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Every Disabled Child Matters
c/o Council for Disabled Children
National Children's Bureau
8 Wakley Street
London EC1V 7QE
tel +44 (0)20 7843 6448
fax +44 (0)20 7843 6313
[email protected]

UK commits to international rights

30 March 2007
 
EDCM applauds the UK government for signing up today (Friday 30th March) to the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
 
Disabled children will benefit from the whole Convention, and in particular from Article 7 which requires states to ensure, amongst other things, that disabled children can express their views freely on all matters affecting them and that disabled children can enjoy the same rights as other children.
 
Article 24 of the Convention requires states to deliver an inclusive education system. To avoid segregation, Article 23 requires states to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to disabled children and their families.
 
The UK is one of the first countries to sign up to the Convention, and it is expected to be ratified by Parliament shortly. Ministers have confirmed that the government is currently reviewing how far existing legislation and policy meets the UK's obligations under the Convention.
 
Steve Broach, EDCM Campaign Manager, comments:
'The new UN Convention is a landmark for 650 million disabled people worldwide. Once it is ratified, the 770,000 disabled children in the UK can claim the rights enshrined in the new Convention, alongside those in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
 
The government has shown its commitment to disability rights with successive laws prohibiting disability discrimination. But what families with disabled children need now are rights to services - and the funding required to deliver them. Rights on paper are an essential starting point, but more support on the ground is what families really need. That is what families are expecting the current disabled children's review to deliver.'
 
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