Ireland accedes to Optional Protocol in a landmark for implementing the UN CRPD

Ireland's disabled community is celebrating the Government's accession to the Optional Protocol of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN CRPD). Six years following Ireland's ratification of the UN CRPD, accession to the optional protocol represents a milestone in the recognising the human rights of disabled people in Ireland. 

As a State Party to the UN CRPD, Ireland has an obligation to implement full and equal rights for people with disabilities. While the UN CRPD deals with the civil and equal rights, the Optional Protocol is a significant step in ensuring those rights are addressed. 

Accession to the Protocol means that disabled people can make individual complaints to the UN if they feel their rights are not being met by their government. 

Disability activists and advoactes have been pushing for accession for many years as a way to ensure there is a mechanism for ensuring the State is meeting it's obligations under the UN CRPD.

Last week the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) published its submission to the UN Human Rights Council recommending that Ireland "proceeds with the immediate ratification of the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities".

Making a complaint

A person can make a complaint to the UN Committee regarding any violation of the rights established under the Convention

The Committee receives communications in the form of written submissions (either online or by post) and assesses their merits. If admissible, the Committee it will examine the complaint, and may make recommendations as to how the State should rectify the issue.

You must exhaust all domestic remedies in order for the complaint to be admissible. This means that domestic avenues such as judicial proceedings, appeals of lower court decisions, judicial reviews must be exhausted prior to any complaint being made to the Committee.

The Committee may decide that the exhaustion of domestic remedies is not necessary in cases where the application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to bring effective relief).

A complaint can be judged inadmissible for a number of reasons such as:

• being anonymous
• being examined by another international body at the time of consideration by the Committee
• if the events occurred prior to ratification of the Protocol
• it is incompatible with the provisions of the Convention.

Find out more about the UN CRPD: https://www.disability-federation.ie/publications/united-nations-convention-on-the-rights-of-persons/