Disabled People, their organisations and their supporters have spoken. The time to incorporate the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People into Scots domestic law is now. The recent accumulative impacts of Brexit and COVID-19 have brought decades of injustice, exclusion and invisibility into sharp focus. Delay is not an option.
Over 120 disabled people, our organisations and supporters from across civil society have signed up to a Joint Statement calling for the full and direct incorporation of the CRPD.
The Statement, led by Inclusion Scotland and the ALLIANCE, calls for the next Scottish Government to take action as soon as possible after May’s election and explains that the rights disabled people currently have do not equate to rights in practice.
Incorporation is possible and the Statement follows on from a report commissioned by Inclusion Scotland and the ALLIANCE which sets out that incorporation is possible and how it can happen. This report was shared with the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership, and last week the Scottish Government accepted all the recommendations of the Taskforce’s report, including the incorporation of the CRPD.
Full and direct incorporation of the CRPD into Scots law will ensure that disabled people can enjoy their human rights and that they are enforceable. It will mean disabled people’s rights and lived experience steer policy and practice, and that all Scots law and the decisions of courts must be made compatible. It will formalise and strengthen Scotland’s existing commitment to the principles of the CRPD and accelerate and guide the delivery of the work of public bodies towards real equality, both with and for, disabled people.
