Abstract
Effective involvement of people with disabilities (different abilities) in policy choices affecting them is still not adequately implemented. A survey of the social approach to disability underpinning the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the EU Disability Strategies displays a lack of effectiveness, which is partially due to the lack of a univocal definition of the right to participation. Arguably, the ‘global urban justice’ conceptualisation provides a way forward, underscoring the importance of implementing human rights at the local level. Owing to their proximity to people’s needs, local institutions are better equipped to effectively implement the rights of persons with disabilities. Bologna is indeed a prominent example of a ‘human rights city’, where public and private local initiatives combine to effectively implement the right to participation.
On the exterior convex wall is first an immense
drawing of the whole Earth, given at one view
Tommaso Campanella, The City of Sun
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The problem of segregation for disabled people before the adoption of the social model approach is further explored by Bradley Areheart, ‘When Disability Isn’t Just Right: The Entrenchment of the Medical Model of Disability and the Goldilocks Dilemma’ (2008) 83 Indiana Law Journal 181.
- 2.
UPIAS, Fundamental Principles of Disability (UPIAS/Disability Alliance, 1976).
- 3.
Lisa Vanhala, ‘The Complexity in Achieving Disability Equality’ (2015) 37(4) Human Rights Quarterly 831, at 840.See also Theresia Degener, ‘Disability as a Subject of International Human Rights Law and Comparative Discrimination Law’, in Stanley S. Herr et al. (eds.), The Human Rights of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities: Different but Equal (OUP, 2003) 151.
- 4.
Opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3, entered into force 3 May 2008.
- 5.
See Chap. 1 on sovereign entities and disability rights by Quirico in this volume.
- 6.
UN GA, Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, Res. 3447(XXX), 9 December 1975.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
UN GA, International Year of Disabled Persons, Res. 31/12, 16 December 1976; Id., World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, Res. 37/52 of 3 December 1982.
- 9.
UN GA, Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, Res. 48/96, 20 December 1993.
- 10.
Ibid., at para. 15
- 11.
Opened for signature 13 December 20016, 2518 UNTS 283, 3 May 2008.
- 12.
Emphasis added.
- 13.
OCSE, Guidelines on Promoting the Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities (2019).
- 14.
For a more in-depth analysis of the disability movement, see Diane Driedger, The Last Civil Rights Movement: Disabled People’s International (St. Martin’s Press, 1989); James Charlton, Nothing about Us without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment (University of California Press, 1998).
- 15.
Gauthier De Beco and Alexander Hoefmans, ‘National Structures for the Implementation and Monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, in Gauthier De Beco (ed.), Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Brill, 2013) 9.
- 16.
Preamble of the Convention, letter ‘o’.
- 17.
See Ilze Grobelaar Du Plessis and Jehoshaphat Njau, ‘Article 29: Participation in Political and Public Life’, in Ilias Bantekas, Michael Ashley Stein and Dimitris Anastasiou (eds.), The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (OUP, 2018) 834; Gauthier De Beco, Disability in International Human Rights Law (OUP, 2021) at 146.
- 18.
International Disability Alliance, https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org.
- 19.
UN GA, Keeping the promise: realizing the Millennium Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities Towards 2015 and Beyond, Report of the Secretary-General, 26 July 2010, at para. 71.
- 20.
Ibid., at para. 111.
- 21.
Section 3.
- 22.
Deborah Mabbett, ‘The Development of Rights-Based Social Policy in the European Union: The Example of Disability Rights’ (2005) 43(1) Journal of Common Market Studies 97.
- 23.
Treaty of Amsterdam Amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties Establishing the European Communities and Certain Related Acts, opened for signature 2 October 1997, entered into force 1 May 1999, Article 13:
Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty and within the limits of the powers conferred by it upon the Community, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, may take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.
- 24.
EU Council Directive 2000/78/EC, 27 November 2000.
- 25.
Commission of the European Communities, The Role of Government for Europe’s Future, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2003) 567 final, 26 September 2003.
- 26.
Vanhala, ‘The Complexity’ (2015) at 832.
- 27.
Adopted 2 October 2000.
- 28.
See further Chap. 9 by Anne McNaughton in this volume.
- 29.
European Commission, Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities: A European Action Plan, COM(2003) 650 final, 30 October 2003.
- 30.
European Commission, Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, EU Disability strategy 2010–2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe, COM(2010) 636 final, 15 November 2010.
- 31.
Ibid., at 5.
- 32.
This approach was explored by New Zealand in 2003 via the Community Participation Project, when people who had lived in residential houses for years were reintroduced in the community where they used to live before. The implementation of this model has been contested by New Zealand scholars, who claim that its adoption focused on creating physical places within the community, whereas the positive impact for people brought back in the community would lie in the actual interaction with people living there. Indeed, spatial presence is not the primary indicator for evaluating inclusion (Paul Milner and Anne Bray, Community Participation: People with Disabilities Finding Their Place, Report on the CCS Community Participation Project (2004)).
- 33.
European Commission, Union of Equality, Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030 (2021) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_810.
- 34.
Ibid., at 8–9, para. 3.2.
- 35.
Ibid., at 16 ff.
- 36.
Ibid., at 27.
- 37.
This was also the assumption behind the ‘Nothing without Us’ movement during the negotiation of the CRDP: Germana Agnetti, ‘Arrivano i consumatori: dove andiamo?’ (2007).Psichiatria di Comunità, 6, at 73–79; Charlton, ‘Nothing About Us without Us’ (1998).
- 38.
Angelo Barbato, ‘La partecipazione degli utenti ai processi decisionali in salute mentale: una sfida e un’opportunità’ (2017) Sestante 3.
- 39.
Erin Wilson, ‘Defining and Measuring the Outcomes of Inclusive Community for People With Disability, Their Families and the Communities with Whom They Engage’, in Christine Bigby, Chris Fyffe and Jim Mansell (eds.), From Ideology to Reality: Current Issues in Implementation of Intellectual Disability Policy. Proceedings of the Roundtable on Intellectual Disability Policy (2006) 24.
- 40.
European Commission, Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Disability Strategy (2010–2020), 2 February 2017, at 4.
- 41.
European Commission, Commission Staff Working Progress Report on the implementation of the European Disability Strategy (2010–2020), SWD(2017) 29 final, 2 February 2017, at 32.
- 42.
Ibid., at 28.
- 43.
Ibid., at 35–39.
- 44.
Ibid. at 32.
- 45.
Cynthia Soohoo, ‘Human Rights Cities: Challenges and Possibilities’, in Barbara Oomen, Martha Davis and Michele Grigolo (eds.), Global Urban Justice: The Rise of Human Rights Cities (CUP, 2016) 257, at 257–258.
- 46.
Barbara Oomen, ‘Introduction’, in Oomen, Davis and Grigolo (eds.), Global Urban Justice (2016) 1.
- 47.
Pamela Walker, ‘Community Based Is Not Community: The Social Geography of Disability’, in Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan and Zana Marie Lutfiyya (eds.), The Variety of Community Experience: Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life (Brookes Publishing Co., 2015) 175.
- 48.
Karen Donelan et al.,‘Challenged to Care: Informal Caregivers in a Changing Health System’ (2002) 21(4) Health Affairs 222.
- 49.
Soohoo, ‘Human Rights Cities’ (2016) at 266.
- 50.
Ibid., at 257.
- 51.
Jonathan Darling, ‘Defying the Demand to “Go Home”: From Human Rights Cities to the Urbanisation of Human Rights’, in Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, Global Urban Justice (2016) 121; Eva García Chueca, ‘Human Rights in the City and the Right to the City, Two Different Paradigms Confronting Globalisation’, ibid., 103, at 119
- 52.
Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities (Yale UP, 2013) at 4.
- 53.
Oomen, ‘Introduction’ (2016) at 4.
- 54.
Michele Grigolo, ‘Incorporating Cities into the EU Anti-Discrimination Policy: Between Race Discrimination and Migrant Rights’ (2011) 34(10) Ethnic and Racial Studies 1751.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Oomen, ‘Introduction’ (2016) at 7.
- 57.
Opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13, entered into force 3 September 1981.
- 58.
Joann Kamuf Ward, ‘From Principles to Practice: The Role of the US Mayors in Advancing Human Rights’, in Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, Global Urban Justice (2016) 81.
- 59.
Barbara Oomen and Maoritz Baumgärtel, ‘Frontier Cities: The Rise of Local Authorities as an Opportunity for International Human Rights Law’ (2018) 29(2) European Journal of International Law 607.
- 60.
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) v The Netherlands, ECteSR, Complaint 86/2012, Decision of 10 November 2014. See also Conference of European Churches (CEC) v The Netherlands, ECteSR, Complaint 90/2013, Decision of 10 November 2014. European Social Charter, opened for signature 18 October 1961, 529 UNTS 89, entered into force 26 February 1965.
- 61.
Oomen and Baumgärtel, ‘Frontier Cities’ (2018) at 617.
- 62.
Municipality of Utrecht cited in Oomen and Baumgärtel, ‘Frontier Cities’ (2018) at 618.
- 63.
Oomen, ‘Introduction’ (2016) 1.
- 64.
Darling, ‘Defying the Demand’ (2016) 121.
- 65.
Ibid.
- 66.
Ibid., at 130.
- 67.
Ibid.
- 68.
Martha F. Davis, ‘Cities, Human Rights and Accountability: The United States Experience’, in Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, Global Urban Justice (2016) 23.
- 69.
Benoît Frate, ‘Human Rights at a Local Level: The Montreal Experience’, in Oomen, Davis and Grigolo, Global Urban Justice (2016) 64.
- 70.
Vanhala, ‘The Complexity’ (2015) 831.
- 71.
Ibid.
- 72.
Oomen and Baumgärtel, ‘Frontier Cities’ (2018) at 609.
- 73.
Marisa Pavone, Dall’esclusione all’inclusione. Lo sguardo della Pedagogia Speciale (Mondadori, 2010) at 42.
- 74.
Law 360/1976.
- 75.
Law 517/1977.
- 76.
Francesca Biondi dal Monte, ‘Il ruolo degli enti locali’, in Mario Savino, La crisi migratoria tra Italia e Unione Europea: diagnosi e prospettive (Editoriale scientifica, 2016) 81.
- 77.
- 78.
- 79.
Gabriella Gallo et al., ‘Le nuove sfide della partecipazione a Bologna’ (2017) 3 Sestante 40.
- 80.
Ibid.
- 81.
- 82.
Section 2.
- 83.
Websites accessed 14 January 2022.
References
Websites accessed 14 January 2022.
Documents
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, adopted 2 October 2000.
Commission of the European Communities. 2003. The Role of Government for Europe’s Future, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2003) 567 final.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13, entered into force 3 September 1981.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3, entered into force 3 May 2008.
EU, 2000. Council Directive 2000/78/EC, Establishing a General Framework for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation.
European Commission. 2003. Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities: A European Action Plan, COM(2003) 650 final.
European Commission. 2010. Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, EU Disability strategy 2010–2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe, COM(2010) 636 final.
European Commission. 2017. Commission Staff Working Progress Report on the implementation of the European Disability Strategy (2010–2020), SWD(2017) 29 final.
European Commission. 2017. Progress Report on the Implementation of the European Disability Strategy (2010–2020).
European Commission. 2021. Union of Equality, Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021–2030.
European Social Charter, opened for signature 18 October 1961, 529 UNTS 89, entered into force 26 February 1965.
Italy. 1976. Law 360.
Italy. 1977. Law 517.
OCSE. 2019. Guidelines on Promoting the Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities.
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 13 December 20016, 2518 UNTS 283, 3 May 2008.
Treaty of Amsterdam Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties Establishing the European Communities and Certain Related Acts, opened for signature 2 October 1997, entered into force 1 May 1999.
UN GA, 2008. Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, Res. 48/96.
UN GA. 1975. Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, Res. 3447(XXX).
UN GA. 1976. International Year of Disabled Persons, Res. 31/12.
UN GA. 1982. World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, Res. 37/52.
UN GA. 2010. Keeping the promise: realizing the Millennium Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities Towards 2015 and Beyond, Report of the Secretary-General.
UPIAS. 1976. Fundamental Principles of Disability.
Cases
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) v. The Netherlands, ECteSR, Complaint 86/2012, Decision of 10 November 2014.
Conference of European Churches (CEC) v. The Netherlands, ECteSR, Complaint 90/2013, Decision of 10 November 2014.
Bibliography
Agnetti, G. (2007). Arrivano i consumatori: dove andiamo? Psichiatria di Comunità, 6, 73.
Areheart, B. (2018). When disability isn’t just right: The entrenchment of the medical model of disability and the Goldilocks Dilemma. Indiana Law Journal, 83, 181.
Bantekas, I., Stein, M. A., & Anastasiou, D. (Eds.). (2018). The UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: A commentary. Oxford University Press.
Barbato, A. (2017). La partecipazione degli utenti ai processi decisionali in salute mentale: una sfida e un’opportunità. Sestante, 3, 1–48.
Barber, B. R. (2013). If Mayors ruled the world: Dysfunctional nations, rising cities. Yale University Press.
Bigby, C., Fyffe, C., & Mansell, J. (Eds.). (2006). From ideology to reality: Current issues in implementation of intellectual disability policy. Proceedings of the roundtable on intellectual disability policy. La Trobe Unviersity.
Charlton, J. (1998). Nothing about Us without Us: Disability oppression and empowerment. University of California Press.
Chueca, E. G. (2016). Human rights in the city and the right to the city, Two different paradigms confronting globalisation. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 103). Cambridge University Press.
Dal Monte, F. B. (2016). Il ruolo degli enti locali. In M. Savino (Ed.), La crisi migratoria tra Italia e Unione Europea: diagnosi e prospettive (p. 81). Editoriale scientifica.
Darling, J. (2016). Defying the demand to “Go Home”: From human rights cities to the urbanisation of human rights. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 121). Cambridge University Press.
Davis, M. F. (2016). Cities, human rights and accountability: The United States experience. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 23). Cambridge University Press.
De Beco, G., & Hoefmans. (2013). A. National structures for the implementation and monitoring of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. In G. De Beco (Ed.), Article 33 of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (p. 9). Brill.
De Beco, G. (Ed.). (2013). Article 33 of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Brill.
De Beco, G. (2021). Disability in international human rights law. Oxford University Press.
Degener, T. (2003). Disability as a subject of international human rights law and comparative discrimination law. In S. S. Herr et al. (Eds.), The human rights of persons with intellectual disabilities: Different but equal (p. 151). OUP.
Donelan, K., et al. (2002). Challenged to care: Informal caregivers in a changing health system. Health Affairs, 21(4), 222.
Driedger, D. (1989). The last civil rights movement: Disabled people’s international. St. Martin’s Press.
Frate, B. (2016). Human rights at a local level: The Montreal experience. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 64). Cambridge University Press.
Gallo, G., et al. (2017). Le nuove sfide della partecipazione a Bologna. Sestante, 3, 40.
Grigolo, M. (2011). Incorporating cities into the EU anti-discrimination policy: Between race discrimination and migrant rights. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(10), 1751.
Grobelaar Du Plessis, I., & Njau, J. (2018). Article 29: Participation in political and public life. In I. Bantekas, M. A. Stein, & D. Anastasiou (Eds.), The UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: A commentary (p. 834). Oxford University Press.
Mabbett, D. (2005). The development of rights-based social policy in the European Union: The example of disability rights. Journal of Common Market Studies, 43(1), 97.
Milner, P., & Bray, A. (2004). Community participation: People with disabilities finding their place. Report on the CCS Community Participation Project. Donald Beasley Institute.
Oomen, B. (2016). Introduction. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 1). Cambridge University Press.
Oomen, B., & Baumgärtel, M. (2018). Frontier cities: The rise of local authorities as an opportunity for international human rights law. European Journal of International Law, 29(2), 607.
Oomen, B., Davis, M., & Grigolo, M. (Eds.). (2016). Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities. Cambridge University Press.
Pavone, M. (2010). Dall’esclusione all’inclusione. Lo sguardo della Pedagogia Speciale. Mondadori.
Savino, M. (2016). La crisi migratoria tra Italia e Unione Europea: diagnosi e prospettive. Editoriale scientifica.
Soohoo, C. (2016). Human rights cities: Challenges and possibilities. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 25). Cambridge University Press.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & Lutfiyya, Z. M. (Eds.). (2015). The variety of community experience: Qualitative studies of family and community life. Brookes Publishing Co.
Vanhala, L. (2015). The complexity in achieving disability equality. Human Rights Quarterly, 37(4), 831.
Walker, P. (2015). Community based is not community: The social geography of disability. In S. J. Taylor, R. Bogdan, & Z. M. Lutfiyya (Eds.), The variety of community experience: Qualitative studies of family and community life (p. 175). Brookes Publishing Co..
Ward, J. K. (2016). From principles to practice: The role of the US Mayors in advancing human rights. In B. Oomen, M. Davis, & M. Grigolo (Eds.), Global urban justice: The rise of human rights cities (p. 81). Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, E. (2006). Defining and measuring the outcomes of inclusive community for people with disability, their families and the communities with whom they engage. In C. Bigby, C. Fyffe, & J. Mansell (Eds.), From ideology to reality: Current issues in implementation of intellectual disability policy. Proceedings of the roundtable on intellectual disability policy (p. 24). La Trobe Unviersity.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ioli, C. (2022). Towards a Decentralised Model of Participation for People with Disabilities? The Case of Human Rights Cities. In: Quirico, O. (eds) Inclusive Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0782-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0782-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-0781-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-0782-1
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)