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Liz LynneLiberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands 1999-2012 |
MEP welcomes long-awaited United Nations Convention for People with Disability
December 13, 2006 10:52 AM
Liz Lynne MEP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for employment and social affairs in the European Parliament and President of the Liberal Democrat Disability Association has welcomed the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations General Assembly today.
Liz drafted the European Parliament's 2003 report on "A United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities" that contributed substantially to the debate on what the eventual UN Convention should look like.
Speaking from the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Liz said:
"It is estimated that nearly 10 per cent of the world's population suffer from a disability with approximately 80 per cent living in developing countries - the treatment and living standards of disabled people are global issues and I am very glad that we finally have this global Convention.
"When I wrote my 2003 report for the European Parliament, I made it clear that only a legally-binding convention covering a whole raft of different rights, including the right to quality of life, would be acceptable and that is what we now have."
"The process has been long but it has been important to get a consensus and it was always important that disabled people and disabled people's organisations were heavily involved in discussions.
"Now we have the Convention, I hope it is speedily ratified and that its monitoring body will be strong enough to help ensure compliance and to examine how disabled people are treated in practice."
"Whilst I am delighted with this convention, there is much more that must be done and I will campaign strongly in the coming year for a EU-wide Directive on disabled people's rights to be adopted as a matter of priority"
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. Liz Lynne MEP was rapporteur for the European Parliament's 2003 report, "Towards a United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and on the 2006 report assessing the 2006-7 EU Disability Action Plan.
2. Liz Lynne is Lib Dem Spokesperson on Employment and Social Affairs in the European Parliament and President of the Liberal Democrat Disability Association.
3. Liz Lynne is Vice President of the European Parliament's all party Disability Intergroup.
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