On 22 January 2011, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) entered into force for the European Union. All EU Member States have signed and ratified the convention. 22 EU countries have also signed and ratified its optional protocol in January 2019.
Reporting to the United Nations
As a party to the Convention, the EU must periodically inform the UN committee on the rights of persons with disabilities about the measures taken to implement it.
To date, the European Commission has provided the following reports to the Committee :
- first report to the UN on the EU's application of the Convention (June 2014)
- response to UN review of the EU's implementation of the convention (June 2015)
- dialogue with the UN in Geneva and recommendations for follow-up. A summary of the dialogue in an easy-to-read version prepared by Inclusion Europe is available. (August 2015)
- a response to the UN Committee's more urgent recommendations, and follow-up on the adoption of the European accessibility act, the Commission's withdrawal from the EU Framework, and the update of the list of EU legal acts related to disability (January 2017)
The EU is submitting its next periodic report to the UN in January 2021. EU Member States must also submit individual implementation reports to the UN for matters falling under their competence.
More information on the work of the EU in relation to the UNCRPD is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1138