scholarly journals THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE PROMOTION OF ELITE DISABILITY SPORT: A WORLDWIDE ANALYSIS

2018 ◽  
pp. 119-138
Author(s):  
Jaime Prieto ◽  
Juan L. Paramio-Salcines

Little attention has been focused on the analysis of the interrelation between disability and elite disability sport from the human rights perspective as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) demands of those countries that ratified this global regulation. More than a decade since its promulgation in December 2006, the United Nations itself and a plethora of authors recognises that disability in general and disability sport by extension has not yet been seen as a human rights issue in many countries, principally in developing countries. This paper is divided into four main parts. First, academic literature in relation to disability, human rights policy and sport at elite level is explored. Second, it examines the active role of the International Paralympic Committee, regarded as a major advocate for the rights of the sport promotion of athletes with disabilities, to implement the Convention by the organisation of sports events for Paralympic athletes worldwide at all levels of the sport development continuum. Third, it explains the methods and data collection followed in the study and the following section presents results of the analysis. Finally, it draws an international scenario that might be valuable in informing academics, institutions and professionals to promote elite disability sport from the human rights perspective.

Author(s):  
Kovudhikulrungsri Lalin ◽  
Hendriks Aart

This chapter examines Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Personal mobility is a prerequisite for inclusion in a society. According to the European Court of Human Rights, to be mobile and to have access to transport, housing, cultural activities, and leisure is a precondition for the ‘right to establish and develop relations with other human beings’, ‘in professional or business contexts as in others’. The CRPD does not establish new rights for persons with disabilities. It is merely thought to identify specific actions that states and others must take to ensure the effectiveness and inclusiveness of all human rights and to protect against discrimination on the basis of disability. However, the fact that there is no equivalent of the right to personal mobility in any other human rights treaty makes it particularly interesting to examine the genesis and meaning of this provision.


Author(s):  
Broderick Andrea

This chapter examines Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The article sets out the general obligations under the CRPD with a view to encouraging national legal and policy reform and guiding domestic implementation of the Convention. The content of Article 4 is of cross-cutting application, since it contains overarching principles that permeate the text of the Convention as a whole. The obligations contained in the article thus seek to contextualize the interpretation of the substantive provisions of the Convention. Article 4 enumerates both general obligations and specific obligations. This distinguishes it from similar provisions in other human rights treaties, which are more in the nature of general obligations of compliance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 68-70
Author(s):  
J. Maphisa Maphisa

The Mental Disorders Act of 1969 is the primary legislation relating to mental health in Botswana. Despite the country not being a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, its Act has a self-rated score of four out of five on compliance to human rights covenants. However, it can be argued that the Act does not adequately espouse a human rights- and patient-centred approach to legislation. It is hoped that ongoing efforts to revise the Act will address the limitations discussed in this article.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Broderick

The traditional dichotomy of rights between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights, on the other hand, has been increasingly eroded in scholarly and judicial discourse. The interdependence of the two sets of rights is a fundamental tenet of international human rights law. Nowhere is this interdependence more evident than in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or UN Convention). This article examines the indivisibility and interdependence of rights in the CRPD and, specifically, the positive obligations imposed on States Parties to the UN Convention, in particular the reasonable accommodation duty. The aim of the paper is to analyse, from a disability perspective, the approach adopted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR or ‘Strasbourg Court’) in developing the social dimension of certain civil and political rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), namely Articles 2 and 3 (on the right to life and the prohibition on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, respectively), Article 8 (on the right to private and family life) and Article 14 ECHR (on non-discrimination). Ultimately, this paper examines the influence of the CRPD on the interpretation by the Strasbourg Court of the rights of persons with disabilities under the ECHR. It argues that, while the Court is building some bridges to the CRPD, the incremental and often fragmented approach adopted by the Court could be moulded into a more principled approach, guided by the CRPD.


Author(s):  
Bantekas Ilias

This chapter examines Article 46 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which deals with the issue of reservations. Reservations are a common feature of multilateral treaties, although there are calls to reduce their frequency or volume in human rights or treaties of a humanitarian nature. The legal effect of a reservation is to exclude or modify the binding nature of a treaty provision for the reserving state. In the context of a universal human rights treaty this entails several dangers. For one thing, since the CRPD claims not to create new rights but instead relies on existing ones, any reservation thereto will automatically constitute a regression on entrenched rights, something that is unacceptable. In equal manner, since the vast majority of the ‘existing’ rights in the CRPD are also part of customary international law, reservations thereto will negate customary obligations, which is again unacceptable.


2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-95
Author(s):  
Avril Mullane ◽  
John Bosco Conama ◽  
Robert Fourie

Background: Deaf individuals are often subject to legislation expressing deafness in medical or disability terms, which neglects sociolinguistic domains. Objective: To evaluate Irish legislation relevant to Deaf individuals and the recognition of Irish Sign Language (ISL), in light of international human rights obligations. Method: The Equal Status Act (2000), The Equality Act (2004), The Disability Act (2005), The Education Act (1998), and The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN 2004) were evaluated in the light of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2008), with particular reference to sociolinguistic issues affecting Deaf communities in Ireland. Results and conclusion: The sociolinguistic rights of Irish Deaf communities are not explicitly safeguarded within current Irish law because lawgivers have failed to adequately consult these communities when constructing legislation.


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