UN Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
 
Organization type Committee
Abbreviation CRPD
management Danlami Basharu
Founded 3 May 2008
Headquarters Geneva
Upper organization Economic and Social Council
 

The Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD ( Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ) is a control body set up by the UN , which ensures the implementation of and compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , CRPD) is controlled by the signatory states and makes recommendations on how they can improve the implementation of the CRPD.

The creation of the CRPD Committee and its tasks are laid down in Art. 34 ff. CRPD. The CRPD consists of 18 experts and meets twice a year for one week in Geneva.

tasks and activities

As a technical committee, it has the task of monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the states that ratified the agreement (Art. 43 CRPD), which is done by examining the state reports (Art. 36 CRPD). If a state has also ratified the Optional Protocol (FP BRK), it is also authorized to examine individual complaints (Art. 1 FP BRK) and to carry out investigations (Art. 6 FP BRK), provided that the states expressly consented to this when the contract was concluded (Art. 8 FP BRK). State complaints are not provided for in the FP BRK. Its competence also depends on the declarations and reservations made by the states when the treaty was concluded (Art. 46 CRP, Art. 14 FP CRP).

The contractual basis - BRK

The Disability Convention is an international treaty created by the UN, which came into force on May 3, 2008. All member states of the UN can accede to this convention and thereby contractually undertake to comply with the provisions of the CRPD and to promote equal opportunities for disabled people and to prevent their social discrimination. In addition, the right to an independent and self-determined life, the same right to a family of one's own, the right to employment, the right to an adequate standard of living and social protection, equal access to education, the same right to participate in public and cultural life and protection against violence , Exploitation and abuse. The optional protocol to the BRK provides for an individual complaint procedure and also came into force on May 3, 2008.

Ratification status

German-speaking countries in force GermanyGermany Germany LiechtensteinLiechtenstein Liechtenstein AustriaAustria Austria SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Disability Rights Convention (BRK) 05/03/08 02/24/09 ---- 09/26/08 04/15/14
Optional protocol to the BRK (FP BRK) 05/03/08 02/24/09 ---- 09/26/08 ----

The Disabled Convention has been ratified by 177 states and the Optional Protocol by 94 states (as of February 2019).

Rules of Procedure

In order to carry out its tasks as defined in Art. 34 ff. BRK, the committee drew up rules of procedure - Rules of Procedure . in which the organization, procedures and responsibilities at the committee are regulated (Art. 34 para. 10 CRPD).

It consists of 4 parts: I. General provisions , II. Tasks of the committee , III Interpretation and amendments and, as an annex, the guidelines for the independence of the committee. Furthermore, it is divided into 15 chapters and contains 97 as generally designated implementing provisions.

The relevant chapters of the Rules of Procedure are:

  • Cape. 12 The reporting procedure of the contracting states according to Art. 35 et seq. BRK
  • Cape. 14 Examination of individual complaints according to Art. 1 FP BRK
  • Cape. 14 Investigation procedure according to Art. 6 FP BRK

State reports

The predominant activity of the committee consists in the evaluation of the periodic reports of the contracting states in which they must explain how they are implementing the treaty (Art. 35 et seq. CRPD). The test procedure is described in chap. 12 of the Rules of Procedure and the committee issued a guideline on how these reports should be submitted.

States parties should the Committee within two years of entry into force of the Agreement an initial report (Engl. Initial report ) submit every four years thereafter a periodic state report (Engl. Periodical reports ). If the committee does not find any significant deficiencies, the simplified reporting procedure can be carried out (rule 48ter Rules of Procedure ).

At the state reporting procedure also can non-governmental organizations (NGOs), national human rights organizations (NHRIs) and disability organizations actively participate and submit parallel reports to the state reports, show an inadequate implementation of BRK by States Parties. In doing so, gaps or errors in the state report can be clarified and deficits pointed out. Such parallel reports can be very informative for the committee (Rule 49 ff. Rules of Procedure).

The committee draws up a list of themes for the purpose of reviewing the report . He then examines the state reports at a public hearing at which they can comment on the questions of the committee. It tries to determine whether the state party is correctly implementing the CRPD and how it can remedy existing deficiencies. For the participation of third parties at the public hearing admission is required (Engl. Accreditation ). If, during the review of the report, the committee finds that the state has not fulfilled its contractual obligations, it can make suggestions and make general recommendations on how to remedy these deficiencies (Art. 36 (5) CRPD). These are referred to as " Concluding Observations ".

These recommendations of the committee are not legally binding. Their implementation cannot be enforced and there are no sanctions against the state concerned.

Since some states are not fulfilling their contractual obligations and are not submitting reports or are late in submitting reports, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) compiled a list in which the states are listed which submit their reports on time (e.g. Italy, the Switzerland etc.) and a list of the countries that are in default (e.g. Germany, Austria, the Vatican etc.).

Individual complaints

The individual complaints are euphemistically referred to as communications . If a state has ratified the Optional Protocol to the BRK (FP BRK), the committee can also examine individual complaints against this contracting state. To this end, he created a model complaint form and a corresponding information sheet.

The procedures for the complaint procedure are described in Chap. 14 of the Rules of Procedure, the formal requirements for individual complaints are listed in Art. 2 FP BRK. The complaint must be submitted in writing, it must not be anonymous and must be written in one of the working languages ​​of the committee, for which the national legal process must be unsuccessful. Only then can a complaint be submitted to the committee, there is no deadline for a complaint, but a complaint is usually no longer accepted after five years ( ratione temporis ). The complaint can be rejected on the grounds that the committee is not competent because the alleged violation is not contained in the CRPD ( ratione materiae ) or it constitutes an abuse of the right to complain. The same complaint may also not be submitted to another international body (e.g. the ECHR , another UN treaty body , etc.).

The complaints submitted to the UN are first formally examined by the Secretariat of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). Then the complaint is either rejected or registered and forwarded to the committee (Rule 55 et seq. Rules of Procedure). No statistics are kept on the number of complaints already rejected by the Secretariat.

If the complaint has been rejected by the secretariat, the complainant is informed of this in a standard letter; the reason is usually insufficient justification , although there is an obligation to clarify (rule 55 Rules of Procedure). If the complaint has been accepted, it will be forwarded to the relevant state for a statement, whereupon the latter can raise the objection of inadmissibility (Art. 3 FP CRK, Rule 70 Rules of Procedure).

The committee then examines the substantive admissibility of the complaint. If he declared the complaint to be inadmissible, then - in contrast to the secretariat - he justified his decision as to the inadmissibility of the complaint. Only afterwards does he deal with the content of the complaint (Art. 71 f. Rules of Procedure). If the committee found a breach of contract, it issues suggestions and recommendations to the state on how to remedy this (Art. 5 CRPD, Rule 73 Rules of Procedure).

The state party concerned is then asked to inform the committee of the implementation of the proposals and recommendations. The recommendations of the committee are not legally binding, their implementation cannot be enforced, only a follow-up procedure is provided in which the implementation of the recommendations by the state is checked (Art. 75 Rules of Procedure). There are no sanctions, it is only mentioned that the committee can take measures without specifying them.

Precautionary measures

When submitting an individual complaint, precautionary measures ( interim measures ) can be requested at the same time (Rule 64 Rules of Procedure) if there is a threat of irreparable damage. Such requests must be marked with Urgent Interim measures as soon as possible so that the Secretariat has enough time to examine the request and - if the complaint was not rejected - to order such measures, if necessary.

The committee can also order such measures of its own accord (Art. 4 FP BRK), but it does not constitute a decision on the admissibility of the complaint or the determination of a breach of contract by the state.

Complaints to the committee and the ECHR

A complaint, for example because of a violation of the prohibition of torture according to Art. 15 CRP and Art. 3 ECHR, may not be submitted to the committee and the ECHR or another UN treaty body at the same time , but a complaint to the committee because of a violation of Art. 20 is permitted BRK Personal Mobility and to file a complaint with the ECHR for a violation of Art. 11 ECHR of freedom of assembly and association , as there is no overlap, but concerns various breaches of contract by the state.

There are complaints that were first submitted to the ECHR, but were not accepted by it, with the standard reasoning: the complaint does not appear to violate the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Convention (ECHR) or its additional protocols . The complaint that was then submitted to the UN Committee was rejected on the grounds that it had allegedly been examined by the ECHR, although the ECHR did not examine the substance of the complaint but did not accept it.

In accordance with decision no. 577/2013 of the CAT committee of February 9, 2016, within the meaning of NB c. Russia for torture. At the same time, the complainant had submitted an identical complaint to the ECHR (No. 33772/13), which is why the CAT committee rejected the complaint (RZ 8.2). In the judgment database HUDOC of the ECHR, however, there is no judgment with the No. 33772/13, as the complaint was refused by the law firm and struck from the register - and therefore not examined by the ECHR.

In contrast to the UN committees, the ECHR rejects individual complaints, which essentially correspond to a complaint previously examined by the ECHR (Art. 35 (2) lit b ECHR). The UN committees will accept such identical complaints until states change their laws and jurisdiction.

Investigation procedure

The Optional Protocol contains an investigative procedure which gives the Committee the authority to conduct investigations if there is reliable information on serious or systematic violations against the CRPD by a contracting state; the participation of the relevant contracting state is sought (Art. 6 et seq. CRPD). This investigation procedure is regulated in Chapter 15 of the Rules of Procedure.

The prerequisite for this is that the state, when ratifying the treaty, acknowledged in a declaration that the committee was responsible for such an investigation procedure (Art. 8 CRPD). So far the committee has carried out two such investigations, one against England and one against Spain. When the contract was signed, Guinea-Bissau and Syria rejected such investigative procedures.

First, the information received is checked (Rule 82 ff. Rules of Procedure), the committee can also carry out investigations on site in the state concerned, provided that the state consents to this. After the investigation procedure has been completed, it forwards the results of the investigation together with any comments and recommendations to the relevant contracting state, which is to inform the committee within six months of the measures taken or intended (Art. 6 para. 3 CRPD).

The committee can examine the implementation of the recommendations in the next state reports (Rule 90 Rules of Procedure) or carry out a follow-up procedure to review the state implementation of the recommendations (Art. 7 CRPD). There are no plans to take coercive measures against the state.

General remarks

The interpretation and clarification of certain provisions in the Anti-Racism Convention, the Committee published General remarks (English. General comments ). They are intended to dispel misunderstandings and to assist the contracting states in fulfilling their contractual obligations.

Additional information

Reports of the state reports

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In addition to Russian, the abbreviation CRPD is used in all other official languages ​​of the committee, including Arabic and Chinese, and also by the German Foreign Office
  2. ↑ On May 3rd, 2008 the treaty came into force, see Art. 45 Para. 1 CRPD. The first election took place after 6 months, Art. 34 Para. 6 CRPD
  3. ↑ a b c d Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Website of the CRPD with detailed information, accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  4. ↑ Human Rights Bodies. UN human rights organs. Published by: High Commissioner for Human Rights , UNHCHR, accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  5. ↑ a b c d Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In: Systematic collection of Swiss federal law . Retrieved February 28, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b The Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Published by Praetor Intermedia UG , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b The Technical Committee. In: The Disability Rights Convention (CRPD). Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on February 23, 2019 .
  8. ^ Membership of the Committee. The committee's experts. Editor: CRPD , accessed on February 23, 2019 .
  9. ^ Introduction of the Committee. Editor: CRPD , accessed on February 25, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Working methods. (pdf) How the CRPD works. Editor: CRPD , accessed on February 23, 2019 . Version: CRPD / C / 5/4 dated September 2, 2011
  11. ↑ The state is only obliged under international law to comply with the treaty after ratification. In Germany, the dualistic system applies, in which the contract must first be transformed into national law before it becomes justiciable. In Lichtenstein, Austria and Switzerland the monistic system applies, according to which the treaty becomes applicable immediately upon ratification.
  12. ↑ a b c d e Optional protocol to the BRK (FP BRK). (PDF) German translation. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on February 27, 2019 .
  13. ^ Individual Communications. Individual complaints to a UN treaty body. Published by UNHCHR , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b Inquiries. Investigation procedure for systemic breaches of contract. Published by UNHCHR , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  15. ^ State-to-state complaints. State complaints procedure. Published by UNHCHR , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  16. ↑ According to Art. 2 WVK, a “reservation” is a unilateral declaration made by a state when it joins a treaty, by means of which the state aims to exclude or change the legal effect of individual treaty provisions in this state
  17. ↑ a b Status of Treaties (BRK). Ratification status, reservations and declarations on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In: Treaty collection of the UN UNTC. Accessed February 28, 2019 .
  18. ↑ a b c d Status of Treaties (FP BRK). Ratification status, reservations and declarations on the FP BRK. In: Treaty collection of the UN UNTC. Retrieved February 23, 2019 .
  19. ↑ a b c Revised Rules of Procedure. Rules of Procedure of the CRPD. Editor: CRPD , accessed on February 23, 2019 . Version: CRPD / C / 1 / Rev.1 dated September 2, 2016
  20. ↑ Reporting Guidelines. Guideline for State Reports. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English). Version: CRPD / C / 2/3 of November 18, 2009
  21. ↑ Guidelines on periodic reporting to the CRPD, including under the simplified reporting procedures. Guideline for periodic reports and the simplified procedure. Accessed February 28, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Simplified reporting procedure. Simplified procedure for state reports. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  23. ^ Information for Civil Society Organizations. Information for NGOs. Accessed February 28, 2019 .
  24. ^ Guidelines for the participation of Disabled Persons Organizations (DPOs). (Word) Guideline for the participation of organizations for the disabled. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  25. ↑ Admission to negotiations with the committee. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  26. ↑ a b Legal instruments. (pdf) In: ABC of Human Rights. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, FDFA, p. 10 , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  27. ↑ UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  28. ^ List of States parties without overdue reports - Late and non-reporting States. Published by UNHCHR , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Model complaint form. Complaint form. Published by CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 . Version: CRPD / C / 5/3 / REV.1 from 06/05/12
  30. ↑ Fact sheet on the communication procedure. Information sheet for individual complaints. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English). Version: CRPD / C / 5/2 / REV.1 of April 12, 2012
  31. ↑ Procedure under the Optional Protocol to the CRPD. Individual complaint procedure at the CRPD. Published by UNHCHR , accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  32. ^ Inquiry Procedure. The investigation procedure. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  33. ↑ Investigation procedures carried out. Ed: CRPD , accessed on February 28, 2019 (English).
  34. ↑ General comments of the CRPD. In: Disability Rights Convention (CRPD). Published by: German Institute for Human Rights , accessed on February 28, 2019 .