Agenda item

Agenda item

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Proposed by Councillor Tidball, seconded by Councillor Paule

Labour member motion

The Conservative government, and their coalition partners, has failed disabled people. It has failed to protect their human rights and to understand what it means to be a disabled person living in the United Kingdom today. In August of this year, the United Nations told the Conservative government that it's ‘social cuts policy is a human catastrophe for disabled people’. In their full inquiry, published last month, the UN Committee found reliable evidence [i] that there have been ‘grave’ and ‘systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities’ by the UK State. They make a direct connection between the State’s treatment of disabled people and the terrible rise in stigma and negative perceptions of people with disabilities ‘as living a life of less value than that of others’. Make no mistake about the impact this has had on disabled people:

·         13,900 of them have lost their motability cars;

·         41,792 were sanctioned and deprived of income from Job Seekers Allowance;

·         2,380 people died after being assessed as being fit for work [ii].

The UK Government has failed to recognise the overwhelming evidence provided to the United Nations and respond effectively to the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations.

Nature of the problem

The UN Report makes the causes of the ‘human catastrophe’ facing disabled people very clear: the ideologically driven and disproportionate ‘impact of austerity measures and anti-poverty initiatives’ introduced by the Coalition government from 2010 onwards. This has resulted in ‘severe economic constraints among persons with disabilities and their families‘. This has led to multiple forms of intersectional discrimination with the UK government failing to:

·         protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities;

·         protect the rights of persons from black and minority ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities;

·         prevent many families with children with disabilities from falling into poverty.

The breaches  by the UK Government, of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, cut across the totality of the lives of disabled persons with the UN Committee finding there is a:

·         lack of UK State party-led initiatives aimed at assessing and sufficiently addressing the inclusion of and living conditions for persons with disabilities, including the reduction in the nature and time for social care support;

·         disabled people have reduced access to employment and where they do have access, it is less well paid and secure;

·         increased social exclusion and isolation and a corresponding rise in mental health problems as a result of the negative impact on the standard of living of persons with disabilities arising from ‘the reductions in social support, unemployment allowance, independence payments and Universal Credit payments and the insufficient compensation for disability-related costs’;

·         the reduced access to justice because of the reductions in legal aid.

These findings led the UN Committee to conclude that there was a ‘lack of consistency across the State party [the UK Government] in the understanding of, adapting to and applying the human rights model of disability’.

Our Position

November 22nd marks the beginning of UK Disability History Month 2017. This Council believes, we must, therefore, send a resounding message to government. This Council abhors the Conservative government’s treatment of disabled people and recognises the evidence and conclusions drawn in the UN Committee’s report. We find the level and nature of the Government’s response to these findings shameful.

Council therefore calls on the Government to:

·         apologise to the 13 million disabled people living in the UK for their treatment of them over the last seven years;

·         recognise and act on the UN Committee’s findings;

·         implement a cumulative impact assessment of all policy, legislative, and budget measures on disabled people, which takes evidence from disabled people themselves; and

·         instigate an open review of what the Government is doing to fulfil its own Public Sector Equality Duty under Section 149[iii] of the Equality Act 2010 to mitigate the stigmatising effects of its policies on disabled people over the last seven years.

 

Council accordingly resolves to ask the Leader of the Council:

To ask the Oxford MPs to write to the Prime Minister

·         communicating the resolution of Council as expressed above;

·         urging her to call an urgent debate on the UN Committee’s findings, and

·         requesting a public inquiry into these grave and systematic violations of the human rights of disabled people;

To ask Oxfordshire County Council to:

·         join us in this request to the Prime Minister, and

·         undertake an impact assessment of the effect of the Government's cuts in social care on the physical, social and mental wellbeing of disabled people in Oxford and Oxfordshire.

Oxford City Council believes in the fundamental dignity of and respect for disabled people. The government must meet its international and domestic human rights obligations with respect to persons with disabilities so they no-longer continue to face barriers in their full and effective participation and inclusion in our society.

 

References

[i] See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (October, 2017), Inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland carried out by the Committee under article 6 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Report of the Committee; see also Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (October 2017: 13), Concluding observations on the initial report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

[ii] These numbers were between December 2011 and December 2015 and released by the Department for Work and Pensions (2015) following and FOI request by Mencap.

[iii] See in particular Section149 Public sector equality duty:

(1) A public authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to—

(a)eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act;

(b)advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;

(c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

 

Minutes:

Councillor Tidball proposed her submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

 

Councillor Paule seconded the motion.

 

Councillor Gant, seconded by Councillor Wade, proposed his amendment as set out in the briefing note.

 

After debate and on being put to the vote, the amendment  was declared lost.

 

After debate and on being put to the vote, the original motion was declared carried.

 

Council agreed the following motion:

 

The Conservative government, and their coalition partners, has failed disabled people. It has failed to protect their human rights and to understand what it means to be a disabled person living in the United Kingdom today. In August of this year, the United Nations told the Conservative government that it's ‘social cuts policy is a human catastrophe for disabled people’. In their full inquiry, published last month, the UN Committee found reliable evidence [i] that there have been ‘grave’ and ‘systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities’ by the UK State. They make a direct connection between the State’s treatment of disabled people and the terrible rise in stigma and negative perceptions of people with disabilities ‘as living a life of less value than that of others’. Make no mistake about the impact this has had on disabled people:

·         13,900 of them have lost their motability cars;

·         41,792 were sanctioned and deprived of income from Job Seekers Allowance;

·         2,380 people died after being assessed as being fit for work [ii].

The UK Government has failed to recognise the overwhelming evidence provided to the United Nations and respond effectively to the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations.

Nature of the problem

The UN Report makes the causes of the ‘human catastrophe’ facing disabled people very clear: the ideologically driven and disproportionate ‘impact of austerity measures and anti-poverty initiatives’ introduced by the Coalition government from 2010 onwards. This has resulted in ‘severe economic constraints among persons with disabilities and their families‘. This has led to multiple forms of intersectional discrimination with the UK government failing to:

·         protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities;

·         protect the rights of persons from black and minority ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities;

·         prevent many families with children with disabilities from falling into poverty.

The breaches  by the UK Government, of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, cut across the totality of the lives of disabled persons with the UN Committee finding there is a:

·         lack of UK State party-led initiatives aimed at assessing and sufficiently addressing the inclusion of and living conditions for persons with disabilities, including the reduction in the nature and time for social care support;

·         disabled people have reduced access to employment and where they do have access, it is less well paid and secure;

·         increased social exclusion and isolation and a corresponding rise in mental health problems as a result of the negative impact on the standard of living of persons with disabilities arising from ‘the reductions in social support, unemployment allowance, independence payments and Universal Credit payments and the insufficient compensation for disability-related costs’;

·         the reduced access to justice because of the reductions in legal aid.

These findings led the UN Committee to conclude that there was a ‘lack of consistency across the State party [the UK Government] in the understanding of, adapting to and applying the human rights model of disability’.

Our Position

November 22nd marks the beginning of UK Disability History Month 2017. This Council believes, we must, therefore, send a resounding message to government. This Council abhors the Conservative government’s treatment of disabled people and recognises the evidence and conclusions drawn in the UN Committee’s report. We find the level and nature of the Government’s response to these findings shameful.

Council therefore calls on the Government to:

·         apologise to the 13 million disabled people living in the UK for their treatment of them over the last seven years;

·         recognise and act on the UN Committee’s findings;

·         implement a cumulative impact assessment of all policy, legislative, and budget measures on disabled people, which takes evidence from disabled people themselves; and

·         instigate an open review of what the Government is doing to fulfil its own Public Sector Equality Duty under Section 149[iii] of the Equality Act 2010 to mitigate the stigmatising effects of its policies on disabled people over the last seven years.

 

Council accordingly resolves to ask the Leader of the Council:

To ask the Oxford MPs to write to the Prime Minister

·         communicating the resolution of Council as expressed above;

·         urging her to call an urgent debate on the UN Committee’s findings, and

·         requesting a public inquiry into these grave and systematic violations of the human rights of disabled people;

To ask Oxfordshire County Council to:

·         join us in this request to the Prime Minister, and

·         undertake an impact assessment of the effect of the Government's cuts in social care on the physical, social and mental wellbeing of disabled people in Oxford and Oxfordshire.

Oxford City Council believes in the fundamental dignity of and respect for disabled people. The government must meet its international and domestic human rights obligations with respect to persons with disabilities so they no-longer continue to face barriers in their full and effective participation and inclusion in our society.