9 October 2024
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) welcomes the government’s commitment yesterday to accede to the Operational Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. This is a positive development and something that we, alongside other human rights organisations and disability groups, have long called for.
Once ratified, the Optional Protocol will provide an instrument for disabled people to make a complaint directly to the UN to vindicate their rights.
While it is essential that everyone in Ireland has access to human rights mechanisms like this to vindicate their rights, we also need to ensure that rights are not violated in the first place.
Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2018, but much still needs to be done to ensure disabled people enjoy their rights equally. This includes strengthening obligations in the Equality Acts, introducing hate crime legislation and mental health reform, all issues which ICCL is actively campaigning on with others in the sector.
Finally, it is essential that work to promote and protect the rights of disabled people is undertaken in partnership with them, their communities and organisations.
ENDS