Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, also known as the Disability Rights Convention, was adopted by many countries in December 2006. An important fundamental principle of the Disability Rights Convention is the inclusion of persons with disabilities in society.
By signing the convention, the signatory states committed themselves to creating or expanding conditions in all areas of society that take into account the concerns, needs, and interests of people with disabilities.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has also been in force in Germany since 2009, but it has not yet been fully implemented and represents a major challenge for the Federal Republic of Germany. In Germany, the German Institute for Human Rights in Berlin has been tasked with monitoring and promoting the implementation of the Convention as an independent body. The institute is involved in many areas of inclusion. The historical development can be found in the timeline “Inclusion as a human right” on the institution's homepage.
Of course, there is also an international committee in which experts from the individual signatory states work on how and whether the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is being implemented correctly. This is bindingly agreed in Article 34 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In June 2011, the German federal government developed a “national action plan for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” in which many people with disabilities and organizations working on behalf of people with disabilities were involved under the motto “nothing about us without us.” The main objectives of the Convention are to promote the rights of people with intellectual, mental, or physical impairments in relation to the following areas:
• Equal rights and non-discrimination of people with disabilities
• An adequate standard of living and social protection
• Accessibility (construction, housing, transportation, access to information, cultural life, leisure activities)
• Measures that deprive people of their liberty and structural violence
• Prevention of discrimination based on disability, skin color, gender, cultural and/or religious orientation, age, or sexual orientation
• Independent living and inclusion in the community
• Health, rehabilitation, and work (the right to access the world of work)
• Education and training
On the homepage of Jürgen Dusel, Commissioner of the Federal Government for Matters relating to Disabled Persons, you can download the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” here.
What is inclusion? | My life with inclusion | Demands | Links on the topic of inclusion
