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Article 20 - Personal mobility
Background Documents | Article 20 Background
Seventh Session | Sixth Session | Fourth Session | Third Session
Working Group | References
Fourth Session
Governments
Non-governmental organizations
Children's Rights Alliance for EnglandWorking Meeting of NGOs for people with disabilities from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus & Moldova
Comments, proposals and amendments submitted electronically
Governments
SUDAN
PERSONAL MOBILITY:
- Add to article 20 g the phrase in bold so it would read as follows:
Promoting awareness about mobility issues for persons with disabilities,
and strive for their protection, as appropriate, through legislations that
prevent individuals from hindering and not observing or respecting, by any
means, the mobility of persons with disabilities.
Non-governmental organizations
CHILDREN's RIGHTS ALLIANCE FOR ENGLAND
Article 20
Personal mobility
States Parties to this Convention shall take effective measures to ensure
liberty of movement with the greatest possible independence for persons
with disabilities, including:
(a) Facilitating access by persons with disabilities to high-quality mobility
aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries,
including by making them available at affordable cost;
(b) Promoting universal design for mobility aids, devices and assistive
technologies and encouraging private entities which produce these to take
into account all aspects of mobility for persons with disabilities;
(c) Undertaking and promoting research, development and production of new
mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies;
(d) Providing training in mobility skills to persons with disabilities and
to specialist staff working with persons with disabilities;
(e) Facilitating the freedom of movement of persons with disabilities in
the manner and at the time of their choice, and at affordable cost;
(f) Providing information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids,
devices, assistive technologies and other forms of assistance and services;
(g) Promoting awareness about mobility issues for persons with disabilities.
Such assistance as is necessary to ensure liberty of movement shall be provided
from infancy, and shall be free of charge to all children with disabilities.
LANDMINE SURVIVORS NETWORK
Draft Article 20 – SUPPORT SERVICES
SYNTHESIS OF PROPOSALS
States Parties to this Convention shall take effective measures to ensure
the development and supply of support services, including aids, devices,
assistive technologies and personal assistance for persons with disabilities,
to assist them in the full enjoyment and exercise of their human rights
and fundamental freedoms, including:
(a) facilitating access by persons with disabilities to high-quality, age-appropriate
aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries
such as interpreter services, including by making them available for free
or at affordable prices;
(b) promoting universal design for aids, devices and assistive technologies,
and encouraging private entities which produce these to take into account
the diversity of users’ needs;
(c) promoting the research, development and production of new aids, devices
and assistive technologies, including simple and inexpensive devices, using
local material and local production facilities when possible, and utilizing
the expertise of persons with disabilities by working in partnership with
persons with disabilities and their representative organizations;
(d) providing information and training to persons with disabilities about
the availability and use of aids, devices, assistive technologies and other
forms of assistance and services; and
(e) ensuring that personal assistance programmes are designed in such a
way that persons with disabilities using the programmes have a decisive
influence on the way in which the programmes are delivered.
COMMENTS
Draft Article 20 formerly addressed “personal mobility,” a concept intended
to be distinguished from the broader and more traditional right to liberty
of movement. However, discussions during both the Working Group and the
third Ad Hoc Committee meeting revealed that many members were confused
by the approach taken. Some felt that aspects of the article were already
addressed sufficiently elsewhere in the Convention (EU, Japan), whilst others
expressed concern that some provisions accorded people with disabilities
greater rights in liberty of movement than those which generally exist.
(New Zealand, reacting to former Draft Article 20(e), which stated “facilitating
the freedom of movement of persons with disabilities in the manner and at
the time of their choice, and at affordable cost.”) Other members felt that
the title did not adequately emphasize a rights-based approach to freedom
of movement. (NHRI)
The approach here is to instead address the issue of liberty of movement
in a new Draft Article 20bis (below), and in Draft Article 20 provide draft
language addressing the provision and development of support services more
broadly. This approach mirrors that taken in the UNSR, Rule 4, which addresses
support services as one of the “preconditions for equal participation” of
people with disabilities in an inclusive society.
Although the language used here is not entirely consistent with Rule 4 of the UNSR, the intention is to similarly address issues related to the development of support services (including in partnership with people with disabilities and their representative organizations), the availability of support services to people with disabilities at affordable costs (or free), the promotion of universal design, the provision of information and training regarding the availability and use of support services, and the autonomy of users of personal assistance programmes.
As noted above, the original Draft Article 20 regarding personal mobility
was intended to be distinguished from the broader right to liberty of movement.
Although some aspects of the right to liberty of movement as it has traditionally
been understood are addressed in other articles (for example, Draft Article
19 on Accessibility captures issues related to physical movement), further
aspects of the right have not been addressed in the Convention, and Draft
Article 20bis attempts to correct that omission.
Many people with disabilities are often denied their right to a nationality
and/or they are denied their right to possess the indicia of their nationality
(or other identification), which can in turn restrict their ability to travel
both within and outside of their country. In addition, proceedings relevant
to the liberty of movement, such as immigration or other proceedings, are
frequently inaccessible for people with disabilities. Draft Article 20bis
therefore addresses concepts traditionally associated with the right to
liberty of movement and attempts to elaborate them in the disability context.
(Cf. ICCPR, Article 12; American Convention on Human Rights, Article 20)
Draft Article 20bis - LIBERTY OF MOVEMENT
SYNTHESIS OF PROPOSALS
States Parties to this Convention shall take effective measures to respect
and ensure the rights of all persons with disabilities to liberty of movement
on an equal basis with others, including by:
(a) ensuring that persons with disabilities have the right to a nationality
and the right to change it, and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily
or on the basis of disability;
(b) ensuring that persons with disabilities are not deprived on the basis
of disability of their ability to possess and utilize indicia of their nationality
or other documentation of identification that may be needed to facilitate
exercise of the right to liberty of movement;
(c) ensuring the accessibility to persons with disabilities of any processes
relevant to the enjoyment of the right to liberty of movement, such as immigration
proceedings, including through the removal of physical and communication
barriers and the provision of reasonable accommodation; and
(d) ensuring that persons with disabilities have the right to leave any
country, including their own.
COMMENTS
As noted above, the original Draft Article 20 regarding personal mobility
was intended to be distinguished from the broader right to liberty of movement.
Although some aspects of the right to liberty of movement as it has traditionally
been understood are addressed in other articles (for example, Draft Article
19 on Accessibility captures issues related to physical movement), further
aspects of the right have not been addressed in the Convention, and Draft
Article 20bis attempts to correct that omission.
Many people with disabilities are often denied their right to a nationality
and/or they are denied their right to possess the indicia of their nationality
(or other identification), which can in turn restrict their ability to travel
both within and outside of their country. In addition, proceedings relevant
to the liberty of movement, such as immigration or other proceedings, are
frequently inaccessible for people with disabilities. Draft Article 20bis
therefore addresses concepts traditionally associated with the right to
liberty of movement and attempts to elaborate them in the disability context.
(Cf. ICCPR, Article 12; American Convention on Human Rights, Article 20)
WORKING MEETING OF NGOs FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITY FROM UKRAINE, RUSSIA, BELARUS & MOLDOVA
Article 20
Personal mobility
One more issue should be added:
(h) the measures should include special training aimed at orientation in
the town/city/village of residence of a person with disability and acquiring
skills of use public transportation.