REPORT on the proposal for a Council decision concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

3.4.2009 - (COM(2008)0530 – C6‑0117/2009 – 2008/0171(CNS)) - *

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Rapporteur: Rumiana Jeleva

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the proposal for a Council decision concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

(COM(2008)0530 – C6‑0117/2009 – 2008/0171(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the proposal for a Council decision (COM(2008)0530),

–   having regard to the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("the Optional Protocol"), adopted on 13 December 2006[1],

–   having regard to Articles 13(1) and 300(2), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 300(3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6‑0117/2009),

–   having regard to Rules 51 and 83(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Women's rights and Gender Equality (A6‑0230/2009),

1.  Approves conclusion of the Optional Protocol;

2.  Calls on the Member States and the Commission to report every three years to the Council and to Parliament on the status of implementation of the Optional Protocol in accordance with their respective fields of competence;

3.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

• [1]  United Nations, United Nations General Assembly, adopted 13.12.2006.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

History of the proposal

The United Nations Optional Protocol on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted on 13 December 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly. On the basis of negotiating directives adopted by the Council on 24 May 2004, the Commission conducted the negotiation of the Convention on behalf of the European Community.

On 27 February 2007, the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Decision on the signing, on behalf of the European Community, of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol (COM(2007)0077).

The Council Decision dated 27 March 2007 (ST07404/07) issued a declaration on the Optional Protocol (Annex II of the Decision) stating that the Council of the European Union shall reconsider the question of signing the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the European Community as soon as possible.

On 3 May 2008, the Convention and its Optional Protocol entered into force.

Since the Optional Protocol has not yet been signed by the Community and it already entered into force, the proposal for a Council Decision (COM(2008)0530 final/2 - 2008/171 (CNS) will authorise the European Community to access the Optional Protocol.

Objective

The Optional Protocol recognises the competence of the Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities. This Committee will be able to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of (groups of) individuals who claim to be victim of a violation of the provisions of the Convention by a State Party that signed the Convention.

Declaration of the European Community

To the Optional Protocol a declaration of the European Community is added with respect to Article 12(1) of the Optional Protocol which indicates the competences that are transferred to the Community by the Member States under the Treaty establishing the European Community, in the areas covered by the Optional Protocol.

Concerning Article 1, paragraph 1 of the Optional Protocol the European Community recalls its reservation concerning Article 27.1 of the Convention and that competence of the Committee as regards the European Community is thereby limited.

This means that the European Community invites Parties to the Convention to take note of Article 3(4) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. This provision gives Member States of the European Community the possibility to provide that the Directive, in so far as it relates to discrimination on the grounds of disability, shall not apply to the armed forces.

Assessment

The signing of the Optional Protocol is important to open the possibility for (groups of) individuals to submit claims to the Committee when state parties (signers of the Convention) violate the provisions of the Convention (Article 1). Complaints to the Committee may be made about any rights guaranteed under the Convention, but only after all domestic remedies have been exhausted, and only in relation to events occurring after the Optional Protocol enters into force for that country (Article 2).

The rapporteur endorses the Commission proposal, which approves the Optional Protocol on behalf of the Community, regarding those matters falling within the Community's competence.

The rapporteur calls upon the European Community and the Member States to swiftly access to and/or ratify the Optional Protocol.

OPINION OF THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY (20.2.2009)

for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

on the proposal for a Council decision concerning the conclusion, by the European Community, of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(COM(2008)0530 – C6‑0117/2009 – 2008/0171(CNS))

Rapporteur: Hiltrud Breyer

AMENDMENTS

The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality calls on the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following amendments in its report:

–   having regard to its resolution of 3 September 2003 on the Commission Communication "Towards a United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities"[1] and its resolution of 26 April 2007 on the situation of women with disabilities in the European Union[2],

–   having regard to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted in 1979 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and its Optional Protocol,

1.  Welcomes the Optional Protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; regrets that only four EU Member States so far have ratified the Convention and the Optional Protocol;

2.  Recognises that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination; calls on the Member States to access the Optional Protocol to give disabled women and girls whose rights are violated the necessary legal means to fight this violation and to ensure their protection against all forms of discrimination.

PROCEDURE

Title	United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Optional Protocol)
References	COM(2008)0530 – 2008/0171(CNS)
Committee responsible	EMPL
Opinion by        Date announced in plenary	FEMM
Drafts(wo)man        Date appointed	Hiltrud Breyer 22.10.2008
Discussed in committee	20.1.2009		10.2.2009
Date adopted	10.2.2009
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	18 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Edit Bauer, Hiltrud Breyer, Ilda Figueiredo, Věra Flasarová, Lissy Gröner, Urszula Krupa, Pia Elda Locatelli, Astrid Lulling, Doris Pack, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Zita Pleštinská, Anni Podimata, Christa Prets, Teresa Riera Madurell, Eva-Riitta Siitonen, Eva-Britt Svensson, Britta Thomsen, Anna Záborská
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Gabriela Creţu, Ana Maria Gomes, Donata Gottardi, Elisabeth Jeggle, Maria Petre

• [1]  OJ C 76 E , 25.3.2004, p. 231.
• [2]  OJ C 74 E , 20.3.2008, p. 742.

PROCEDURE

Title	United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Optional Protocol)
References	COM(2008)0530 – C6-0117/2009 – 2008/0171(CNS)
Date of consulting Parliament	30.3.2009
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	EMPL
Committee(s) asked for opinion(s)        Date announced in plenary	FEMM
Rapporteur(s)        Date appointed	Rumiana Jeleva 6.10.2008
Discussed in committee	21.1.2009		2.3.2009		30.3.2009
Date adopted	31.3.2009
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	34 1 0
Members present for the final vote	Jan Andersson, Edit Bauer, Iles Braghetto, Philip Bushill-Matthews, Alejandro Cercas, Derek Roland Clark, Jean Louis Cottigny, Jan Cremers, Harald Ettl, Richard Falbr, Joel Hasse Ferreira, Stephen Hughes, Ona Juknevičienė, Jean Lambert, Bernard Lehideux, Elizabeth Lynne, Thomas Mann, Juan Andrés Naranjo Escobar, Csaba Őry, Siiri Oviir, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Elisabeth Schroedter, José Albino Silva Peneda, Jean Spautz, Gabriele Stauner, Ewa Tomaszewska, Anne Van Lancker
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Richard Howitt, Rumiana Jeleva, Jamila Madeira, Adrian Manole, Csaba Sógor, Evangelia Tzampazi
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote	Jean-Pierre Audy, Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă