Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2001)271 - European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2001)271 - European Year of People with Disabilities 2003. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2001)271  |
| date | 29-05-2001 |
Approximately 38 million people, one in 10 Europeans of all ages, have a disability. Throughout the Union, people with disabilities face barriers not only in finding and keeping a job but also in finding accessible transportation, physically accessing buildings and facilities or gaining access to education and any training needed for a job. In addition, they also face barriers in gaining access to the technologies that would help them to become more fully involved both at work and in society at large. Other barriers do affect the freedom of disabled european citizens to move within the Union and to reside in another Member State of their choice. All these barriers too often prevent people with disabilities from playing a full part in society and in the workplace. As a result, Europeans with disabilities are less likely to have a job or a business than people without a disability. According to the European Household Community Panel (1996), for people aged 16 to 64 without a disability, the likelihood of having a job or a business is 66 %. For people with a non-severe disability, the rate is 47 %. The rate drops to 25 % for those with a severe disability.
The situation is particularly difficult for those who are doubly affected, namely people with disabilities who are also members of other groups in our society facing barriers: the elderly disabled, women with disabilities and people with disabilities who come from ethnic minorities .
Achieving equal opportunities for people with disabilities calls for a multi-pronged strategy involving inter alia, combating discrimination, facilitating independent living, promoting greater social integration, enhancing the opportunities for education, training, lifelong learning and employment and increasing the availability and quality of care and assistive technologies. This is a significant challenge, the solution to which will involve a number of measures at national and Community level. Moreover, among the primary obstacles facing people with disabilities are the negative and disabling attitudes projected by society. Despite noticeable progress, assumptions about what it means to have a disability remain deeply entrenched in educational, social and cultural practices. As a result, opportunities for education, for social involvement, for nurturing self-esteem and for skill development are often restricted for people with disabilities. Much work needs to be done to change attitudes that stereotype people with disabilities in society. The potential that people with disabilities have will otherwise not be realised and the input which they can make to society not fully exploited.
Contents
Over the past decade, people with disabilities' organisations all over the world have been working to reposition disability within a broader framework of human rights and citizenship. Disability policy today is moving towards a standpoint which no longer sees the physical or mental limitations of an individual as the primary problem, preferring to focus on that person's potential for social and labour-market participation and on a respect for their human rights. Hence, citizenship for people with disabilities is now understood as a commitment by governments that people with disabilities will not suffer discrimination or marginalisation and this commitment must be given an appropriate legal embodiment in the form of enforceable anti-discrimination legislation. Citizenship also commits all levels of government, including the European Union, to develop and implement programmes and policies to help all citizens to become an effective part of the economic and social mainstream.
This new approach has taken shape within an international context which, in 1993, saw the adoption of the UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. This approach to disability was then formally endorsed in 1996 by the Council as a blueprint for the Union's disability policy in its Resolution of 20 December 1996 on Equality of Opportunity for People with Disabilities i.
The human-rights-based approach to disability has subsequently been underpinned in the Amsterdam Treaty. Under Article 13 of the new Treaty, the Union now has the power to combat discrimination on grounds of sex, religion or belief, race, age, sexual orientation and disability. Using Article 13 as a starting point, the Council adopted on 27 November 2000 a comprehensive anti-discrimination package comprising a Directive establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation i and a Community action programme to combat discrimination (2001-2006) i.
The Directive provides a legislative framework for legally enforceable employment rights, including provisions on a number of key issues such as protection against harassment, scope for positive action, appropriate remedies and enforcement measures. More importantly, the directive also adopts the duty of reasonable accommodation, which implies the adjustment of the workplace to meet the needs of a person with a disability. The action programme to combat discrimination provides for support measures to supplement the practical action which is needed to reach out to people and help change discriminatory attitudes and behaviour on the ground. It will enable the Community to study discrimination and the effectiveness of the methods used to tackle it and will also support co-operation between Governments, NGOs, local and regional authorities, research institutes and the social partners.
The fulfilment of the commitment to citizenship also requires the European Union to include people with disabilities and a concern for their rights and needs in all its relevant mainstream activities and programmes. With this aim in view, the Commission adopted on 12 May 2000 a Communication 'Towards a Barrier-free Europe for People with Disabilities' i, in which it commits itself to developing and supporting a comprehensive and integrated strategy to tackle social, architectural and design barriers that unnecessarily restrict access for people with disabilities to social and economic opportunities.
Parallel positive developments can be seen at Member State level, where progress has also been achieved not only in terms of the updating of existing laws and the passing of new ones, but first and foremost by bringing in new approaches, measures and methods and establishing new rights.
Despite the progress achieved to date, much scope for improvement still remains. Even the most carefully drafted legislation will prove inadequate if the political will is not sustained enough to translate it into long-term action and if it does not enjoy broad popular support. If the commitment to equal opportunities for people with disabilities is to be upheld, a more co-ordinated effort to promote a greater understanding of disability is required. Attitudes do not change automatically or spontaneously. It is a complex process which requires co-ordinated and integrated policies at all levels of society in order to raise awareness and remove social and environmental barriers while at the same time enabling people with disabilities to become involved.
Whilst the basic responsibility for this lies with Member States, it is clear that the European Union could provide both the impulse and a framework which would make the achievement of these goals easier. A concerted pan-European platform has the potential to attract considerable attention to a citizenship issue, at both the European and national levels, and to stimulate activity that otherwise might not have taken place. Moreover, the European Year could lay the foundations for further, sustainable progress, by informing and educating people and paving the way for new legal and policy developments.
The objectives of the European Year of People with Disabilities will therefore be:
to raise awareness of the right of people with disabilities to protection against discrimination and to full and equale enjoyment of their rights as laid down, inter alia, in the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
to encourage reflection on and discussion of the measures required to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities in Europe;
to promote the exchange of experience regarding good practice and effective strategies devised at local, national and European level;
to boost co-operation between all stakeholders - government at all levels, the private sector, communities, social partners, research, voluntary sector groups, people with disabilities and their families;
to highlight the positive contribution that people with disabilities make to society as a whole, in particular by putting a value on diversity and by creating a positive and accommodating environment in which diversity is celebrated;
to make people aware of the heterogeneity of people with disabilities and of people with disabilities facing multiple discrimination.
The measures designed to meet these objectives may include:
* the organisation of meetings and events, including the opening and closing conferences;
* information and promotional campaigns including the production of tools and aids accessible to people with disabilities throughout the Community;
* cooperation with the media ;
* surveys and reports;
* events to provide information, in particular information on examples of good practice;
* financial support for initiatives at transnational, national, regional and local level, to promote the objectives of the European Year of People with Disabilities.
Details of these measures are set out in the Annex.
The proposed budget for the European Year of People with Disabilities is limited. Subject to the final decision of the budget authority a total of just EUR 12 million is being set aside at European level for 2002- 2003 . This budget will serve to stimulate wide-ranging action and involvement, and will be complemented by other Commission and national initiatives. Consequently, the success of the European Year will depend first and foremost on the willingness and ability of players at local, regional and national level to contribute actively to the mobilisation of individual citizens and organisations across the European Union.
In co-operation with organisations that are experts in the field of communication, the Commission will finance and manage a coherent promotional campaign that will use all available media.
Without prejudice to the regulatory framework, the Commission will seek to organise in a structured manner regular exchanges of views with the disability community and the representative NGOs on the implementation of the Year.
The evaluation carried out in 2004 will allow the actual impact of the Year to be assessed and the lessons for the future to be learnt.
The Year will be consistent with and complementary to other Community action in particular the anti-discrimination programme and other actions to combat discrimination, social exclusion and to promote gender equality. The Commission will also aim to mainstream the disability issues into all relevant European events scheduled to take place during the year 2003. Moreover, as part of other relevant Community action, the Commission will seek to contribute to the objectives of the Year, not only on the basis of the ongoing work already in progress under these programmes, but also through initiatives adopted specifically for the European Year.
Finally, the Commission will also implement the Year and closely coordinate its activities with those undertaken by other international organisations such as the Council of Europe.
In order to be effective and produce sustained and tangible results, the European Year of People with Disabilities should build upon a commitment given by all relevant parties actively to support the Year. Whilst the European Union can provide a framework for action to promote an awareness of the rights of people with disabilities, tangible progress will be achieved through the significant involvement of Member States at national level. Recent best practices in Member States provide numerous examples which could be followed or pursued as their contribution to the Year, ensuring the participation of all relevant actors, in particular disability organisations by, for example:
* Establishing a task force which includes representatives of the Government, of people with disabilities' organisations and of other important segments of civil society;
* Convening a broad-based national forum to heighten awareness, to mobilise and to obtain input and long-term commitment to the European Year. Such a forum could review the national disability situation, draw up a long-term policy statement and agree on strategic goals. Participants could include representatives of selected ministries, the national co-ordinating committee, organisations of disabled persons, professionals, citizens groups, communities and families. It could involve legislators, the business community, and representatives of the EU agencies or bodies;
* Drawing up or updating a long-term policy statement in line with the principles of equal citizenship which would incorporate overall objectives and essential principles and constitute the conceptual framework of the European year at national level;
* Building a comprehensive knowledge base by working with government, with research bodies and with the disability community to launch a research agenda aimed at ensuring the availability of data and an accurate picture of the living and working conditions faced by persons with disabilities ;
* Strengthening the organisations of people with disabilities, particularly their resource base, organisational skills and participation in decision-making :
* Establishing broad partnerships, including non-traditional partners such as the education sector, the media, the business sector, religious and civil sectors, and sports and leisure organisations ;
* Decentralising the organisation of activities, in order to ensure that measures are targeted and that they have a sustainable local expertise base.
Accession and EFTA/EEA countries should be invited to consider giving the same undertaking in active support of the Year.
Over the past few years the European Union has devoted considerable attention to promoting the rights of people with disabilities. Despite progress to date, a major effort is still needed to change basic attitudes towards people with disabilities. The work of informing and raising the awareness of all citizens must be stepped up to achieve a greater understanding of the rights of disabled citizens. Along with a comprehensive legislative framework, public awareness is needed to back up legislation and to increase understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities's needs and rights in society. As a catalyst for social change, the European Year of People with Disabilities can create a 'snowball' effect and in a meaningful way help to develop processes that could continue after the Year is formally over.
Making citizenship a reality will require the involvement of all Europeans and the support and co-operation of all of the partners, government at all levels, business, trade unions, the voluntary sector, persons with disabilities and their families. Whilst governments at all levels can help by providing leadership, expertise and resources, everyone must become involved if we are to succeed in opening up opportunities and dismantling barriers for everybody in Europe.