Opening Doors – What Do You Think of This Latest Senate Vote?

It would seem, from the final U.S. Senate vote tally last week, that a Resolution very important to many in the disabilities community, fell victim to the ongoing voting stalemate between Republicans and Democrats in our current Congress. On Dec. 4, the Senate rejected, by a vote of 61 to 38, the ratification of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD). The voting was divided strongly along party lines.
The CRPD was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in December 2006 and was open to member nations for signature beginning in March 2007. Eighty countries and the European Community signed on at that time to this first human rights treaty of the 21st century. But although the U.S. provided valuable assistance and guidance during the drafting of the Convention and, in fact, significant portions of the U.N. document were inspired by our disability law, there was reluctance on the part of the Bush administration to ratify the Convention.
Several explanations have been given for this hesitancy, among them the former president’s generally cautious approach to all international treaties and a concern that the international document could complicate enforcement of the ADA.
On July 25, 2009, the eve of the 19th anniversary of the passage of the ADA, President Obama signed a proclamation of support for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). His administration’s support for the Convention was voiced by Secretary of State Clinton:
“Discrimination against people with disabilities isn’t only an injustice; it is a strain on economic development, a limit to democracy, a burden on families, and a cause of social erosion.” Within a week of the President’s Proclamation of Support, the U.S. ambassador to the UN joined with 141 other countries in signing the CRPD. The Convention then had to be submitted to the U.S. Senate for approval.
So what is this document that the Senate was asked to ratify? It is a legally binding instrument that spells out for the countries that sign on, their legal obligation to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities to full and equal enjoyment of all human rights. The treaty specifies each country’s obligation to ensure that its domestic law and national policies and programs foster the provisions of the CRPD, and to implement monitoring mechanisms to maintain the principles of the Convention. The CRPD is envisioned as a tool that governments and groups in society can use to improve human rights worldwide.
This U.N. Convention, which took six years to draft and three years to be adopted by the General Assembly, represents many more years of advocacy by the disability community. Through their efforts, the interests of persons with disabilities (including, for the first time, those with intellectual disabilities) are now included in the U.N. human rights legal framework and recognized in international law. Of great significance to the disability community is the change this will require in the mindset of the international community.
No longer will response to the needs of individuals with disabilities be based solely on charity but on a system of justice that recognizes the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.
Many may be surprised, as I was, to learn that the U.S. was not in the forefront of signing on to this ground-breaking human rights document. Opponents in the Senate on this most recent attempt to gain Congressional approval voiced concern that ratifying the CRPD would give too much power to the U.N. and represent a serious threat to American sovereignty.
Proponents feel that these concerns are blown all out of proportion and that the U.S. made peace with the concern about sovereignty when we joined the U.N. They see U.S. ratification as an important symbolic step forward in securing the rights of people with disabilities throughout the world.
Proponents are planning to try again in 2013 to get the Senate votes necessary to ratify the CRPD. On the Dec. 4 vote, both our N.J. Senators voted in support of ratification. If you would like to weigh in on either side of the issue, take a look at the treaty on the U.N. website (www.un.org/disabilities) by clicking on the “Convention” tab.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The National Council on Disability has published a comprehensive analysis of the United Nations CRPD: Finding the Gaps: A Comparative Analysis of Disability Laws in the United States to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It can be accessed at www.ncd.gov under “Publications by Subject”, then “International.” It is a May 2008 publication
• Rejoicing Spirits, a new, inclusive worship service adapted to meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is being held on the second Sunday of each month at 2 p.m. at St. John Lutheran Church in Ocean City at the corner of 10th and Central avenues. Although this service is adapted to more readily engage individuals with developmental disabilities, it is inspiring and meaningful to everyone who attends
• Braille and large-print menus are now available upon request at all Red Lobster restaurants
Pierson writes from the Cape May County Department of Aging and Disability Services