A4-0391/96

Resolution on the rights of disabled people

The European Parliament,

- having regard to petitions 63/93, 648/94, 31/95, 143/95, 174/95, 488/95, 929/95, 1252/95, 35/96, 1036/95, 96/91, 661/90, 957/93, 246/94, 295/94, 488/94, 602/94, 916/94, 1107/94, 24/95, 128/95, 331/95, 431/95, 535/95, 608/95 and 984/95,

- having regard to the Commission Communication of 30 July 1996 on equality of opportunity for people with disabilities which includes a draft Council resolution (COM(96)0406 - C4-0582/96),

- having regard to United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities of 20 December 1993,

- having regard to its resolution of 26 May 1989 on women and disability ((OJ C 158, 26.6.1989, p. 383.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 17 June 1988 on sign languages for deaf people ((OJ C 187, 18.7.1988, p. 236.)),

- having regard to its declaration of 9 May 1996 on the rights of people with autism ((OJ C 152, 27.5.1996, p. 87.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 16 September 1992 on the rights of mentally handicapped people ((OJ C 284, 2.11.1992, p. 49.)),

- having regard to Council Decision 93/136/EEC of 25 February 1993 establishing a third Community action programme (Helios 2) to assist disabled people,

- having regard to Rule 157(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Petitions and the opinions of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens´ Rights and the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment (A4-0391/96),

A. whereas, according to official estimates, 37 million disabled people as citizens of the European Union do not enjoy full civil and human rights,

B. whereas disabled people and their families and partners experience direct and indirect discrimination which excludes them from participation in mainstream society and from full realisation of equality of opportunity and of their economic and social potential,

C. whereas disabled people have the right to live independently in society and the right to freedom from institutionalisation and the right to participate fully in society as citizens in all debates which affect them,

D. whereas disabled people have the right to freedom from violence and abuse,

E. whereas the European Union and Member States are behind other developed economies because they do not have legislation on non-discrimination,

1. Calls on Member States to include a non-discrimination clause on grounds of disability in the revised Treaty on European Union, to enact a new legal basis for social programmes, and to introduce non-discrimination measures at Member State level, and to treat disability rights as a civil rights issue;

2. Calls on the Member States to take steps to ensure that existing national legislation concerning non-discrimination against disabled people is strictly complied with;

3. Calls on the Commission, following the evaluation of the HELIOS 2 programme, to present a new action programme on equalisation of opportunities for disabled people in the framework of the UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities of 20 December 1993 and to fund interim activity in this rights-based framework including a European Disability Forum and recognition of the annual international day of disabled people at European level;

4. Considers it necessary, in order to improve the available statistics on disabled people and the causes or extent of their handicap, to carry out studies and censuses in all the Member States, with the participation of the NGOs representing disabled people; considers that the Commission should propose appropriate measures for this purpose;

5. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the results which have been achieved in the context of projects implementing European programmes for disabled people are more widely known, especially for the benefit of smaller organizations for disabled people, which can learn a great deal from such information;

6. Calls on the Community institutions and Member States to review their access and employment policies by taking specific measures to ensure this access, and calls on the Commission to publish a code of good practice on the employment of disabled people and on the Commission to ensure that the review of the public procurement Directive guarantees adequate recognition of social criteria in public contracts;

7. Welcomes the Commission communication and draft Council resolution on equality of opportunity for disabled people, in particular the move to a rights-based framework for policy at Community and Member State level;

8. Calls on the Commission, in close collaboration with the Member States, to assess the scope and practical results of the various policies for access to employment for disabled people;

9. Calls on the Commission to take active measures to enable disabled people to participate in all relevant Community programmes and to report to Parliament on these measures;

10. Acknowledges that the main responsibility in disability matters remains with the Member States and that the present framework of Community legislation requires action in only a limited area of matters of relevance, but considers this to be all the more reason to use the available means to achieve better opportunities for people with disabilities;

11. Welcomes the fact that, in the case of the directive approximating the laws on lifts, Parliament succeeded in obtaining the adoption of an amendment to ensure that lift cars are accessible to disabled people, a point worth making because up to then no standards of this kind on behalf of disabled people had ever been incorporated in legislation on an industrial product;

12. Calls on the Commission to 'disability proof¨ all draft legislation, programmes, initiatives and policies against the UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities;

13. Calls on the Commission and Member States to recognise that disabled people have a right to influence policies and programmes that affect them, to ensure adequate resources for representative European and national NGOs of disabled people and parents of disabled people who cannot represent themselves and to establish adequate consultation mechanisms with these NGOs;

14. Calls on the Commission and Member States to create a legislative framework for accessible product and service design, including a reference to non- discrimination on grounds of disability in Article 100a of the EC Treaty;

15. Calls on the Commission to examine the feasibility of creating a mandatory legal framework to ensure universal access and accessible technology when creating the regulatory framework in the information society:

16. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the process of liberalisation at European level does not undermine existing products and services for disabled people and that the process of standardization should include standards which are accessible to disabled people;

17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that disabled people are involved in the standardization process, in order to ensure access to all relevant services and products;

18. Calls on the Commission to urgently clarify and remove all barriers to disabled people's free movement as migrant workers and citizens and, if necessary, to propose amending measures;

19. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take action to ensure that blind and visually impaired people are not restricted in their freedom of movement by the fact that their guide dogs are denied access (in particular, by quarantine provisions at the point of entry);

20. Calls on the Commission to delay no longer in making a serious effort to achieve freedom of movement for disabled people and considers the following necessary to this end:

- an analysis by the Commission to determine which allowances and benefits a disabled person may continue to claim under current legislation after moving to another Member State (Articles 48 to 51 of the EC Treaty, Regulation No 1408/71);

- action to ensure the application of the findings of this analysis by the Member States, with warnings issued and recourse to the Court of Justice for infringements of the Treaty (Article 169 of the EC Treaty), if necessary;

- if the measures referred to above do not suffice, a proposal for an increase in the scope of and persons covered by the Regulations designed to coordinate social legislation, Nos 1408/71 and 574/72;

- the adoption of the proposal by the procedure defined in Article 51 of the EC Treaty or Article 2(3) of the Agreement on Social Policy (Protocol No 14 to the EC Treaty);

21. Calls on the Member States and Community institutions to ensure that all relevant information is available in formats accessible to disabled people, including visually impaired people, people with learning disabilities and deaf people;

22. Intends to take active steps to ensure that disabled people can vote at its elections, access its proceedings and premises and urges Member States to take similar measures;

23. Calls on the Commission to finance pilot projects and exchanges of good practice in the prevention of violence and abuse against disabled people;

24. Calls on the Commission to research the economic benefits of non- discrimination measures at European Union level and to publish research into disabled people's living and working conditions, including new working patterns and interaction with social benefits;

25. Calls on Member States to take measures to ensure adequate support to families of disabled people and to secure the financial protection of disabled people with a view to preventing their exclusion: not least in order to prevent disabled people being placed in institutions which cannot under any circumstances be a substitute for an environment in which disabled people can live independently;

26. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take specific measures to meet the needs of marginalised groups of disabled people;

27. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to combat the two-fold discrimination against disabled women with projects and policies and to publish separate statistics for disabled men and women;

28. Calls on Member States to ban inhuman and degrading treatment of disabled people and to ensure that disabled people are never institutionalised because of their disabilities against their will and to ascertain that disabled people who choose to live in institutions enjoy full standards of human rights;

29. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take measures to promote the employment of disabled people, including non-discrimination measures, promotion of alternative work forms, the involvement of disability NGOs in the management of HORIZON and a greater priority to employment and disability in the Commission's employment strategy;

30. Calls on the Commission to consider what measures need to be taken in the fields of education and vocational training in order to promote equality for people with disabilities and to take appropriate action;

31. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its committee to the Community institutions and bodies and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the states which have applied to accede to the European Union.