United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD)

Welcome to the EBU UNCRPD information centre and legislative database. Its purpose is threefold:

• To help ensure an effective implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities;
• To provide up-to-date information on specific legislation relevant to blind and partially sighted people in Europe;
• To enable EBU member organisations to record the extent to which their country's legislation provides the rights contained in the Convention.

The database builds upon a set of article statements (see below) developed by EBU, some of which now have explanatory introduction videos (updated 15/02/2022). The statements define the needs and characteristics of blind and partially sighted people in relation to the relevant UN Convention articles. Statements have been prepared  for 16 articles. Each of these has the same structure:

Section 1 - Reproduction of the relevant Convention article. This text contains references (R1, R2, etc) that relate to the content of Section 3 of the statement.

Section 2 - Declaration of the needs and characteristics of blind and partially sighted people relevant to the Convention article.

Section 3 - Important aspects of the Convention article that relate to the needs and characteristics identified in Section 1.

Certain articles also contain awareness-raising videos and relevant information.

UNCRPD information documents

• In June 2022 EBU produced a special CRPD Focus newsletter, including an overview of our own work, a broader view from the International Disability Alliance, a look at the CRPD from the EU perpective, thanks to a contribution by MEP Alex AGIUS SALIBA, and finally a country-based perspective from the EBU member for Sweden, SRF!
• 'A New Look At Our Human Rights', (pdf) is an EBU document explaining the rights enshrined in the CRPD and what they mean in practice for people with disabilities and blind and partially sighted people in particular. Also available in doc format in Estonian, French, Italian, German, Polish, Croatian, Montenegrin, Portuguese, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Serbian and Spanish. (17/02/2022)
• The EBU guidelines for UNCRPD Alternative Reporting pdf, (2020). a guidance document which sets out to provide practical information to support civil society in participating in the review process by submitting an Alternative Report in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New (September 2021)! - these guidelines are now also available in Portuguese (pdf).
• Using the data collected, EBU has produced analytical reports on articles 7, 20, 26, 28, 29 and 33 of the uncrpd. These are available by clicking on the relevant articles in the list below.
• Read the Concluding observations on the initial report of the European Union from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (word doc)
• The European Disability Forum has published its Alternative Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (External link) .
• The European Disability Forum has also published a guide 'Know Your Rights', It will help you understand how the EU works, the history and development of rights of persons with disabilities in the EU, and what rights you have under EU law.

This project has been carried out with the support of the EU Commission Progress programme