Call to ratify disability treaty in full

An influential committee of MPs and peers has said the government should change or scrap its reservations about the United Nations Disability Rights Convention.

A report from Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights said ministers had been denying disabled people of their "full human rights" by not ratifying the convention in full.

According to the committee there has been "insufficient consultation" on the government's proposed moves, leaving the members expressing their "disappointment" with progress.

The committee said: "It is not acceptable for the government to claim that consultation cannot take place now because of the need to ratify as soon as possible, when the government delayed its own timetable for ratification in order for departments to agree their positions."

Committee members were concerned over the government's attempt to remove the Armed Forces from the treaty, which they criticised as a deliberate action "to remove a major public authority entirely from a basic provision on non-discrimination in access to employment".

The committee also suggested that the terms on which the UK will ratify the convention cannot be a substitute for direct consultation from disabled people and organisations.

The MPs and peers recommended that should the government decide not to change its position on exemptions then instead of unnecessary "lengthy and futile" discussions, ratification should take place.

The committee also expressed its concern over a reservation on immigration and nationality from the Home Office, criticising it as in attempt to have a "catch-all" protection against rights recognised by the convention.

Chairman of the committee Andrew Dismore said: "When a country ratifies a new human rights treaty it is both a strong signal of its idea and commitment in that area, but also a chance to audit national law and policy, and remove and incompatibility with the rights it is seeking to guarantee by signing this treaty.

"It should not be an opportunity for various departments to make a shopping list of policies and practices they wish to keep unchanged against the spirit and letter of the convention."

ePolitix.com, 17th April 2009