and the
fast approaching December 2008 deadline, we decided to call the
new Minister for Disabled People, Jonathan Shaw MP, to give oral
evidence. We published our correspondence and issued a call for
evidence on 14 October 2008. We asked for submissions on:
- timetable for ratification;
- proposals for reservations and interpretative
declarations;
- ratification of the UN Convention by the European
Community;
- compatibility of existing UK laws and practices
with the UN Convention; and
- ratification of the Optional Protocol and the
right to individual petition.
10. We received a significant number of submissions
from individuals, organisations of disabled people and for disabled
people (and coalitions of NGOs), the EHRC and the Department for
Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). We publish these, together
with our correspondence with the Government and others, with this
Report. We took oral evidence from Jonathan Shaw MP, Minister
for Disabled People, on 18 November 2008.
11. Both we and our predecessor Committee have
often commented on the need for greater parliamentary scrutiny
of treaties with significant human rights implications before
they are ratified by the Government.[9]
We welcome the Government's recent commitment to enhancing parliamentary
scrutiny of international treaties prior to ratification.[10]
We hope to demonstrate in this Report the importance of parliamentary
scrutiny in ensuring that the process leading to ratification
of treaties by the Government is transparent, accountable and
informed by the views of those who will be most directly affected.
1 The Convention was agreed on 13 December 2006 and
opened for signature on 30 March 2007. Back
2
Ratification of the Convention would make the UK a full party
to the obligations in the Convention. Ratification will not incorporate
the Convention into domestic law in the UK, but domestic courts
would, following the common law, take the provisions of the Convention
into account when interpreting domestic law. Back
3
Seventh Report of Session 2007-08, A Life Like any Other?:
Human Rights and Adults with Learning Disabilities, HL Paper
40-I/HC 73-I, paragraphs 62 - 70. More information about the
Convention can be found in this recent report, See for example,
Annex 1. Back
4
Cmd 7378, Government Response to the Joint Committee on Human
Rights Report, A Life Like Any Other? Human Rights and Adults
with Learning Disabilities, pages 4-5; See also http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk/docs/UN-Convention-on-Disability-Rights.pdf
[Last accessed 16 December 2008]. Back
5
Where the effect of a declarative statement relating to a Convention
is to exclude or modify the legal effect of the obligations in
the Convention, it is considered to be a reservation, regardless
of the label adopted by the State. See Article 2(1)(d), Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties.1969. See for example, General
Comment 24, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Issues relating to reservations made on ratification or accession
to the Covenant (ICCPR), 4 November 1994 CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.6,
paragraph 3. Back
6
Ev 16, Ev 19 Back
7
Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm
[2008] UKHL 43 Back
8
Ev 19, Ev 21 Back
9
See for example Twenty-third Report of Session 2005-06, The
Committee's Future Working Practices, HL 239/HC 1575;
First Report of 2006-07, The Council of Europe Convention on
the Prevention of Terrorism, HL 26/HC 247; Nineteenth
Report of Session 2005-06, Work of the Committee in the 2001-2005
Parliament, HL 112/HC 552 Back
10
Cm 7170, The Governance of Britain, July 2007; Cm 7342-II,
Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill, March 2008. Back
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