A UN committee – the UNCRPD – has slammed the UK government’s abhorrent treatment of disabled people. Now, Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) across the UK have spoken out about the damning verdict.
UNCRPD reports “grave and systemic” rights violations
On Wednesday 24 April, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) ruled that the UK government had failed to halt the “grave and systemic” violation of the human rights of disabled people across the country.
This report followed the UNCRPD’s inquiry in March, where, as the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey detailed:
the government absolutely showed itself up by trying to make it sound like it cared about disabled people – and the UN special rapporteurs consequently dragged them over the coals.
So now, the UNCRPD has issued its scathing conclusions on a litany of government failures and deliberate discriminatory policies against disabled people. Charlton-Dailey explained again that:
The UNCRPD report pulls the government up on many things – including benefits deaths, Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reforms, the institutionalisation of disabled people, and British Sign Language (BSL).
It lambasted everything from indefensibly low benefits, to the government’s callous Work Capability Assessment reforms, and its plans to snoop on disabled people’s bank accounts with AI.
Crucially, at both the inquiry and in the subsequent report, the UNCRPD dragged the government over the coals for failing to follow up on recommendations from the last time. Specifically, as the Canary’s Steve Topple articulated in March, this wasn’t the first time the UN had hauled it in front of the committee:
Every so often, the UNCRPD monitors countries to see if they are acting in line with the CRPD’s articles or not. The last time the committee looked at the UK was in 2016 – and the report was damning. Then, in August 2017, the UNCRPD followed up on its report; this included its chair accusing the government of creating a “human catastrophe” for disabled people. Yet in 2018 the government effectively whitewashed the UNCRPD report.
DDPOs provided much of the vital evidence the committee used at the inquiry and to collate the report. Now, they are speaking out about its conclusions, and the government’s shameful conduct throughout the process.
DDPOs speak out
Andy Greene is a disability rights activist on the national steering group of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC). The group triggered the UNCRPD’s special inquiry. He said that:
The process of evidence gathering, taking witness testimony and objective scrutiny of policy and its impact, is one that’s very difficult to ridicule or dismiss. The facts speak for themselves. As such, the inquiry vindicates the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people whose voices are too often ignored.
Meanwhile musician, campaigner and fellow DPAC steering group member John Kelly said the report is:
damning on the lack of this government listening to our real lived experiences as Disabled people and doing anything to support what we really need which is to live and contribute in our community as equal citizens along with our peers.”
Spokesperson for DPAC Northern Ireland Dermot Devlin said:
DPAC NI thank the UN Committee for their work and due diligence on our behalf and call on the Westminster Government to properly implement the recommendations of the 2016 inquiry and the current report.
The absence of Government in Northern Ireland has failed Disabled people here. With the Executive now restored, bringing forward a Disability Strategy that addresses the Committee’s recommendations must be an absolute priority.
Svetlana Kotova is director of campaigns and justice at Inclusion London. In a press release she said that:
This report is a damning verdict on the government’s track record in upholding our human rights…It is shocking that our country that positions itself as a world leader is yet again found to breach our rights on a systematic level.
It is also shocking that the government has failed to listen to the UN in the past and has actively dismissed the previous recommendations….Inclusion London welcomes the report and urge the government and the opposition to take it seriously and develop policies on welfare reform, employment and independent living that comply with the UK’s obligations under the UNCRDP.
As a result, Kotova argued that:
The report shows that the current system is not fit for purpose and the government cannot carry on punishing Disabled people.”
UNCRPD hears of institutionalisation and benefit deaths
Notably, DDPOs underscored the reports clear findings that the current environment the government has fomented for disabled people in the UK contravenes their human rights.
Among the many areas where the committee expressed it was “deeply concerned” were:
- the social care recruitment crisis follow EU withdrawal.
- the inadequacies of social care support provision to cover anything more than “bare subsistence”.
- incarceration of Disabled people “in secure psychiatric facilities due to a lack of community-based support”.
- “disabled people who are housebound due to inadequate support to access the community”.
- “abuse, mistreatment and the increasing use of restraints, restrictive practices and… unexpected deaths in the mental health care system”.
Dorothy Gould is founder of grassroots organisation Liberation. People with personal experience of mental distress and trauma lead the group. On the report’s identification of medical abuse and the carceral response to people in mental health distress, Gould said:
it is an utter disgrace that many of us are forced into institutions, continue to be locked up against our will in places such as psychiatric hospitals and continue to be forcibly treated and abused, in complete breach of human rights which other citizens hold.
Of course, the UNCRPD also drew attention to the horrendous and appalling scale of benefit deaths that the government has repeatedly caused. Notably, the report called for the government to appropriately “redress” its legislation and policy that are causing these tragic deaths. Alongside this, it said the government should implement appropriate “reparation measures for the victims’ families”.
Alison Turner is daughter-in-law of Errol Graham, who starved to death after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stopped his benefits. On the findings of the report she said:
I am pleased that the report highlighted the need for proper review and monitoring of the deaths of benefit claimants… It shows that this government has learned nothing and cares not for its direct actions to cause harm.
Government “contempt” is “wilful and calculated”
DDPOs also called out the UK government’s appalling last-minute back out of the original session. Initially, the UNCRPD had scheduled the meeting for 28 August. However, just six days before the deadline for written evidence submissions to the inquiry, the government pulled out.
By this point, many cash-strapped DDPOs had already booked their flights and accommodation to attend.
The result was that the committee, which is made up of Deaf and Disabled members from around the world, had to split the oral evidence section of the inquiry into two separate sessions.
CEO for Disability Wales Rhian Davies slammed the government’s evasive behaviour:
The UK Government’s approach to this review has been utterly disrespectful and matches the contempt shown to Disabled people for over a decade. We deserve better and we demand better.
Echoing this, UK Coalition co-ordinator and disabled activist Ellen Clifford said:
The government’s attitude towards the UN special inquiry is evidence that their treatment of Deaf and Disabled people is wilful and calculated. This is reflected in the damning findings of the report.
The limitations of the inquiry process are that there are just too many deliberate rights violations to include in one report.
However, the report validates the experiences of Deaf and Disabled people across the UK and is a much-needed counter to government rhetoric claiming they are “protecting the most vulnerable” when they are doing the exact opposite.
UK media “drowned out and demonised” disabled people
While the DDPOs largely directed their criticisms at the UK government, disabled president of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Natasha Hirst took aim at the press.
Specifically, she made a call to all journalists to reflect on the evidence in the report. Crucially, she pulled them up on their role perpetuating inaccurate and harmful government rhetoric:
There has never been a more important time for journalists and the wider media industry to tackle harmful negative rhetoric against disabled people.
I call on journalists to take time to understand the concerns raised by the UN Committee and scrutinise why the Government is so keen to dismiss their failure to uphold disabled people’s human rights.
Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations have thoroughly evidenced the harm caused by policy changes and cuts to services and yet the UK Government is intent on pushing this even further.
Disabled people’s voices need to be heard and not drowned out and demonised by people who have never experienced the sharp end of the social security system.
As journalists, we should report ethically to hold power to account, and not be complicit in the scapegoating of disabled people.
Naturally, the mainstream media were predictably doing exactly that in March. As the Canary’s Steve Topple documented, the BBC acted as a mouthpiece for the government, effectively whitewashing the inquiry.
Tory’s “onslaught” of harm
Of course, since the inquiry in March even, the Tories have ramped up their war on disabled people. So, some DDPOs honed in on the government’s latest machinations to punch down on them.
Disability Rights UK CEO Kamran Mallick said:
Under this Government, the UK has lost its status as a nation that leads in disability rights to one that is actively attacking Disabled people.
In just the last week we have seen an onslaught of new policy proposals and legislation which will not only harm us but also lead to avoidable deaths…
At a time when we’re all struggling to make ends meet and cannot access the healthcare and support that we need, the Government are scapegoating Disabled people for a failing economy.
We are not at fault for simply existing. The Government are at fault for their complete disregard for international treaties and contempt for Disabled people’s rights.
In tandem with this, spokesperson for the Black Triangle campaign in Scotland John McArdle stated that:
To proceed with the plans announced by Conservative Prime Minister Sunak last Friday will definitely lead to a surge in deaths by suicide and other avoidable harm which falls short of death but is nonetheless catastrophic.
The U.K. has abrogated the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People by its treatment of Deaf and Disabled people in the UK.
Feature image via UN Web TV
