U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
With so many U.N. treaty body reviews of the U.S. going on this year, it may be difficult for U.S. human rights advocates to focus on much else. However, we are missing a very rare opportunity to push ratification of one of the most innovative human rights treaties available today: the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The CRPD is a breakthrough human rights treaty, recognizing and outlining an array of rights for people with disabilities and clearly acknowledging that disability is an evolving concept, subject to social context. The treaty itself includes reference to domestic civil rights, international development policy and classic intersectional human rights. For the U.S., ratification provides the opportunity to join – and lead – a community of more than 147 countries which have already ratified the CRPD, and leading by the very positive examples of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other policies and practices already in place in the U.S.
There is a real possibility that the Senate may vote again this fall – and successfully ratify – the CRPD. In December 2012, the U.S. Senate failed by only five votes (61-38) to pass its advice and consent to ratify the CRPD. This was after a major coordinated push for ratification led by a broad coalition of national and international disability rights advocates (e.g. the U.S. International Council on Disabilities), veterans groups, and major political figures from both parties, including John Kerry, Bob Dole, and former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.
The 2012 vote was very disappointing, but still it is remarkable how close the CRPD came to ratification by the U.S., especially when you consider the inactivity of the 112th Congress and the government shutdown of 2013. Moreover, if there was any worry that the then-pending Bond v. U.S. decision was somehow affecting the ratification of treaties by the senate, that cloud has been lifted.
Heavy opposition was mobilized against ratification of the CRPD, both on the basis of rejecting all international treaties (a trend among very conservative Senators) and a rejection of the CRPD based on powerfully persuasive misinformation (such as the idea that parents would no longer have the ability to homeschool their children with disabilities). It is important to bring the facts and benefits of the CRPD to the Senate: the CRPD is a crucial human rights treaty, recognizing the rights of persons with disabilities, focusing on areas of law where the U.S. is a global leader. This is where U.S. human rights advocates are particularly experienced, bringing human rights arguments and making them relevant to U.S. courts and lawmakers.
This July, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee again voted the CRPD out of committee and it looks quite possible that it may come up for a full Senate ratification vote again sometime this fall. U.S. human rights advocates were late to the game in the push to ratify the CRPD in 2012. We need to do more to support and promote ratification efforts now. While some advocates have been pushing for ratification of the CRPD during human rights consultations leading up to the Universal Periodic Review, it would be great to see more connections made between human rights and disability rights groups and a concerted effort by human rights experts to speak and publish about the CRPD and the benefits of ratification.
An easy but significant step U.S. human rights advocates can take to join the push to ratify the CRPD is to go to the U.S. International Council on Disabilities’ website http://disabilitytreaty.org/, join their mailing list to keep up with new developments, and follow their advice to take action by signing their petition of support, and calling, writing or tweeting at senators.