EDF Will Present The Priorities Of The Disability Movement To The UN Committee

Brussels, 30 March 2015 | This Thursday 2 April, the disability movement will be at Geneva to meet the UN Committee and discuss its concerns on how the EU implements the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).

The EU has ratified the UN Convention in 2010 making it the 1^st international human rights treaty that has ever been ratified by a regional organisation. By ratifying the UN Convention, the EU has agreed to take important steps for equal rights and full inclusion of persons with disabilities in all areas of life. Find more about what the UN Convention foresees at the UN website

Last year, the EU had to submit a report to the UN Committee to explain what actions it has taken in favor of its 80 million citizens with disabilities. On 2 April 2015, the UN Committee in Geneva will examine for the first time the report by the EU. Find more about the EU review process on our website

To give the view of citizens with disabilities and cover gaps that the EU report has, EDF prepared the EDF Alternative Report on the implementation of the UN Convention by the EU, based on the expertise of its members all around Europe, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.

Throughout the EU review process, EDF will be in Geneva and follow the dialogue between the EU and the UN Committee closely. On 2 April, EDF will also meet the UN Committee. In this meeting, EDF will defend its Alternative Report and express to the UN Committee its main concerns on the implementation of the Convention by the EU. 

EDF will report regularly on what is happening in Geneva! Follow all the latest updates on EDF website, facebook and twitter (hashtag: #EDFreportCRPD).

Find out more!

·         THE EU HAS RATIFIED THE UN CONVENTION. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

·         WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

·         HOW DOES THE EU MONITOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION?

·         WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE UN COMMITTEE?

·         HOW DOES THE EU REPORT TO THE UN COMMITTEE?

·         HOW CAN ORGANISATIONS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES TAKE PART?

·         WHAT DOES EDF DO?

Download EDF Alternative Report here (in accessible PDF format with Easy-To-Read translation)

Contact EDF!

·         Catherine Naughton | EDF director | catherine.naughton@edf-feph.org

·         An-Sofie Leenknecht | EDF human rights officer | ansofie.leenknecht@edf-feph.org

Visit EDF website

Lila Sylviti
Communication
European Disability Forum | nothing about us without us
tel +32 2 282 46 04 | fax +32 2 282 46 09
lila.sylviti@edf-feph.org - www.edf-feph.org

MediaWatch: Watching the right-wing media (E-Mail to me from Left Foot Forward)

Dear Left Foot Forward reader, Apologies for the out of the blue email like this, but I wanted to make you aware of a new project at Left Foot Forward which aims to highlight and counter spin, misinformation and bias in the right-wing press. Launching today, MediaWatch is being led by new addition to the Left Foot Forward team Adam Barnett, a highly experienced journalist with a passion for accurate reporting. You can follow MediaWatch on Twitter here and access the MediaWatch page on Left Foot Forward here. As an added bonus, you will get a Saturday email from Adam with a weekly round-up of MediaWatch stories (you can opt-out of that email by unsubscribing from it on a Saturday - you will continue to receive the LFF daily email). Here's a taster of what we've done at MediaWatch so far: Daily Mail says ‘beware’ of migrants hiding in your car ‘Better off’ with the Tories? Don’t believe a word of it The Sun is a bit choosy about YouGov polls   We hope you enjoy the project. All the best, James. Follow Left Foot Forward on Twitter: @LeftFootFwd

Benefit sanctions are a 'hard read' for Britain's learning disabled

you have the right not to be treated badly or

punished in a cruel way

—An Easy Read Summary of "Human Rights and Adults with Learning Disabilities" a Report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights

( http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200708/jtselect/jtrights/40/40ieasyread.pdf)

Why isn't Prime Minister David Cameron prosecuting jobcentre staff for undermining safety and welfare? Surely he is appalled that a jobcentre in the constituency of Wigan (a town in Greater Manchester, England) sanctioned a vulnerable and reclusive man with learning disabilities, who is unable to tell the time, because he arrived four minutes late for a jobcentre appointment. The man was therefore unable to afford food or electricity, and starved for five days.

Labour MP Lisa Nandy, shadow civil society minister, told fellow parliamentarians about how a vulnerable person in her constituency of Wigan suffered after having his benefits taken away under the controversial sanctions regime.

“Several times this year I have had to refer a gentleman with learning difficulties to Denise (the local Reverend) for food due to him having sanctions on him for turning up late," a local councillor had told her. "The gentleman can’t tell the time and is a recluse. He has been found sitting in his flat in the dark with no electric or gas. He won’t ask for help."

"Only for the old neighbours watch out for him and contact myself heaven knows what would of happened to him. I was informed he has to get a letter off the doctor for an electric card…The lad turned up at my door the other night. He hadn’t eaten for 5 days. He looked like he was dying.”

MP Lisa Nandy: "The man I am talking about is the fourth case of someone with learning disabilities being sanctioned that I have come across in my constituency office this month."

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