Human Rights Council Holds Annual Debate on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Focusing on Support Systems to Ensure Community Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities

AFTERNOON 13 March 2023

Council Continues Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

The Human Rights Council this afternoon held its annual interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities, focusing on support systems to ensure community inclusion of persons with disabilities, including as a means of building forward better after the COVID-19 pandemic. It also continued its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said support systems were a key human rights issue for persons with disabilities, including in the context of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet current care systems were ineffective, based on a system of values that denied agency, choice and control over the support persons with disabilities received. The catastrophic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response on persons with disabilities had highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in care systems. There was an urgent need for service transformation, the strengthening of human rights-based regulatory frameworks, and grounding business models in United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including the social economy. States should actively engage in the preparation of the next mandated report by the Office of the High Commissioner that would focus on good practices in support systems.

Gerard Quinn, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, moderator of the discussion, said this year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contained the interoperability between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights: support was essential to all, in particular those with disabilities, in order to build bridges into the community and have a dignified life. The international community was at the beginning of a new kind of paradigm in developing, delivering and monitoring services into the future. Governments had many opportunities to move things forward to ensure that all, including the business world, did their share as partners for change.

Natalia Gherardi, Executive Director of the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender, said there needed to be a development model that included the perspective of the rights of persons with disabilities, exposed family and institutional violence and lacking public policies, and placed gender equality at the centre. A human rights approach was essential to articulate these different perspectives so that support and care could be provided in equal conditions. The Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted in November 2022, recognised care as a human right and urged States parties to adopt regulatory frameworks to establish comprehensive policies and systems based on equality, universality, and social and gender co-responsibility, involving all sectors of society. This document was a landmark in terms of the inclusion of a disability approach.

Rose Achayo Obol, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda, said support and care systems were necessary for persons with disabilities to live independently in their communities, and were essential for the full, active, and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in society. All States should rethink and reframe support and care systems to ensure that persons with disabilities did not continue to be marginalised, falling into poverty and exclusion, facing violence, exploitation and abuse, living in isolation, or being institutionalized.

Alison Barkoff, Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Administration for Community Living, United States Department of Health and Human Services, said COVID-19 had highlighted globally the fragility of – and the need to invest in and transform – what was often called the “care infrastructure.” Governments should support family caregivers through programmes like caregiver supports, respite, and family leave, in addition to programmes that provided formal services and support to disabled people and older adults. Governments alone could not solve this problem. Businesses, philanthropy, and advocacy organizations all had important roles to play.

In the interactive discussion, some speakers said reform was necessary so that persons with disabilities could participate in society in a spirit of equality and tolerance. The COVID-19 pandemic had revealed gender and economic inequalities stemming from the organization of traditional care models, and highlighted the need for investment in gender-responsive and disability-inclusive health and social care systems, and specific complementary support to persons with disabilities and their support networks. This issue was thus very timely, as it aimed to raise awareness on the need to strengthen the support systems for people with disabilities to ensure their inclusion in the communities and the full realisation of their human rights. States must take resolute action in reshaping traditional care systems in a gender-inclusive and dynamic way.

Speaking in the discussion were Romania, Iran, Mexico on behalf of a group of countries, New Zealand on behalf of a group of countries, Uganda on behalf of a group of countries, Lithuania on behalf of a group of countries, Mozambique on behalf of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, European Union, Oman on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council Group, Qatar on behalf of the Group of Arab States, Israel, Ecuador, Sovereign Order of Malta, Gabon, Ukraine, United States, Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Brazil, South Sudan, Cuba, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

Also speaking were the Canadian Human Rights Commission, International Disability Alliance, Advocates for Human Rights, Commission nationale indépendante des droits de l'homme du Burundi, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, and Amity Foundation.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Council continued its interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. The interactive dialogue started in the previous meeting and a summary can be found here.

Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, in intermediate remarks, said that the mandate had spoken at the Special High-level Event on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, which condemned all acts of violence against people of all beliefs. Ms. Ghanea reaffirmed her commitment to combatting religious intolerance, stigmatisation, and violence against Muslims or any other groups, and stood ready to support the international community to address the scourge.

In the continuing discussion on the freedom of religion or belief, speakers said, among other things, that freedom of religion or belief was not based on political practices, but based on fundamental rights: the rights-holders were people, not religions. All governments were urged to maintain and develop civic spaces where civil society, including religious communities, could speak and engage freely. Every individual should have the freedom to practice their religion or belief without fear of persecution or violence, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or nationality. There was growing concern for the rise of stigmatisation of persons of religion, as well as the rise of extreme-right views, which led to further discrimination, particularly against members of certain religions. The social inclusion of all people should be promoted, including those belonging to religious minorities.

Speaking in the discussion were Belgium, United Arab Emirates, United States, Israel, Bahrain, Canada, Sierra Leone, France, Luxembourg, China, Costa Rica, Togo, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation, Cameroon, Morocco, Venezuela, Iraq, Armenia, Poland, Nepal, Egypt, United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Africa, Sudan, Oman, Türkiye, and Bangladesh.

Speaking in right of reply were Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The webcast of the Human Rights Council meetings can be found here. All meeting summaries can be found here. Documents and reports related to the Human Rights Council’s fifty-second regular session can be found here.

The Council will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 March to conclude the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, followed by an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism.

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief

The interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea, started in the previous meeting and a summary can be found here.

Discussion

In the continuing discussion on freedom of religion or belief, some speakers said, among other things, that freedom of religion or belief was not based on political practices, but based on fundamental rights: the rights-holders were people, not religions. All governments needed to maintain and develop civic spaces where civil society, including religious communities, could speak and engage freely. As one component of this, States should implement resolution 16/18, including continued cooperation through the Istanbul Process. Multiculturalism and freedom of religious beliefs was an important facet of society to promote a peaceful society. Every individual should have the freedom to practice their religion or belief without fear of persecution or violence, regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

Some speakers said the report would serve the international community well as a reminder of the vast international legal framework, as well as the legacy of efforts by many entities and actors undertaken for the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief. The report also provided a ground-breaking perspective of the dimensions of freedom of religion or belief, a speaker said. This freedom could not be restricted and must be enjoyed by all; it was up to States and international organizations to ensure that every person could adopt, change, or refuse to accede to a religion, as well as the freedom to debate or discuss a religion. Freedom of religion had become a general consensus by the international community. There was growing concern for the rise of stigmatisation of persons of religion, as well as the rise of extreme-right views, which led to further discrimination, particularly against members of certain religions. The media could play a certain role in this regard, ceasing to transmit discriminatory opinions. The social inclusion of all people should be promoted, including those belonging to religious minorities.

One speaker said it was vitally important to stem the growing tide of anti-Semitism, and to protect the rights of Jews and of Judaism across the world. Another speaker said the international community should take on the responsibility to stem all incitements to hatred, religious hatred, xenophobia and Islamophobia. The Special Rapporteur should pay more attention to these issues, and ensure that all countries respected the freedom of minority groups, including Muslims. It was essential to promote critical thinking in the interest of forming a dialogue, and to ensure inclusivity and laws that ensured tolerant communities. There was also, a speaker said, a massive violation of Russian Orthodox rights in Ukraine, and the international community was not addressing this, closing their eyes to acts of intolerance, fuelling disagreement and outraging religious believers.

Among questions posed to the Special Rapporteur were: what best practices had the Special Rapporteur seen implemented effectively to ensure that human beings could implement their human rights fully, including the freedom of religion or belief; how could countries further strengthen the principle of universality and ensure that the voices of freedom of religion or belief advocates were heeded, particularly where this fundamental right was under threat; how could the Human Rights Council guarantee the effective follow-up of recommendations on this right made to States during the Universal Periodic Review process; how could the right to freedom of religion or belief be used to support the empowerment of women and girls; what measures would the Special Rapporteur take to support States’ rapid reactions to violations of the right, including the desecration of holy sites; and was the Special Rapporteur also planning to address interdependency between freedom of religion or belief and other fundamental freedoms such as freedom of assembly and of association?

Intermediary Remarks

NAZILA GHANEA, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, said that the mandate had spoken at the Special High-level Event on the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, which condemned all acts of violence against people of all beliefs. The inclusivity of the language was a good practice. Within the meeting today, reference had been made to other victims in other parts of the world. Ms. Ghanea reaffirmed her commitment to combatting religious intolerance, stigmatisation, and violence against Muslims or any other groups, and stood ready to support the international community to address the scourge. There were numerous international instruments and plans in place to combat this phenomenon, which could be utilised.

Annual Interactive Debate on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, under the Theme of “Support Systems to Ensure Community Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, Including as a Means of Building Forward Better after the COVID-19 Pandemic”

Opening Statement by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights

NADA AL-NASHIF, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said support systems were a key human rights issue for persons with disabilities, including in the context of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet current care systems were ineffective, based on a system of values that denied agency, choice and control over the support persons with disabilities received. Current systems promoted segregation, in contradiction with the human rights standards applicable to persons with disabilities, and were based on unequal distribution of care work between men and women. The catastrophic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response on persons with disabilities had highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in care systems, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The pandemic had accelerated policy reforms of care systems, and spurred the development of integral care systems in Latin American countries, social protection reforms in Africa, and care economy frameworks in South-East Asia. However, current care reforms considered persons with disabilities and their rights only in the margins.

Ms. Al-Nashif said support and care systems should guarantee social protection that covered the extra cost of support, including human support, assistive technologies, transportation and adequate housing. These basic support measures were a precondition to achieve sector specific improvements, including on health, education, employment, and community inclusion. The private sector provided most of the support services that persons with disabilities received. However, there was an urgent need for service transformation, the strengthening of human rights-based regulatory frameworks, and the grounding of business models in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, including the social economy.

The Buenos Aires Commitment adopted by the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean last November, which included a support approach to care systems, was the kind of action needed at the international level. States should take concrete steps towards establishing support and care systems that were human rights-based, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive and age-sensitive. Ms. Al-Nashif invited States to actively engage in the preparation of the next mandated report by the Office of the High Commissioner that would focus on good practices in support systems.

The Deputy High Commissioner concluded by taking a moment to remember Judy Heumann who addressed the Council during its thirty-fourth session and was a global leader in disability rights. Ms. Al-Nashif also thanked the Special Rapporteur, who was finishing his mandate.

Statements by the Moderator and the Panellists

GERARD QUINN, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, moderating the discussion, said this year marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which contained the interoperability between economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights: support was essential to all, in particular those with disabilities, in order to build bridges into the community and have a dignified life. The international community was at the beginning of a new kind of paradigm in developing, delivering and monitoring services into the future. The world system was not robust enough to deal with the crises it would see in the future: Governments had many opportunities to move things forward to ensure that all, including the business world, did their share as partners for change.

Mr. Quinn paid homage to Judy Heumann.

NATALIA GHERARDI, Executive Director of the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender, said in the Latin American experience, an intersectoral and intersectional dialogue on support and care had made it possible to start bringing together different movements, including for the rights of children and adolescents, the women's movement, persons with disabilities, as well as different actors, such as civil society, the public sector, the private sector, and unions, in spaces that allowed them to advance common agendas. There needed to be a development model that included the perspective of the rights of persons with disabilities, exposed family and institutional violence and lacking public policies, and placed gender equality at the centre. A human rights approach was essential to articulate these different perspectives so that support and care could be provided in equal conditions.

The Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted in November 2022, recognised care as a human right and urged States parties to adopt regulatory frameworks to establish comprehensive policies and systems based on equality, universality, and social and gender co-responsibility, involving all sectors of society. This document was a landmark in terms of the inclusion of a disability approach; it expressly referred to individual autonomy and independence, including the freedom of persons with disabilities to make their own choices, urging States to put in place policies, services and accessible infrastructure to protect their right to care and self-care, considering specific needs. This Latin-American political declaration set the base to achieve a care society that would free up time for women, so that they could engage in employment, education, public and political life, and the economy.

ROSE ACHAYO OBOL, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda, said support and care systems were necessary for persons with disabilities to live independently in their communities, and were essentials for the full, active, and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in society, taking in consideration choices equal to others which allowed all people with or without disabilities to develop, grow up in a family, learn and play; and enabled adults with disabilities to make their own decisions, exercise rights, and live with dignity, autonomy and independence as recognised by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. While access to support and care were part of human rights standards, the proper provision of these services was not yet reflected in the reality of the lives of persons with disabilities across the world. COVID-19 had acted as a catalyst for rethinking support and care systems the world over.

The international community needed to rethink traditional care models as a means to transform service delivery, and support and care systems so that they protected equally the rights of those receiving and providing care to persons with disabilities as a means of equal protection of the rights. Laws and policies should not focus on institutional care, medical rehabilitation, and welfare benefits but rather be designed in a way that fulfilled the obligation on the State and the duty bearer to remove the barriers that hindered persons with disabilities from taking control of their lives and becoming active citizens and contributing to society. All States should rethink and reframe support and care systems to ensure that persons with disabilities did not continue to be marginalised, fall into poverty and exclusion, face violence, exploitation and abuse, live in isolation, or be institutionalised.

ALISON BARKOFF, Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Administration for Community Living, United States Department of Health and Human Services, said the mission of the Administration for Community Living was to make full inclusion and participation in all aspects of community life a reality for persons with disabilities of all ages and older adults, through policy advocacy across the United States Government, funding disability and aging networks that provided a range of community-based services, legal advocacy and independent living services; and funding research to inform policy and practice. COVID-19 had highlighted globally the fragility of – and the need to invest in and transform – what was often called the “care infrastructure.” In the United States, the Biden-Harris Administration had made it a top priority to expand access to community services and strengthen the care infrastructure that provided them. The Administration for Community Living was leveraging this momentum through initiatives to strengthen two critical and interrelated parts of the care infrastructure – the paid direct care workforce and family caregivers.

Governments should support family caregivers through programmes like caregiver support, respite, and family leave, in addition to programmes that provided formal services and supports to disabled people and older adults. The Government alone could not solve this problem. Businesses, philanthropy, and advocacy organizations all had important roles to play, and the report included recommendations for action for them too. The direct care workforce crisis threatened to undermine the progress made over the last several decades in deinstitutionalisation. There was a need for a paradigm shift. This issue must be approached through the lens of workers’ rights, women’s rights, and disability rights. To do that, new partnerships, based on common interests and priorities, were critical. Member States had an unprecedented opportunity to work together to transform the systems for support and care into ones that centred human rights, disability inclusion, and gender equality.

Discussion

In the ensuing discussion, speakers said that today’s dialogue and discussion would give a clearer view of the situation of care systems for persons with disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic had made evident that across the world, care systems were informal and did not empower or render autonomous persons with disabilities. Reform was necessary so that persons with disabilities could participate in society in a spirit of equality and tolerance. Human rights-based support systems with an intersectional focus and gender-neutrality should be implemented. A focus must be made on ensuring the inclusivity, agency and autonomy of persons with disabilities. A rights-based approach must ensure that equality was kept in mind. All should work together, including civil society and persons with disabilities, to ensure that care systems were fully supported.

The COVID-19 pandemic had also revealed gender and economic inequalities stemming from the organization of traditional care models, and highlighted the need for investment in gender-responsive and disability-inclusive health and social care systems, and specific complementary support to persons with disabilities and their support networks. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic had shown the barriers that persons with disabilities faced in accessing health services, including emergency and intensive care on an equal basis with others. Furthermore, as the digital transformation continued to reshape society, accessibility of technologies and digital services in relation to education, employment, communication, leisure, and basic services, became ever more important.

This issue was thus very timely, as it aimed to raise awareness on the need to strengthen the support systems for people with disabilities to ensure their inclusion in the communities and the full realisation of their human rights. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had begun to develop a general comment on article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which would provide clarification to States parties. International human rights law left no doubt that all persons with disabilities had the right to live in their community, as well as to autonomy and dignity. States must take resolute action in reshaping traditional care systems in a gender-inclusive and dynamic way.

Governments, the private sector, and other actors should consider increasing assistance to enable persons with disabilities to carry out their daily activities and actively participate in their communities. Support should also be extended, when necessary, to their families, particularly to those who cared for persons with disabilities. Developing family and community-based services, accessible environments, and other conditions for independent living were essential.

One speaker objected to the use of the term “gender” instead of “sex” in the report, reminding the Special Rapporteur of the need to use agreed-upon language.

Among questions raised for the panel were: what differences did the panel see in terms of challenges and opportunities for developed and developing countries in the context of developing new systems of care; how could care systems be more culturally-aware in providing support; how could the international community better contribute to gender-inclusive support systems; and what could Member States do to increase the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in developing solutions to global challenges?

Concluding Remarks

NATALIA GHERARDI, Executive Director of the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender, said integral systems of care and support would not be built in a short time but moving towards a system which included a gender perspective was urgent. The challenge was to ensure the enforceability of obligations and to move forward in organising existing policies into a meaningful system. Care systems which were culturally respectful should be built through consultations with different stakeholder, including persons with disabilities. In country responsive policies, attention needed to be paid to different family models. The issue of disability was a human rights issue, and should therefore also be considered by other human rights committees.

ROSE ACHAYO OBOL, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Women with Disabilities of Uganda, said support and care systems should focus on both those receiving care, and those providing it, which should be applied as a human rights-based approach. This required collective efforts by all States walking the talk of disability inclusion, by having disability inclusive policies and budgeting for the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities on an equal basis.

ALISON BARKOFF, Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, Administration for Community Living, United States Department of Health and Human Services, said the session today was evidence of the shared priority across the globe to take action to transform the care system into being gender responsive, inclusive, and centred in human rights. Care was universal; all people in their life would either provide care, receive care, or both. There was a broad table of stakeholders who needed to work together to achieve this goal. The table needed to be made bigger, and it needed to be ensured that disability was present at every table when discussing critical issues.