This book is based on a conference organised jointly by the editors to mark the European Year of Disabled People. It explores the range of legal strategies which have been adopted,both nationally and internationally, to achieve equality for disabled people and facilitate their inclusion into mainstream society. It examines current developments in anti-discrimination law, both within Member States and at EU level. It also assesses the effectiveness and potential of the human rights framework for disabled Europeans. In addition, a number of approaches to the enforcement and promotion of disability rights are considered. Contributors to this book, drawn from across Europe, represent a variety of different backgrounds. They include leading academics in the field, as well as campaigners and others working to improve or enforce disability-related legislation. The book is a unique and timely contribution to an important and rapidly expanding field of study. It will be of relevance to all those, whether lawyers or not, with an interest in disability and equality issues.

This Research Handbook comes at an opportune time, and provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging exploration of relevant developments concerning disability rights at EU level. It also looks beyond the EU, focusing on how disability has been relevant in EU external relations. In addition, the Research Handbook considers the interface between EU disability law and Council of Europe law.

This volume describes the extraordinary success of the international political movement of people with disabilities to include disability as a human rights issue. The authors are renowned disability rights attorneys, university professors, and activists who practice, teach and work internationally. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

The first textbook on international and European disability law and policy, analysing the interaction between different legal systems and sources.

Recognising the right to live in the community is about enabling people to live their lives to their fullest within society and access the public sphere. A precondition for anyone to enjoy all their human rights, this right is taken for granted by the majority of the population, but is often denied to persons with disabilities, who are instead placed in segregated institutions or in settings which isolate them from the rest of the community. This Issue Paper describes the challenges faced by Council of Europe member states in complying with this right. It traces the right of people with disabilities to live independently and be included in the community to its origins in the most fundamental human rights standards both within the Council of Europe and United Nations systems. The paper draws on Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to identify the various forms that violations of this right can take, and provides guidance for community-based responses governed by choice, in order to achieve inclusion and participation. The paper shows the link between the right to live in the community and other rights, notably the rightto equal recognition before the law (legal capacity). The Issue Paper ends with a sample of indicators and guidance questions to assess the transition from violationto implementation of the right to live in the community. The Commissioner’s recommendations on the right to live independently and be included in the community are published at the beginning of the document.

The International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the first human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations in the 21st century. It seeks to secure the equal and effective enjoyment of human rights for the estimated 650 million persons with disabilities in the world. It does so by tailoring gerneral human rights norms to their circumstances. It reflects and advances the shift away from welfare to rights in the context of disability. The Convention itself represents a mix between non-discrimination and other substantive human rights and gives practical effect to the idea that all human rights are indivisible and interdependent. This collection of essays examines these developments from the global, European and Scandinavian perspectives and the challenge of transposing its provisions into national law. It marks the coming of age of disabilty as a core human rights concern.

This book investigates the implementation of disability rights and duties in the European Union, aiming to understand its functioning and explore ways forward through a critical analysis of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) within the context of international regulation. Along the lines of the integration of fundamental rights within the common market, the EU has indeed progressively adopted meaningful regulation to advance disability rights, which are now essentially shaped by the CRPD. The research considers the interaction between law and policy at the international, EU and Member States’ level, focusing on three essential elements, including the sources of disability law, institutional mechanisms and substantive regulation. Grounded in the distinction between primary rules on law-making and secondary norms on enforcement, the analysis unfolds against the background of the ‘twin’ transitions on sustainability and digitalisation and encompasses the Council of Europe system, particularly in the light of the foreseeable accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights. Arguably, following the progressive development it has facilitated in other regulatory areas, the Court of Justice of the European Union can provide a decisive contribution to advancing inclusiveness for people with disabilities in the Union. The book is a useful resource for practitioners, policymakers, academics, students, researchers and anyone interested in EU and international disability law and politics.