A human catastrophe
It needs saying and it needs resaying: the maintenance of austerity politics to advance a neoliberal political agenda has ‘led to a human catastrophe’ for people with disabilities in the UK. Theresia Degener, in saying this was merely describing the evidence that she and her UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) committee had considered as part of their inquiry into the Government’s compliance with its duties under the Convention.
… however, your evidence before us now and in our inquiry procedure as published in our 2016 report reveals that social cut policies [have] led to human catastrophe in your country, totally neglecting the vulnerability: the vulnerable situation people with disabilities find themselves in. [pages 50-51 of the transcript]
The 2016 report can be accessed by clicking here and the videos of the two sessions can be accessed by clicking the links below:
A transcript of the sessions can be accessed by clicking here.
Theresia Degener’s comments are at 1:50:15 of the second session (video 2).
If you have four hours to spare – the two sessions make for remarkable viewing / listening. The detailed, well-briefed and wide ranging questions asked of the Government show the UN system at its best. The case against the Government is unanswerable – it should be ashamed of what it is done and we can but feel ashamed to live in state where this is allowed to come to pass.
Posted 14 September 2017