2024 Evidence Session

Watch live as the UK government attempts to defend its record on Disabled people’s rights

photo from August 2023 evidence session at the UN. a big conference room with dozens of people attending and listening, with a screen at the front showing the speaker and live captions.

Read more about the UNCRDP project on its dedicated page.

If you are a part of the UK coalition and would like something added to this page, please email us.

Watch the evidence session

Watch via UN TV as the UK government gives evidence about its progress on the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (CRDP).

  • On Monday 18th March 2024
  • At 2-3:30pm (UK time) or 3-4:30pm (Geneva time)

The session recording has live captions embedded in the video. There is interpretation into International Sign and the UN languages.

Follow on social media

Keep up with the action via the hashtag:

#CRDP24

Make sure to get the ‘D’ and ‘P’ the right way round, so that you can join in with the conversation! We want to hear what you think.

UK coalition members

DDPOs from all over the UK are speaking about what’s going on in Geneva. DDPOs are Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations, i.e. organisations run by and for Deaf and Disabled people. Many of us were present in Geneva to observe the evidence session.

The DDPO coalition includes:

All Wales People First, Black Triangle, Commission on Social Security, Disability Rights UK, Disability Sheffield, Disability Wales, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), DPAC Deaf Group, DPAC Northern Ireland, Inclusion London, Liberation, North West Disability Forum (Northern Ireland), Omnibus Partnership (Northern Ireland), People First (Scotland), RAPAR Disabled Group and Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance.

Our evidence from 2023

The UK DDPO coalition submitted written and spoken evidence to the UN in August 2023. You can watch the evidence session back and read the report, including an Easy Read translation.

The UK government were meant to come and give evidence in August 2023 too, but they delayed until March 2024. So, we’re going back now to observe them giving evidence and to let them know that we are demanding our rights.

Reactions from 2024

Watch this video with reactions from the UK DDPO delegation (with embedded captions):

Hear from Emma Cotton, Social Security Advisor at Equity trade union, on how changes to social security impacts real people’s lives (audio, 1 minute 8 seconds). Or read the transcript below:

Working in advice under welfare reform has been to watch a disaster unfold. The removal of rights leaves us advisors powerless to help people. It’s a constant disappointment that the legislation that underpins social security can be easily changed without proper scrutiny, leaving it open to political manipulation. We understand that the state is entitled to make rules and change social security, but it is not entitled to misrepresent the reality. In the run up to a general election, we continue to see the distortion of social security, where politicians, despite the UN Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommendations that the UK Government should promote positive images of disability benefit claimants, among the public and in the media, the true picture is complex and the lack of understanding is being abused. I’m horrified at the short-sighted and continuing cuts to the UK safety nets since 2016. The importance of social security was demonstrated during Covid and now quickly forgotten. It’s a race to the bottom. A serious […] change is required and the scapegoating of Deaf and Disabled people must stop.

Watch this video about Long Covid and how poorly we were protected during the pandemic. The video has embedded captions and BSL:

What is the UNCRDP?

Learn about the UNCRDP via our YouTube playlist!

The United Nations has a Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRDP), sometimes called UNCRPD. The UK signed up to the UNCRDP, committing to implementing our rights. But it was the first country to be investigated by the UN for violating these rights.

In 2017, the UN said that the UK had committed “grave or systematic violations” of our rights. Since 2017, the UK government has had to go to the UN to give updates on its progress. As part of the coalition of UK DDPOs, we say that not enough has been done, and we have even fewer rights than before.

Read more about the UNCRDP project on its dedicated page.

Media coverage

 

Podcasts

BBC Access All: UK government questioned on commitment to disabled people’s rights

Inclusion London has made a transcript as a Word document and a PDF.

Articles

BBC News: Labour: UN row shows ‘UK not taking disabled seriously’

Big Issue: Tory government ‘demonises’ disabled people who face ‘onerous’ benefits system, UN warns

Big Issue: UK ‘no longer a leader in disability rights’ as UN finds Tory policy has led to ‘hate’

Birmingham Mail: DWP under fire from UN over ‘demonising’ disabled people

Byline Times: United Nations Summons UK Government Over Breaches of UN Convention on Disabled People’s Rights

Canary: The Tories just SHAMED themselves in front of the UN – as it accused them of causing disabled people’s DEATHS

Civil Service World: United Nations takes aim at UK’s disability benefits reforms

Disability News Service: UN committee set to examine UK government’s ‘absolutely shocking’ behaviour

Ekklesia: UN Rapporteurs question UK government on benefits deaths

Learning Disability Today: UK government has made ‘no progress’ towards improving lives of disabled people, charity says

Mirage: UK Disability Rights Report: Committee Holds Follow-Up Dialogue

Mirror: UN slams Tories for ‘demonising’ disabled people as policies say they’re ‘undeserving citizens’

National Tribune: Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Holds Follow-Up Dialogue on Inquiry Report of the United Kingdom

National World: UK government to face UN in Geneva over violation of UN Disability Rights Convention

Press releases

UN Rapporteurs Questions UK Government Over Benefits Deaths and Austerity

On 18 March 2024 the UK Government provided their oral defence to the United Nations Committee for the Rights of Disabled People, regarding the UK’s “grave and systematic” violations of the UNCRDP. This comes after they refused to attend the last evidence session in August 2023 – requesting a delay to March 2024 – when Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) outlined the harsh reality that we’re all currently living under in the UK.

Note: We refer to the convention as the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (CRDP) rather than the given name – Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) – as we follow the social model of disability. The convention allows us to do this.

The UK rapporteurs, who sit on the UN Committee for the Rights of Disabled People, accurately represented the systemic barriers and discrimination that Disabled people are facing. They consistently expressed that evidence shows violations of the UNCRDP, including a regression of Disabled people’s rights.

On social security – the committee challenged the absence of a holistic approach to delivering benefits, both across devolved Governments and individuals with intersectional experiences. They specifically highlighted those in mental distress and those who experience domestic abuse, and emphasised that the current system is “trauma inducing”. Their questions to the UK Government ranged from benefit related deaths and the violence of the current social security system, to the rise in Disabled people being institutionalised, incarcerated and the “increasing use of restraints, restrictive practice and coercion” – amongst other pressing issues.

Rapporteurs described current UK policy and practice as “a pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues Disabled people’s lives” which “tells Disabled people that they’re undeserving citizens” and “makes [Disabled] people feel like criminals” – particularly those who are trying to access the social security system.

Despite detailed and thoughtful questions by the rapporteurs and committee members/commissioners, the UK Government’s response lacked any substantive answers – mostly repeating what was already outlined in their introductory oral evidence. They celebrated the Disability Action Plan and Disability Strategy, both of which lacked any transformative change, alongside highlighting impairment-specific actions they’d taken with the BSL Act – a largely performative piece of legislation that has no promised funding, and has not tangibly improved the rights of Deaf people. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act was also given as an example of progress in access to justice, and specifically BSL interpretation, when the additional police powers and attack on protest rights that this legislation has provided has in practice eroded our rights and safety.

DDPOs eagerly anticipate the committee’s full report, including their follow-up recommendations, and provide their individual comments below.

If you think that the UNCRPD should be incorporated into UK domestic legislation, then you can use our template letter to call on your MP to push for this. You can also support our Disabled People’s Manifesto.

Quotes from DDPOs: 

Kamran Mallick, CEO of Disability Rights UK – “Although we are not surprised by the UK Government’s response today, we still feel that their refusal to properly engage with this process is an insult to all Disabled people whose experiences are reflected in the evidence we’ve provided to the UN.

Despite requesting a delay last year, they have provided us with no new evidence – instead signposting to plans and policies that create no transformative change. The delegation shared all the ways they believe they’ve created progress for Disabled people’s rights – but they know, just as we do, that no progress has been made. In fact, we have gone backwards.

Accessing our basic support is not a luxury – whether that be getting a GP appointment on the day that you call, or having a social security system that works for all of us. Just because our Government refuses to take responsibility for its failure to deliver this, that doesn’t mean that it’s not unacceptable.

The world is watching, and the UK Government can no longer claim to be a leader in disability rights. We will continue to challenge these rights violations and ask that you join us by writing to your MP and supporting the Disabled People’s Manifesto.

John McArdle, Black Triangle Anti-Defamation Campaign in Defence of Disability Rights, Edinburgh –  “Fourteen years of rock solid persistence exposing the the murderous, democidal systems and policies of the British Conservative Government by Black Triangle Campaign and all our DPO allies and when challenged directly over the countless Benefit Deaths over the past 14 years they plead the ‘5th amendment’ – to borrow from the American lexicon – i.e. we refuse to comment for fear of incriminating ourselves. 

The U.K. government, by its acts and omissions has abrogated and repudiated its duties under this treaty convention. The United Nations will, we are certain, condemn the government in no uncertain terms once its report is published shortly. 

Any incoming Labour Government must pay attention to the #CRPD24 findings of fact and breach of the convention and act swiftly.”

Mark Harrison, Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance –  “The UN CRPD Committee is not fooled by the half truths,  untruths and smokescreen presented by representatives of the British government.  They know the Tories are completely hostile to human rights & equality for Disabled people. The UK delegation has presented the realities of human rights violations that demonstrate ongoing and deepening grave and systematic attacks on living standards and deaths from benefit & cuts to community support services.”

Svetlana Kotova, Inclusion London – “The UK government says it is “fully committed” to the UNCRDP, but it could not tell the UN any steps it has taken towards the UN’s recommendations given in 2017 when the UK was found to have committed grave and systematic violations of our rights. This is because there has been no progress since the government rejected those findings and all recommendations. We continue to be detained and kept in institutions, with no progress towards our right to independent living, and the government is doing nothing to lift us out of poverty caused by its punitive benefits sanction regime. We hope the UN’s further report will outline these failures and call for the government to make the drastic and urgent changes we need to enjoy our human rights like everyone else.”

Rhian Davies, Disability Wales – The evidence we heard from the UK Government is far removed from the reality of disabled people’s lives and experiences since 2016. We are not shocked, but appalled by the lack of acknowledgement concerning the deaths of disabled people awaiting assessment decisions, the criticism of DDPO’s regarding recent policy such as the Health and Disability White Paper or the harm caused by the disablist “benefit scroungers” stereotyping promoted by the UK Government. 

In Wales, although we are glad to see mention of the Disability Rights Taskforce and Locked Out report, we are disheartened that there was no mention that 68% percent of COVID-19 deaths in Wales were disabled people and that we still do not have a clear timeline on incorporation of the UNCRDP into Welsh Law. 

Disabled people deserve true accountability from their Governments and answers to the burning questions posed yesterday together with robust actions to address the harms inflicted as well as progress our rights. We thank the United Nations Committee and the UK Rapporteurs for their strong questioning and the opportunity to have shared evidence with them last August.”

Tony O’Reilly, on behalf of the Northern Irish Delegation (North West Disability Forum NI, Omnibus NI and Disabled People Against the Cuts NI) – “Over these last months we gave our evidence to the UNCDP Committee supported by facts and the strong testimony of deaf and disabled people. All of us together sought to shine a light on the truth of our perilous situation . The fact that the UK Government and the devolved administrations sought to hide in the dark refusing to answer directly the questions of this esteemed Committee is shameful and another barrier to the full realisation of our human rights as deaf and disabled people. But we know the Committee valued and respected our contribution. Our efforts will not be in vain. Our fight for justice, equality and human dignity will continue to flourish thanks to the work and support of DPAC and the wider coalition of UK DDPO’s.”

Paul Ntulila, Deaf DPAC – “In response to the government announcements about the steps they have taken to improve access for disabled people, I found it disappointing that further cuts have been made to funding, creating confusion on the actual action that has been taken and how these cuts will further impact the disabled community as a whole. Although disappointing, I feel now is the time to take action. We need to be working together to fight for the rights of all disabled people. We are fighting not only for ourselves but also future generations. It is the responsibility of our government to protect all individuals and implement the changes they have committed to provide.”

Quotes from Trade Unions:

Brett Sparkes and Andy Mitchell, Unite the Union – “Unite are concerned about the effect of the government policy on our disabled members. The continued use of divisive language and the rhetoric of labelling disabled workers as lazy is not only wrong but detrimental to our members. The UK delegation to the UN CRPD has done nothing to alleviate those concerns.”  

Emma Cotton, Social Security and Tax Adviser, Equity – “It is disappointing to see that the UK state did not engage with the UK rapporteurs’ questions but no surprise. For the past decade, rights to social security for Equity members, particularly the deaf and disabled, have been progressively eroded. No access to the UK safety net for the self-employed will directly impact who we see on our stages and screens.”

Natasha Hirst, President NUJ–  The UK Government has not stood up well to the scrutiny of the Committee. Their empty assertions of being committed to improving disabled people’s lives are in clear contrast with the daily reality of poverty, exclusion and a frequently punitive social security system. Planned reforms and continued negative rhetoric about disabled people will only make things worse. There is still much work to do to hold the government to account and expose the daily injustices that disabled people experience.”

Ann Galpin, TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee co-chair – “The Government spokesperson talked about closing the pay gap, yet has done nothing to implement mandatory disability employment and pay gap reporting which the TUC, unions and Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations have been campaigning for for years.”

Lee Starr-Elliot, Deaf CWU Trade Union Rep – “The responses of the U.K. government Delegation were disappointing but not surprising as they seem to be acting as if they know they will not be accountable after the next General Election. We as disabled people need reassurances that whatever happens politically in the U.K. our Government is held to account and any recommendations made will be binding going forward regardless of the Party in power. We at the CWU are also disappointed and concerned that the current U.K. government is proposing to to reintroduce Employment Tribunal fees which would majorly impact disabled workers who already face barriers in pay and other disability related costs, and urge both the U.K. Government and The UN special rapporteurs to seriously address these concerns going forward.”

Deaf and Disabled People to witness United Nations scrutiny of UK Government’s human rights record

On Monday 18 March Deaf and Disabled campaigners and trade unionists from across the UK will gather in Geneva to watch the UK and devolved governments give evidence to the United Nations. The public session is part of a follow-up to the special inquiry undertaken by the UN Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. The special inquiry report published in 2016 found the UK guilty of grave and systematic violations of Disabled people’s rights due to austerity and welfare reform measures.

Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations gave their evidence to the Committee for its follow-up in August 2023 along with equality and human rights commissions from the four nations. The government did not attend, stating it was not ready and would instead appear before the Committee at its following session in March 2024.

The Committee’s scrutiny of the government’s human rights record is a rare opportunity to expose the worsening inequalities and injustice experienced by disabled people in the UK.

Linda Burnip, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts who triggered the special inquiry, said:

“The UK government’s failure to turn up in August showed the utter contempt they have, not only for Deaf and Disabled people but also for the UN Disability Committee. At this stage we’re not even sure if they will turn up on Monday. The last written report they sent to the Committee was in December 2022.

“The Convention holds great importance for us because it sets out a vision of full equality and inclusion. The Government’s record on disability since 2010 is of great international concern because they have so deliberately and flagrantly driven the UK backwards in terms of its treatment of Deaf and Disabled people with the Department for Work and Pensions leading the charge in callousness and sheer brutality.”

The special inquiry focuses on three specific areas: social security, employment and community living.

Burnip added:

“There have been massive cuts to Local Authority budgets, a failure to implement the appeals process in the Care Act 2014, and a massive increase in charges for social care with only one increase in the amount of money Disabled people should be left to live off in 9 years. This is leaving more and more Disabled people trapped not just in poverty but also in their homes without the support they need to take part in the community or stay in contact with family and friends.”

A consultation held to inform a report from disability organisations to the UN submitted at the end of March 2022 found that overwhelmingly Deaf and Disabled people across England had experienced life as getting worse since 2017.

Alongside continuing deterioration in living standards, incomes and community inclusion, respondents cited difficulties arising from EU withdrawal and the pandemic leading to a recruitment crisis in social care among other issues.

Worsening attitudes towards Deaf and Disabled people and a devaluation of the worth of our lives was also a common theme, sparked by denial of life saving treatment to Disabled patients and political and public debate blaming the “clinically vulnerable” for adverse economic impacts linked to lockdown.

One consultant respondent expressed their view that: “What unsettles me is that we have a government who would gladly drop help to those of us who are disabled while they are in power.”

Another said: “It feels like people hate you more than they did before.”

In the past year alone, several further regressive policies affecting large numbers of Disabled people across the UK have been announced alongside inadequate measures to mitigate the impacts of the cost of living crisis.

Transforming Support: the health and disability white paper published in March 2023 plans to cut benefits to around 632,000 Disabled people who have been unable to earn a living through paid employment.

Under the same plans all Disabled people, no matter how severely Disabled, will potentially be liable to having their benefits stopped if they don’t engage in activity to find work.

At the moment, medically qualified professionals are required to determine a person’s capability for work but the government wants to pass this responsibility onto already over-worked frontline work coaches to make judgement calls on what Disabled benefit claimants can and can’t do.

In November 2023, the government announced proposals to tighten the Work Capability Assessment which will cut benefits to an estimated 630,000 Disabled people.

Svetlana Kotova, Director of Campaigns and Justice for Inclusion London, who led on the 2022 report said:

“Deaf and Disabled people are very frightened about the planned changes to disability benefits.

“Half of all poverty in the UK is already linked to disability and new figures show a sharp increase in disability poverty even before the cost of living crisis. The recent budget announced an end to cost of living payments, despite the fact that Disabled people have been hardest hit by inflation.

“To then cut benefits to people with no realistic chance of employment through absolutely no fault of their own is inhumanly cruel and will undoubtedly lead to more benefit deaths.”

Ellen Clifford, co-ordinator for the UK Coalition who leads on UK-wide monitoring under the Convention said:

“Both of the main political parties in Westminster are competing over who can appear toughest on welfare. In the process, and with help from sections of the media, they are presenting an entirely skewed picture of the social security system.

Far from the record numbers of out of work benefit claimants the government claims, analysis shows that figures have remained fairly stable. However, we do know that disability prevalence is rising.

“A more responsible approach than disability denial would be to look into why that is happening. Instead, both parties are happy to punish Disabled people in order to get elected.

“All of this – the targeting of Disabled people to make budget savings when other choices could be made, and the unfounded rhetoric increasing hostility against Disabled people – is in direct contravention of the recommendations from the 2016 special inquiry. There is simply no credible way that the UK Government can defend itself against a charge of continuing, indeed worsening, grave and systematic violations of Disabled people’s rights”

For more information and access to case studies contact: Ellen Clifford 07505144371 The evidence session on March 18th can be viewed live online from 2-3:30pm GMT. The UK DDPO shadow report can be found here: crdp.org.uk

Notes for Editors

  1. The UK-wide delegation includes members from: All Wales People First; Black Triangle; CWU; Disability Rights UK; Disability Wales; Disabled People Against Cuts; DPAC Deaf Group; DPAC Northern Ireland; DPAC Cambridgeshire & Essex; Equity; Inclusion London; Inclusion Scotland; Liberation; Manchester RAPAR; North West Disability Forum; Omnibus Partnership; PCS union; People First Scotland; Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance; TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee; Unite the Union.
  2. The UN’s finding of grave and systematic rights violations was the result of a comprehensive investigation taking place over a number of years under the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. The Committee reviewed thousands of pages of robustly evidence-based research and reports and met hundreds of people during their visit to the UK. The report and recommendations, published on 6 November 2016, were dismissed by the UK Government.
  3. In 2017, the UK was publicly examined as part of routine monitoring procedures to which all signatories to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People are subject. The findings were again damning with the Chair of the Committee stating that “social cuts had caused a human catastrophe”.
  4. One of the 2017 recommendations was for the UK Government to report back to the Committee on its progress implementing the recommendations from the special inquiry. Three reports were submitted by the UK Government in December 2022.
  5. Written reports submitted by Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations in 2022 evidence the retrogression of Deaf and Disabled People’s rights. Key findings: The situation for Disabled people got worse after 2017 when UN last looked at the UK’s progress. Westminster Government has taken some positive steps, but they have not addressed key problems. The COVID-19 pandemic response discriminated against Disabled people and violated our equal right to life. Disability equality and human rights approaches towards disability have been further undermined since 2017. There is insufficient monitoring and promotion of the CRDP by Westminster Government
  6. 89% of respondents to the DDPO coalition consultation expressed the view that things have got worse, 9% that things have stayed the same and only 2% said they think things have got better.
  7. While the UK Government’s cuts to benefits and services have profoundly negative impacts across the UK, the devolved administrations have responsibility for some areas of policy that are of key importance to disabled people and different approaches have been taken. Journalists with questions about the devolved nations can contact: Scotland: John McArdle 07379612778, Wales: Megan Thomas 07990 425823, Northern Ireland: Michael Lorimer 07528464350