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Article 29 [Participation in Political and Public Life]

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Active citizenship has been for long denied to persons with disabilities either through exclusionary legal provisions or due to inaccessible procedures and facilities. As a consequence, persons with disabilities have been absent from the political environment and the issue of disability rights and duties has been relegated to the private sphere. In order to respond to such circumstance, Article 29 of the CRPD provides for important coverage to political rights of persons with disabilities. In fact, it goes beyond the basic right to vote right and be elected to public office to address the right of persons with disabilities to take part in other aspects of public life and civil society. In doing so, Article 29 is the clearest expression in international human rights law of the right to participation decision-making when one’s interests are affected.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    HRC, Thematic study by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on participation in political and public life by persons with disabilities, A/HRC/19/36, 11 Dec 2011, para. 18.

  2. 2.

    See, for instance, the ILO Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, Articles 6–7, adopted on 27 Jun 1989 (entered into force on 5 Sep 1991).

  3. 3.

    HRC, A/HRC/19/36, cit., para. 16.

  4. 4.

    CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 23: Political and Public Life, A/52/38, 13 Jan 1997, para. 5.

  5. 5.

    CoE Committee of Ministers, Recommendation on the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life, CM/Rec(2011)14, 16 Nov 2011.

  6. 6.

    Earle and Bushner (2001).

  7. 7.

    The first two categories are discussed in the following paragraph entitled ‘Accessible Elections.’

  8. 8.

    Combrinck (2014), p. 78.

  9. 9.

    Karlan (2007), p. 925.

  10. 10.

    Karlan (2007), p. 925.

  11. 11.

    Schriner et al. (2000), p. 483.

  12. 12.

    For a deepen analysis on rationales for disability-based exclusion, Fiala-Butora et al. (2014), pp. 85–89.

  13. 13.

    Lord et al. (2014), p. 117.

  14. 14.

    CCPR Committee, General Comment No. 25: The Right to Participate in Public Affairs, Voting Rights and the Right of Equal Access to Public Service, CCPR/C/21/Rev1/Add7, 12 July 1996, para. 33.

  15. 15.

    Savery (2014), p. 291.

  16. 16.

    HRC, A/HRC/19/36, cit., para. 28.

  17. 17.

    CRPD Committee, General Comment No. 1 on Article 12: Equal recognition before the law, CRPD/C/GC/1, 11 Apr 2014, para. 44.

  18. 18.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding observations on the initial report of Tunisia, CRPD/C/TUN/CO/1, 13 May 2011, para. 35; Concluding observations on the initial report of Peru, CRPD/C/PER/CO/1, 20 Apr 2012, paras. 47–48; Concluding observations on the initial report of Hungary, CRPD/C/HUN/CO/1, 22 Oct 2012, para. 46; Concluding observations on the initial report of Australia, CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1, 4 Oct 2013, paras. 51–52.

  19. 19.

    ECtHR, Kiss v. Hungary.

  20. 20.

    Fiala-Butora et al. (2014), pp. 76–78.

  21. 21.

    CoE Committee of Ministers, CM/Rec(2011)14, cit.

  22. 22.

    CRPD Committee, Zsolt Bujdosó and five others v. Hungary. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Jurisprudence.aspx. Accessed 1 Jul 2015.

  23. 23.

    As observed by Fiala-Butora et al. (2014), pp. 88–89, it is true that a small percentage of persons with disabilities is incapable to render a vote, even providing reasonable accommodations consisting in the most extensive forms of facilitation currently available. This could be the case of persons in a persistent vegetative state (i.e., a coma), persons in later stages of dementia, those undergoing a severe psychotic attack, or those with significant intellectual disabilities.

  24. 24.

    For examples of best practices for increasing the election accessibility, see Lord et al. (2014).

  25. 25.

    CRPD Committee, General Comment No. 2 on Article 9: Accessibility, CRPD/C/GC/2, 11 Apr 2014, para. 43.

  26. 26.

    Flynn (2015), pp. 141–171, describes several examples of innovative accommodation able to ensure independent and secret ballot to persons with disabilities.

  27. 27.

    Fiala-Butora et al. (2014), p. 99.

  28. 28.

    Schulze (2010), p. 164.

  29. 29.

    HRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kia, A/HRC/26/29, 14 Apr 2014. In fact, ‘the process of registering an association may prove to be cumbersome for marginalized groups and exclude groups such minorities or persons with disabilities. For example, the language used to communicate could be inaccessible, and physical access to locations for registration could also be a challenge for those groups’ (para. 54).

  30. 30.

    In this regard, Uganda represents a unique exception. Uganda’s new constitution, written in 1995, requires that five of the national members of Parliament have personal experience with disability. The Local Government Act of 1997 provides for the election of one woman with a disability and one man with a disability to every village, parish, subcounty, and district council. As result, there are some 47,000 representatives sitting on directly elected bodies, easily the largest group of politicians with disabilities anywhere in the world. Members of Parliament with disabilities have served on a variety of Parliamentary committees, including Presidential Appointments, Rules and Privileges, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Commissions, Statutory Authorities, State Enterprises, Social Services, Public Service, Gender, and Local Government. Serving in the Parliament is more accessible after rules were changed to permit guide dogs and sign language interpreters in meetings and parliamentary sessions. Lord et al. (2012).

  31. 31.

    HRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, A/HRC/31/62, 12 Jan 2016, para. 18.

  32. 32.

    HRC, A/HRC/31/62, cit., para. 26.

  33. 33.

    HRC, CCPR/C/21/Rev1/Add7, cit., paras. 8 and 25.

  34. 34.

    HRC, A/HRC/31/62, cit., para. 94.

  35. 35.

    HRC, A/HRC/31/62, cit., para. 38.

  36. 36.

    Bangkok Draft: Proposed Elements of a Comprehensive and Integral Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 23, para. 2 (b) (ii). Available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/bangkokdraft.htm#part2. Accessed 1 July 2015.

  37. 37.

    HRC, A/HRC/31/62, cit., para. 39. See CRPD Committee, Concluding observations on the initial report of Qatar, CRPD/C/QAT/CO/1, 2 Oct 2015, para. 10; Concluding observations on the initial report of Gabon, CRPD/C/GAB/CO/1, 2 Oct 2015, para. 9; Concluding observations on the initial report of Kenya, 30 sep 2015, CRPD/C/KEN/CO/1, para. 8; Concluding observations on the initial report of Australia, CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1, 21 Oct 2013, para. 13; Concluding observations on the initial periodic report of Hungary, CRPD/C/HUN/CO/1, 22 Oct 2012, para. 14.

Table of Cases

  • CRPD Committee 16.04.2013, Communication No. 1/2010, Zsolt Bujdosó and five others v Hungary, CRPD/C/9/D/1/2010

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  • ECtHR 20.05.2010, Application No. 38832/06, Alajos Kiss v Hungary, IHRL 3619 (ECHR 2010)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for International Legal Studies (ISGI), National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Rachele Cera

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  1. Rachele Cera
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  1. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Valentina Della Fina

  2. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Rachele Cera

  3. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Giuseppe Palmisano

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Cera, R. (2017). Article 29 [Participation in Political and Public Life]. In: Della Fina, V., Cera, R., Palmisano, G. (eds) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43790-3_33

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