Persons with disabilities: rights and dignity, United Nations legally binding instrument

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Elizabeth LYNNE (ELDR, United Kingdom) on the rights and dignity of the disabled. (Please the document dated 09/07/03.) Parliament noted that the Member States do not have specific regulations that take into account the special circumstances of disabled people in general terms, and that their judicial systems perpetuate great disparities in this area. The measures the EU has adopted with regard to disabled people have been minimal and relate almost exclusively to the establishing of a general framework for equal treatment in employment in the context of the combating of discrimination laid down in Article 13 TEC. The EU must introduce a Directive on the rights of disabled people, regardless of the outcome of the UN proceedings. Parliament went on to call on the Member States to include in the future EU constitution a specific reference to the 'protection of the rights of disabled people'. It also felt that all measures proposed on the legal basis of Article 13 TEC should move from unanimity to qualified majority voting. Finally, the European Parliament considered that the objectives of the Convention should be: - to afford disabled people full protection of their human rights; - to clarify existing rights and tailor them to the needs of disabled people including by tackling barriers that hinder the full enjoyment of rights; - to facilitate the fulfilment of the aspirations of disabled people, and to help them unlock their potential; -to prioritise disabled people on policy agendas and to increase international cooperation and knowledge; - to have a permanent mechanism for monitoring the human rights of disabled people in the world.�