24 Aug How to “Create” a New Human Right: the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The BBC reports that delegates in New York appear to be close to an agreement on a Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This new, potentially expansive human rights treaty, will be submitted to the U.N. General Assembly this September and then opened for signatures and ratifications in the fall.
I don’t have any views on the substance of the treaty (yet). I do think the treaty is a useful example of the modern mechanisms for creating international human rights. This Convention (rightly or wrongly) is the product of lots of hard work and lobbying by national and international non-governmental organizations that advocate on behalf of the disabled. Governments are involved, of course, but the CRPD may be a classic NGO-driven treaty that is the result of the increasing effectiveness of NGOs in the international sphere.
An excellent philosophical and ethical discussion that may help one appreciate the need for such a convention is found in Martha Nussbaum’s Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006), pp. 96-223.
In addition, Jonathan Wolff, of the Philosophy Dept., University College London, has a well-argued paper, ‘Disability among Equals,’ available for download at his website: http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctyjow/
Update (I hope you don’t mind Professor Ku): From the JURIST we learn: ‘The US has indicated, however, that it will not sign [New Standard report] the new international accord, insisting that US domestic measures on the federal, state and local levels are already adequate for the purpose. Critics say the US position is a slight to the principle of international regulation and monitoring. The treaty is expected to take effect in 2008 or 2009 after the necessary number of ratifications has been reached.’ From the The New Standard: “Our view is that the US actually already has in existence on the federal level, the state level and the local level a very good framework of laws and practices to assist citizens with disabilities,” Paul Denig, with the US State Department, told The NewStandard, referring to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). “In our view, this treaty would not add to that.” In response to a question about whether the ADA is stronger than the draft UN convention, Denig said they are “two different instruments and we do not want to rank them, particularly since the disabilities convention is still under negotiation.” Silvia Yee, staff attorney at the California-based… Read more »