The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or the Invisible Convention?

30/01/2024

Written by: Anna Lefèvre

Translated by: Lou Szabo

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted on December 12, 2006, during the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly by resolution A/RES/61/106, and came into force on May 3, 2008^[1]OHCHR (2008) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Ch_IV_15.pdf. According to the UN website, this convention followed years of work and had the largest number of signatories for a UN convention since its establishment in 1945^[2]United Nations (6 May 2022) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-Persons-with-disabilities.html: 82 on the first day and it has reached 186 in 2024.

Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides them with legal protection for the first time, defines the rights of disabled women, aiming to address their lack of representation and recognition^[3]United Nations (25 November 2016) General comment n°3 on Article 6 – women and girls with disabilities. … Continue reading: « 1. State Parties recognize that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discriminations and, in this regard, take measures to ensure their full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. 2. State Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women, with a view to guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in the present Convention »^[4]United Nations, Department of Social and Economical Affairs (2008) Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Preamble, New York. … Continue reading.

The social model of disability has greatly contributed to the signing of this convention in 2008^[5]Lawson A. Angharad E. (2021) The social and human rights models of disability: towards a complementarity thesis, The International Journal of Human Rights, 25:2, 348-379, DOI: … Continue reading, as the definition of disability adopted by this model is also that adopted by the Convention. This model defines disability as resulting from the interaction between impairment and “environmental barriers that limit the full participation of disabled people in society on an equal basis with others”^[6]Définition de la Convention pour les droits des personnes handicapées signée à New York en 2008. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Preamble, New York. (2008). United Nations, … Continue reading.

These individuals often belong to other minority groups. In most countries worldwide, there are more disabled women than men, representing one in five women according to the World Health Organization^[7]UN Women (15 October 2019) Issue Brief: Making the Sdg count for Women and Girls with Disabilities. … Continue reading, when disability affects 15 to 20% of the world’s population, making these individuals the largest minority in the world^[8]World Health Organization (7 March 2023). Disability. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health.

Despite this numerical importance and although organizations advocating for the rights of disabled people globally are old – the Disability Right Education and Defence Fund (DREDF)^[9]Fond pour la défense et l’éducation des handicapés was founded as early as 1979 and is limited to the United States, the same year as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – this struggle and its activists remain invisible, and this everywhere in the world^[10]Heumann, J. & Wodatch J. (26 July 2020) We’re 20 Percent of America, and We’re Still Invisible, The New York Times. … Continue reading. Disabled people are among the most marginalized communities, representing 20% of the poorest people^[11]World Health Organization (14 December 2011), World Report on Disability, 350 p..

To what extent are the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its article 6 on women ignored in practice? Why does it seem so difficult to implement the rights of such a demographically significant minority?

The CRPD: an application still not widespread

The CRPD, adopted in 2006 and entered into force in 2008, is not the first international convention on the rights of disabled people. In 1975, the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons^[12]General Assembly Resolution n°3447 (9 December 1975). Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Person. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-rights-disabled-persons was signed, the first to formally recognize the equality in rights of disabled persons. Then in 1982, the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons^[13]United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (3 December 1982). World Program of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. … Continue reading nd in 1993, the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities were adopted by the UN General Assembly. Unlike the CRPD, all these texts are not legally binding and symbolized at their time “the moral commitment of States to take protective measures in favour of disabled persons”^[14]United Nations (2014) The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities – Training Guide n°19. Professional Training Series. … Continue reading. These texts can therefore be considered as laying the groundwork for this convention^[15]Van Trigt P. (2 August 2019) Equal reproduction rights? The right to found a family in United Nations’ disability policy since the 1970s. The History of the Family, 25(2): 202-213. … Continue reading.

As for the European Union, as early as May 1996, a charter for the rights of autistic persons was adopted^[16]Autism Europe (1996) Charters for Persons with Autism. https://www.autismeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/charter-for-persons-with-autism-1.pdf, while the rights of disabled persons are defined, among others, by the European Social Charter (1961) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1953). The European and Arab charters on human rights, dating respectively from 2000 and 2004, contained chapters prohibiting discrimination against disabled persons.

In June 1999, the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities was born^[17]Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, AG/RES. 1608, 7 June 1999. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3de4cb7d4.html, but it was not ratified by either Canada or the United States. The protection offered by this system has been described as asymmetrical^[18]Quirico O. Jimenez Lobeira P. (2022) The Asymmetries of Disability Rights Protection in the Inter-American System, Inclusive Sustainability. pp. 271-295. … Continue reading due to the pre-existing economic asymmetry between the United States and Latin America, and legal limitations. 

The CRPD internationalizes the issue of ableism, drawing inspiration from existing treaties. It also represents an impetus for the adoption of new measures at the local level, and its application in the signatory countries and UN member states remains an important issue. 15 years later, several countries still have not signed or ratified it. As of January 2024, this is the case for Eritrea, the Vatican^[19]Le Vatican n’aurait pas signé la convention car elle n’adresse pas la question des fétus handicapés.Zittlow J. (2 January 2013) Rights of the disabled, the United States and the Holy See, The … Continue reading, Niue^[20]Le pays a déjà été recommandé de changer la terminologie de son Disability Act, datant de 1966. Better care Network (20 janvier 2013). … Continue reading, and South Sudan^[21]UN Treaty Body Database (n.d- consultée le 16 janvier 2024) Ratification Status for CRPD – Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. … Continue reading In October 2023, the CRPD was ratified by 186 countries^[22]UN Treaty Body Database (n.d- consultée le 16 janvier 2024) Ratification Status for CRPD – Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. … Continue reading and 103 countries ratified its optional protocol, a parallel agreement that establishes mechanisms for individual complaints^[23]Stein Ma. Lord J. (2023) Convention on the Rights of People with Disability, United Nations Audiovisual Library. https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/crpd/crpd_e.pdf. Northern global countries like the United States have not ratified the CRPD^[24]UN Treaty Body Database (n.d). This is particularly surprising considering the influence of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which protects disabled American citizens from discrimination and has had an impact on the authors of the convention^[25]The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (3 December 2020). The United States Still Hasn’t Ratified the Disability Rights Treaty. … Continue reading. The Americans with Disabilities Act has even inspired up to 181 countries for their own legislation^[26]Shapiro J. (24 July 2015) How A Law to Protect Disabled Americans Became Imitated Around The World, NPR. … Continue reading. In 2012, during a vote in the US Senate, the ratification of the CRPD was not passed by the United States, probably due to the Senate’s reluctance to apply an international treaty to a national policy issue^[27]Widakuswara P. (26 July 2022). 32 Years After US Disabilities Act, No Plans to Ratify UN Treaty It Inspired, VOA News. … Continue reading.

The implementation of the CRPD is not widespread, even within countries that have signed and ratified it, and Article 6 on the protection of disabled women is no exception. Thus, although the CRPD represents a legal commitment, the protection of disabled persons remains inadequate. The number of signatures of the optional protocol likely plays a role, as “the Optional Protocol establishes a communication procedure that allows individuals to submit complaints to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities if they believe their rights protected by the Convention have been violated”^[28]Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies au Droit de l’Homme (Juin 2023) Ratifier Le Protocole facultatif à la convention relative aux droits des personnes handicapées, Boîte à Outils. … Continue reading. Signatory countries are supposed to ensure full protection for disabled persons, but the question of implementing the standards of these policies in countries still remains problematic. According to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, it has nevertheless helped EU Member States to galvanize their efforts to advance the rights of disabled persons^[29]European Union Agency of Fundamental Rights (May 2015) Implementing the UNCRPD. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-focus-05-2015-crpd_en.pdf.

One of the main obstacles to this implementation is poverty, which mutually perpetuates the marginalization of these individuals. They have limited access to education, and in the global South, there is a significant gap between the dropout rate of disabled children and others. The most significant gaps, recorded in the 2000s, report 98% of disabled children dropping out in Indonesia, compared to 53% for all Indonesian children^[30]Unesco Institutes for Statistics (2018) Education and Disability: Analysis of Data from 49 Countries. https://uis.unesco.org/en/news/education-and-disability-analysis-data-49-countries. This gap between disabled children and others has intensified over time^[31]Global Partnership for Education (December 2017) Disability Gaps in Education Attainment and Literacy. … Continue reading, despite progress in access to education for disabled children in general^[32]UNICEF (21 December 2021) Database on education for children with disabilities. https://data.unicef.org/resources/education-for-children-with-disabilities/: it is not as rapid as the increase in the total number of enrolled children.

Disabled persons are not adequately considered as a full sociopolitical category and are difficult to define as a social category. Many of them do not have access to a diagnosis^[33]Siddique H. (5 November 2018). Two in five people with learning disabilities not diagnosed in childhood, The Guardian. … Continue reading, especially in regions with limited access to medical treatment, even though they suffer from the symptoms of their disability. This prevents some States that have ratified this convention from granting them the rights they need, but one of the reasons behind this may also be attributed to indifference to the fate of these populations. One reason notably advanced to explain their fate in countries like India^[34]Arjan S. (19 January 2018) Victims of Indifference, Business Line. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/victims-of-indifference/article8158948.ece, despite the existence of laws theoretically defending their rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has also significantly contributed to this isolation^[35]Shafiq F. et al. (July 2021) Social isolation and loneliness are serious health concerns for adults with disabilities. COVID-19 has magnified the problem, Centre for Health and Research … Continue reading.

Significant disparities exist between Northern and Southern countries in the expenditure of funds for inclusive policies, including the application of the CRPD. This practical implementation requires political and social reforms and mobilization of public spending^[36]Center for Inclusive Policy (19 July 2018) Disability inclusive or CRPD compliant budgeting?. https://inclusive-policy.org/budgeting/disability-inclusive-or-crpd-compliant-budgeting/. The lack of existing statistics in many countries prevents the efficient use of these resources, particularly in Namibia where disabled persons still experience social barriers due to a lack of state investment^[37]Chibaya G. (2021) United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (UNCRPD) Implementation: Perspectives of Persons with Disabilities in Namibia, Occupation Therapy International. … Continue reading. The budgetary issue is broad and not limited to the amount of allocated spending, although it clearly implies that the government must contribute economically to the development of inclusion^[38]UN Women (2019) Human Rights of Women and Girls with Disability. A Brief Guide to the Intersectional approach. … Continue reading. Within the EU, according to the Academic Network of Experts in Disability (ANED), in 2017, 2.1% of the budget was allocated to inclusion. In Southern countries like Zambia, however, while the budget allocated to inclusive programs increased by 80% between 2019 and 2022, despite a decrease in 2023, the budget for the inclusivity of disabled persons does not exceed 0.03%^[39]UNICEF (2023) Disability Budget Brief, Promoting Inclusive Budgeting. https://www.unicef.org/esa/media/12561/file/UNICEF-Zambia-Budget-Brief-Disability-2023.pdf.

The budgetary aspect also raises a central question: for which policies should this money be used? What use of this budget would enable countries to respect the standards of the CRPD?

The implementation of the CRPD does not just involve inclusive laws and measures to ensure the inclusion of these individuals. This convention requires a paradigm shift towards the definition of disability chosen by the UN and the convention. While some supranational bodies, such as the European Parliament, have also called for such a paradigm shift^[40]European Parliament (13 December 2022) Disability Rights: Parliament calls for a paradigm shift. … Continue reading, specifying that the budget should not be used for measures isolating disabled persons, this requires a change in mentality that is not yet universal.

The definition of disability proposed by the convention is not insignificant, as it does not simply define disability as an impairment. The convention of 1975 defines a disabled person as “a person unable to take care of themselves, entirely or partially […] because of a deficiency”^[41]OHCHR, (9 December 1975) Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, art. 1. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/declaration-rights-disabled-persons. The 2006 convention, on the other hand, emphasizes that disability is a concept that evolves and adds the interaction with the obstacles and discriminations that the person experiences. This is the social model of disability^[42]Kazou K. (September 2017). Analysing the Definition of Disability in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: is it really based on a ‘Social Model’ approach?, … Continue reading, it places great importance on how society disables non-disabled people. A model and a definition that struggle to be adopted to replace medical and charitable approaches.

Thus, while this model rather advocates for the deinstitutionalization of disabled persons^[43]Adrien L. Sarrazin C. (2022) La désinstitutionnalisation : fermer les établissements médico-sociaux ? Handicap: Pour une révolution participative, pp. 51-72. … Continue reading, advocated regionally by the European Disability Forum^[44]European Disability Forum (nd.) Independent living and deinstitutionalization Policy. https://www.edf-feph.org/independent-living-and-de-institutionalisation-policy/ and anti-psychiatric movements, the convention only published guidelines in 2022^[45]United Nations (9 September 2022) CRPD/C/5: Guidelines on deinstitutionalization, including in emergencies (2022). … Continue reading. The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of disabled persons was moved after a visit by the rapporteur to France in 2017 and Belgium in 2019 and urged both countries to adopt a plan for the closure of institutions^[46]ENIL EU (28 July 2022) The need for strategies of deinstitutionalization. https://enil.eu/the-need-for-strategies-on-deinstitutionalisation/, reiterating his demands in 2021. However, it took the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly isolated disabled persons, for texts to be published^[47]UN Treaty Bodies (1 April 2020) Joint Statement: Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19 by the Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on behalf of the … Continue reading. This contrasts with Croatian policy, which implemented deinstitutionalization plans even before its integration into the European Union^[48]Human Rights Watch (23 September 2010) “Once You Enter, You Never Leave” Deinstitutionalization of Persons with Intellectual or Mental Disabilities in Croatia. … Continue reading.

On one hand, this social model is difficult to impose in member countries^[49]United Nations (n.d) Introduction to the Committee. https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crpd/introduction-committee, and on the other hand, the UN is clear about the place of this model as the one it advocates. France and Djibouti were therefore questioned in 2021 for their approach and legislation on disability, which apply a medicalized approach, and therefore stigmatizing^[50]United Nations (15 September 2021) UN Disability Rights Committee issues findings on Djibouti and France. … Continue reading.

The social model favours concrete political action to change society^[51]Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (n.d) Disability in the Political and Social Context. … Continue reading, and considers the interaction between the impairment suffered by the persons concerned and the discriminations they suffer. This concrete political action must combat ableist stereotypes. However, although the model advocated by the UN corresponds to the definition of the social approach to disability, it prefers the formulation “human rights approach”^[52]United Nations (n.d) Introduction to the Committee. https://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crpd/introduction-committee. In its introduction to the CRPD, the UN describes this model as being built on the social model^[53]United Nations (2022) Introducing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability. … Continue reading.

There are differences between the UN model and the social model, without them being opposed^[54]Disability Advocacy Resource Unit (n.d) How does the human rights model differ from the social model of disability?, daru.org. … Continue reading. First, the human rights model takes more into account the specificity of the impairments suffered by disabled persons. It places disabled persons in a position of expertise on the specific disability they suffer from, is interested in the role of government, while the social model focuses more on the role of society. Finally, it prefers to emphasize equity rather than inequality, not forgetting the significant role played by impairment in the impairment/discrimination dichotomy.

The social model provides more of a description of disability, while the human rights model codifies the CRPD and provides more detailed guidelines for inclusion policies^[55]Lawson A. Angharad E. (2021) The social and human rights models of disability: towards a complementarity thesis, The International Journal of Human Rights, 25:2, 348-379, DOI: … Continue reading. These differences, however, are minimal, as both frameworks complement each other. Thus, they have important commonalities and are much more similar to each other than to the medical model; both view disability from a constructivist perspective. Moreover, these two models are more consistent with an intersectional approach to disability, as they consider the additional difficulties faced by women, who are forced to conform to the expectations of both patriarchy and ableist society^[56]Scholars for Elevating Equity and Diversity (SEED). 2023. Shifting the discourse on disability: Moving to an inclusive, intersectional focus, Orthopsychiatry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36265035/.

The implementation of Article 6 of the convention: an invisible cause?

Women with disabilities are particularly marginalized, especially in Southern countries where 75% of them live. They are more affected than the average disabled person by the discriminations mentioned earlier, including illiteracy and unemployment. In the global South, only 1% of them can read^[57]UN Women (15 October 2019) Issue Brief: Making the Sdg count for Women and Girls with Disabilities. … Continue reading. In the United States, the unemployment rate for women with disabilities has halved in ten years but remains higher than that of men^[58]Office Disability Employment Policy (2023) Women with Disabilities and the Labor Market. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ODEP/pdf/Women_with_Disabilities_and_the_Labor_Market.pdf, and in Poland, they are only half as likely to be in the workforce as disabled men^[59]Pawłowska-Cyprysiak K. Konarska M. (2013) Working life of women with disabilities–a review. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics. Vol. 19. … Continue reading. In countries like Ghana, the proportion of unemployed disabled women can reach 60%, almost 20% higher than men^[60]Naami A. (2015) Disability, gender, and employment relationships in Africa: The case of Ghana, Afr J. Disabil. 4(1): 95. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5433490/. However, globally, 70% of disabled people are neither unemployed nor in employment^[61]ILOSTAT (13 June 2022) New ILO database highlights labour market challenges of persons with disabilities. … Continue reading, but are simply considered inactive. There is a significant gender gap, with 80% of disabled women being inactive, compared to 47% of disabled men^[62]UN Women (15 October 2019) Issue Brief: Making the Sdg count for Women and Girls with Disabilities. … Continue reading.

Sexist stereotypes play a role in their invisibility, as do ableist stereotypes. For example, women with disabilities are desexualized: they are too often seen as having no sexual or emotional life. This leads to a lack of access to sexual education and defence against sexual violence. The intersection of ableism and misogyny makes disabled women much more vulnerable to sexual violence, with 80% of them experiencing it in their lifetime^[63]Piot A. (2015) Violences du genre, Violence du Handicap, L’Harmattan. They suffer violence especially when placed in institutions, where they are in situations of submission and dependence. This makes it even more difficult for them to defend themselves against this violence, if this institutional model is not questioned^[64]Women Enabled International (n.d.) Access to Justice for Women and Girls with disabilities. … Continue reading.

Some anti-ableist activists have described women with disabilities as “woman enough to be raped but too disabled to be believed”^[65]Slogan des Dévalideuses, groupe féministe français anti-validiste. http://lesdevalideuses.org/appel-a-manifester-samedi-19-novembre/. Moreover, when they manage to overcome the barriers to access to justice, they risk not being believed, not being able to testify for intellectual or psychological disabilities, or receiving legal protection, even when legal protection tools are made available^[66]Women Enabled International (n.d.) Access to Justice for Women and Girls with disabilities. … Continue reading,^[67]Anrows (2018) Women, disability and violence: Barriers to accessing justice: Key findings and future directions, 12 p.. Courts may also be physically inaccessible, an issue also highlighted by feminist organizations, such as Women Enabled International. Demonstrations against this sexual, sexist, and ableist violence have taken place around the world, such as in Mexico in 2020^[68]Human Rights Watch (25 November 2023) Protect Women with Disabilities from Violence in Mexico. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/25/protect-women-disabilities-violence-mexico, or in Kenya in 2019^[69]Saya M. (20 May 2019). Disabled Women protest increased violence, The Star.

The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) does not contain an article specifically related to the protection of disabled people, unlike the CRPD^[70]Human Rights Instruments for Women with Disability (10 February 2016) Global Disability Rights now!. https://miusa.globaldisabilityrightsnow.org/human-rights-instruments-women-disabilities/. That is why, as early as 1991, general recommendations were added to CEDAW for disabled women^[71]IV. General Recommendations Adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Tenth session (1991) General recommendation n°18: Disabled women. … Continue reading, including Recommendation No. 18, which is based on the 1982 World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons. However, specific laws and guidelines on the subject seem to be lacking, and while the human rights-based model places great importance on the voice and experience of disabled people, it was not until 2018 that a disabled woman, Ana Peláez Narváez from Spain, was elected to the CEDAW committee^[72]UN Women (2019) Human Rights of Women and Girls with Disability. A Brief Guide to the Intersectional approach. … Continue reading.

Would the intersection between misogyny and ableism, therefore, be a major oversight in international treaties?

Some practices, although considered by the UN as serious human rights violations, are still legal in several countries, without any global treaties deciding on their prohibition^[73]OHCHR (24 October 2017) Forced sterilization of young women with disabilities must end, UN rights expert says. … Continue reading. For example, the sterilization of women with disabilities is not yet banned everywhere, despite the violation of human rights that it represents^[74]Versavel H. (2023) La stérilisation des femmes porteuses de handicap : la violation invisibilisée de leurs droits sexuels et reproductifs, Institut du Genre en Géopolitique. … Continue reading. 31 states in the United States, the majority, still allow it. Its prohibition at the European Union level is still under discussion within the framework of the Directive on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence^[75]Felix A. (25 November 2023) A silenced truth – stories of forced sterilisation in the EU, European Disability Forum. … Continue reading, and is only criminalized in nine EU countries. The lack of official prohibition is called a “hidden shame”^[76]Euronews (19 June 2023) Europe’s hidden shame. https://www.euronews.com/2023/06/19/forced-steralisation-still-legal-in-many-countires: disabled women are eight times more vulnerable to sterilization than non-disabled women^[77]Felix A. (25 November 2023) A silenced truth – stories of forced sterilisation in the EU, European Disability Forum. … Continue reading. Three European countries even allow it on minors: Hungary, Portugal, and the Czech Republic^[78]Costil C. (23 septembre 2022) Stérilisation forcée : des pratiques controversées en Europe, Handicap.fr. … Continue reading. This issue highlights the lack of bodily autonomy granted to disabled people, and especially to disabled women, as well as the continuation of these abuses in the global North.

Globally, these new long-term programs, such as the SDGs, increasingly integrate disability-related issues, including from an intersectional perspective, and give greater importance to the CRPD.

Significant progress has been made in considering the intersectionality between gender and disability. CEDAW adopted recommendations in 2022 concerning the rights of women and girls from indigenous peoples, which are already intersectional. These women represent globally 476 million people^[79]International Disability Alliance (1 November 2022) CEDEF Committee adopts General recommendation n°39 on the rights of Indigenous Women and Girls: 30 references to disability and to indigenous … Continue reading. 30 references to disabled indigenous women and girls are integrated, emphasizing the importance of an intersectional analysis, specifying that states should collect information about disabled indigenous women, access to sign language and other communication supports, age, access, aids available to them, etc^[80]CEDEF (2022) General recommendation n°39 (2022) on the rights of Indigenous Women and Girls. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/cedef_GR_C_39_AUV.docx. This is an issue that still lacks visibility and continues to be marginalized despite international standards.

The marginalization of these disabled women makes it difficult to help them. In addition, disabled people have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic^[81]UNDP (19 June 2023) Re-thinking disability inclusion for the SDGs. https://www.undp.org/blog/re-thinking-disability-inclusion-sdgs, including socially. The long-term consequences of the health crisis are only beginning to be studied. Several scientists have called this a violation of human rights^[82]Skogedal M. (15 December 2023) Persons with developmental disabilities were socially isolated during the pandemic. Universitet i Agdar. … Continue reading, with consequences far from being fully studied

The intersection between ableism and LGBTI+phobia is just beginning to be recognized, although LGBTI+ people are more likely to be disabled than average, due to the discriminations they face. Moreover, neuroatypical people are more likely to be LGBT+ than average^[83]Human Rights Campaign (8 December 2022) Understanding Disability in the LGBTQ+ community. https://www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-disabled-lgbtq-people. For similar reasons, disabled people are more numerous in all minority and oppressed groups^[84]Devault N. (10 July 2023). What is Disability Pride?, America’s Disability Community. https://www.ameridisability.com/how-to-display-disability-pride. In a survey by the National Centre for Transgender Equality, conducted in 2015 on 26,000 American trans people, 39% of respondents reported having a disability^[85]National Center for Transgender Equality (2016) The report of the 2015 U.S Transgender Survey. 302 p. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf. A survey conducted in Washington also indicates that one-third of non-heterosexual women have a disability^[86]Movement Advancement Project. (July 2019) LGBT People with Disability. https://www.lgbtmap.org/file/LGBT-People-With-Disabilities.pdf. The CRPD website notably offers a podcast on this intersection^[87]LGBT+ Disability, CRPD. https://www.crpd.org.mt/lgbtdisability/. In 2017, ILGA, in partnership with Russian and Australian LGBT groups, requested in writing a supplement to Article 5 of the CRPD on equality and non-discrimination, to add a passage on the intersection between disability and LGBT-phobias^[88]ILGA (7 July 2017) Written submissions relating to the Outline of the draft General Comment on article 5 – equality and non-discrimination.

The question of overlaps and comparisons between CEDAW and the CRPD was addressed in the early years of the implementation of the latter. Texts have been published by UN Women on the joint implementation of these texts in Asia, Australia, Ukraine^[89]UN Women (2019) Human Rights of Women and Girls with Disability. A Brief Guide to the Intersectional approach. … Continue reading. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) does not contain an article specifically related to the protection of disabled people, unlike the CRPD. That is why, as early as 1991, general recommendations were added to CEDAW for disabled women, including Recommendation No. 18, which is based on the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons of 1982. In 2010, the implementation of the intersection between these two conventions was studied, notably in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Nepal. These are the only two international treaties explicitly condemning stereotypes.

Regarding the issue of sexual violence, it is problematic that CEDAW does not contain a specific article on one of the groups most affected by this violence. Most guidelines on this subject are found in optional documents.

What perspectives for better implementation of the convention and better respect for the rights of disabled people?

The issue of the rights of disabled people has become a sustainable development issue for the UN, WHO, and UN Women. New texts have emerged after 2008 for the defence of the rights of disabled people. In 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were established as part of the 2030 Agenda, with 169 targets, with a section dedicated to disability^[90]World Health Organization (14 October 2019) Disability: fact sheet on Sustainable Development Goals (‎SDGs)‎: health targets. … Continue reading, which allocates three points to the health of these women (without dedicating a specific chapter to them). UN Women published in 2019 recommendations concerning disabled women, where six priorities are identified: discrimination, violence, vulnerability to sexist practices, lack of recognition of domestic work, political engagement, access to sexual and reproductive care. The main objective is to fight against the poverty and invisibility of disabled women^[91]UN Women (15 October 2019) Issue Brief: Making the Sdg count for Women and Girls with Disabilities. … Continue reading. Fighting poverty and sexist violence should be a priority, as women are more likely to be disabled due to sexist violence or lack of access to obstetric care^[92]UN Women (15 October 2019) Issue Brief: Making the Sdg count for Women and Girls with Disabilities. … Continue reading.

The balance sheet for 2023 is rich. On September 26, the European Union issued a motion for the harmonization of the rights of autistic people, which places significant emphasis on combating violence against autistic women. UN Women published the document “Gender and Disability Responsive Budgeting: Issues and Policy Options”^[93]Center for Inclusive Policy (19 July 2018) Disability inclusive or CRPD compliant budgeting?. https://inclusive-policy.org/budgeting/disability-inclusive-or-crpd-compliant-budgeting/ on the management of the budget allocated to this cause. The organization recognizes that CRPD standards have still not been applied in national policies. The text addresses recommendations to state actors as well as civil society organizations, for an intersectional approach to this budget.

The goals presented by the UN or UN Women are long-term^[94]United Nations (n.d) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-and-disability. In its humanitarian strategy for 2022-2025^[95]UN Women (2023) UN Women Humanitarian Strategy (2022-2025) in brief. 22 p. https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-08/un-women-humanitarian-strategy-2022-2025-in-brief-en.pdf, UN Women proposes to collect gender-specific, age-specific, and disability-specific data, in accordance with the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda to “leave no one behind”^[96]Kharas H. (2019) Leave No One Behind: Time for Specifics on the Sustainable Development Goals. Brookings Institution Press. In anticipation of 2024^[97]United Nations – Economic and Social Council (4 December 2023). Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled … Continue reading, during a follow-up conference to the 23rd session of the General Assembly of “Women in the Year 2000: Gender Equality, Development, and Peace for the 21st Century”, the issue of disabled women was treated as a priority. At the regional level, the states of the Asia-Pacific region adopted for the decade 2023-2032^[98]Commission économique et sociale pour l’Asie et le Pacifique (22 mai 2023) Résolution adoptée par la Commission économique et sociale pour l’Asie et le Pacifique le 19 mai 2023. … Continue reading the Jakarta Declaration on Disabled Persons in the Asia-Pacific, recalling that an inter-ministerial declaration had already been signed for the previous decade, considered a success. The declaration cites the SDGs, as well as the Pacific Framework for the Rights of Disabled Persons, in force until 2025^[99]Pacific Framework for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2016-2025) A regional framework to support national government actions on inclusive development for the rights of persons with … Continue reading and notes the aging of the population as a cause of the increase in the disabled population^[100]United Nations Economic and Social Council (2 September 2022) Jakarta Declaration on the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2023–2032. … Continue reading.

Recommendations

The implementation of the CRPD requires various changes. Pre-existing inequalities are reflected in the treatment of disabled people.

Working on the implementation of the social model and the human rights model appears to be a priority. A better consideration of the discriminations that afflict people concerned by a disability also requires recognition of how these discriminations interact. A more intersectional vision of disability is therefore necessary.

At the same time, the issue of the rights of blind, deaf, autistic people, etc. should not be separated from the issue of the rights of disabled people in general. Asked about this in June 2023, French activist Marie Rabatel, who has worked with UNESCO^[101]Lefevre A. (2023) Nothing About Us Without Us: Autism as a political issue in France and Poland, A Comparative perspective, Jagiellonian University. https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/323260 insists extensively on not considering the issue of autism independently of the issue of disability in general. However, precise data collection is recommended by several NGOs, and involves classifying them by gender, age, but also by type of disability.

Justice systems and human rights defence bodies must be accessible and allow disabled people to know their rights. These women and girls must therefore be better educated, particularly regarding their sexual and reproductive rights and health.