Behinderung und Entwicklungs­zusammen­arbeit e.V.

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Since then, it is binding for all member states. Nevertheless there still are violations of these universal rights in many countries. Often, people with disabilities have problems to assert their rights.
Since the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into effect in May 2008, there exists a legal foundation of the rights for people with disabilities. That way, they can refer to an international settlement to demand their fundamental rights:

• equality before the law
• right to personal freedom
• protection against abuse and violence
• protection of physical inviolability, freedom of movement and privacy
• right to education, health, labour and occupation
• right to a reasonable standard of living

The convention tends to demonstrate people with disabilities as equal members of society who have the right to participation and self-determination. They are not beneficiaries of social services but active members of society, who contribute to the social and economic development. Precondition for this purpose is the access to education, health care, labour, transport and culture.
The integration of people with disabilities into development projects and programmes is especially mentioned, article 32 of the convention demands explicitly “[…] that international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities.“
In Germany, the UN Convention was ratified in March 2009, since then it has the same status as a German law.
UN-Konvention: Broschüre des Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für die Belange behinderter Menschen (pdf, 9,95 mb).