Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - NGO Shadow Report
Leading Disabled Persons Organisations in Australia have partnered to form a project group which is compiling a Shadow Report on Australia's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The overall aim of the Shadow Report is to make recommendations to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These recommendations will provide the basis for the United Nations recommendations to the Australian Government regarding Australia's implementation of the Articles of the Convention. The main focus of the Shadow Report will be reporting the extent to which Australia has implemented its obligations under the CRPD and to provide recommendations for future action by the Australian Government.
The project group gratefully acknowledges the pro bono support from DLA Piper Australia in providing a team to draft the report and assist with facilitating consultations in each State and Territory in Australia as well as the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in funding the consultations and drafting of the report.
August 2011COMMUNIQUÉ – NGO CRPD Shadow Report
The Project Group on the NGO Shadow Report on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) met in Sydney on 4 and 5 August 2011 in order to discuss the most recent draft of the Report. The final version of the Report will now be circulated throughout Australia in December 2011 in anticipation of endorsement, with responses due in February 2012.
The CRPD addresses the right of every person with disability to equality of opportunity, non-discrimination, respect for individual autonomy and full and effective participation and inclusion in society. Australia signed the CRPD In 2007 and ratified it in 2008. The Convention entered into force for Australia on 16 August 2008. Leading disability organisations have since partnered to form a Project Group with the aim of compiling a Shadow Report on Australia’s implementation of the Convention.
The Shadow Report will make recommendations to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These recommendations will provide the basis for the United Nations recommendations to the Australian Government regarding Australia’s implementation of the Articles of the Convention. The Project Group is being provided with significant pro bono support from DLA Piper Australia, and has undertaken consultations throughout Australia with the support of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA).
Progress
The Australian Government submitted its report on CRPD implementation on 3 December 2010, however it is unlikely to be reviewed by the UN CRPD Committee until 2012 or 2013. The Shadow Report Project Group has met three times. Firstly on 5 November 2010 in order to consider the first draft of the Report, on 16 and 17 May 2011 to consider the second draft and most recently on 4 and 5 August 2011 to bring together a third draft. At the August meeting it was decided that the Group should now engage the services of consultant Mr. David Craig to provide a further more cohesive draft that could then be reviewed by the Group. Funding for Mr. Craig's services has been requested from FaHCSIA.
It was originally intended that the final version of the Shadow Report would be completed by 31 August 2011. However, this timetable has been amended in light of considerations that as the Australian Government Report will not be reviewed by the Commmittee until approximately 2013, the shadow report will lose its currency and relevance if it is submitted too early, due to the Report’s focus on lived experiences. The Consultant David Craig will meet with the Project Group on 21 October 2011 in Sydney, in order to discuss his draft of the Report. The Project Group anticipates that the final version of the Report will now be circulated throughout Australia in December 2011, in anticipation of endorsement, with responses due in February 2012. The Shadow Report will then be submitted to the United Nations soon after that date.
Project Group on the Shadow Report on the CRPD:
• Joanna Shulman, Australian Disability Rights Network, Redfern Legal Centre
• Therese Sands, People with Disability Australia
• Ken Wade, Queensland Advocacy Incorporated
• Lesley Hall, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
• Fiona Given, Disability Discrimination Legal Centre
• Andrea Simmons, Disability Advocacy Network Australia
• Rosemary Kayess, Australian Human Rights Centre