COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ADOPTS CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON THE INITIAL REPORT OF SPAIN

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released its concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Spain today after concluding its one-week sixth session on 23 September 2011.

The Committee commended the State party for the written replies to the list of issues raised by the Committee (CRPD/C/ESP/Q/1) and for the comprehensive responses to the questions posed during the dialogue. The Committee further commended the State party for the composition of its delegation which included representatives of various Government ministries, including many senior representatives, as well as two persons with disabilities.

The Committee was pleased that Spain had made progress in many areas related to the rights of persons with disabilities, including the adoption of Act 26/2011 on the Normative Adaptation to the Convention, dated 1 August 2011, amending regulations and modifying several Spanish laws in response to the Convention, and including important positive action measures in health, housing, employment and other areas. The Committee welcomed Spain’s adoption of the Third Plan of Action for persons with disabilities which addressed disability along gender-analysis lines, as well as the Global Action Strategy for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities 2008-2012, including its first plan of action covering the years 2008-2010. The Committee commended Spain’s adoption of its long-term strategy (from 2012 to 2020) for persons with disabilities, including objectives over the short and medium term.

The Committee also welcomed the high percentage (78.35 per cent) of enrolment of children with disabilities in the mainstream education system, and for the efforts made to maintain the funding for programmes for persons with disabilities in times of economic crisis. In this regard, the Committee underlined that Spain was providing a very important example of fulfilling the purpose of Art. 4.2 of the Convention. The Committee further welcomed the commitment of Spain to avoid reducing social assistance. The Committee was pleased to acknowledge the efforts that Spain had made to strengthen its commitment to international cooperation by allocating earmarked funding for disability inclusive development.

Despite the positive aspects noted, the Committee expressed deep concern at the lack of information on: the meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organisations at the regional level in designing, and evaluating the implementation of legislation, policy and decision-making processes; and the participation of children with disabilities at all levels. The Committee was further concerned about the lack of promotion of the Permanent Specialized Office established by Act 49/2007 dated 26 December 2007, to deal with offences and sanctions in equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility by persons with disabilities.
The Committee took note of Act 2/2010 of 3 March 2010 on sexual and reproductive health decriminalizing voluntary termination of pregnancy, which allowed pregnancy to be terminated up to 14 weeks and included two specific cases in which abortion was allowed for longer time limits due to the fact that the foetus had a disability and further noted the explanations provided by Spain for maintaining that distinction.

The Committee remained concerned about the lack of information on cases of discrimination, and expressed worries that persons with disabilities would still be marginalized. The Committee was further concerned by the lack of information on reasonable accommodation. It was also concerned that in practice disability affected parents’ guardianship or custody of their children and that legal protection against discrimination on the grounds of disability was not enforceable in cases of discrimination due to perceived disability or association with a person with a disability. The Committee was equally concerned that public programmes and policies on the prevention of gender-based violence did not sufficiently take into consideration the particular situation of women with disabilities. The Committee remained concerned that employment policies did not include a comprehensive gender perspective and that unemployment, inactivity and training rates were significantly worse for women than for men with disabilities.

Among its recommendations, the Committee encouraged Spain to take specific measures to: ensure the active participation of persons with disabilities in public decision-making processes at the regional level; and to include children with disabilities at all levels. The Committee recommended that Spain should raise awareness among persons with disabilities about the system of arbitration; increase the level of free legal aid; and ensure the regulation of offences and sanctions at the regional government level. The Committee recommended that Spain should abolish the distinction made in Act 2/2010 in the period allowed under law within which a pregnancy could be terminated, based solely on disability.

The Committee also urged Spain to expand the protection of discrimination on the grounds of disability to explicitly cover multiple disability, perceived disability and association with a person with a disability, and to ensure the protection from denial of reasonable accommodation, as a form of discrimination, regardless of the level of disability. The Committee recommended that Spain should include a more comprehensive consideration of women with disabilities in public programmes and policies on the prevention of gender-based violence, particularly so as to ensure access for women with disability to an effective, integrated response system; include a gender perspective in employment policies, and particularly specific measures for women with disabilities; elaborate and develop strategies, policies and programmes, especially in the fields of education, employment, health and social protection, to promote the autonomy and full participation of women and girls with disability in society, and to combat violence against them.

The Committee further recommended that all relevant legislation be reviewed to ensure that all persons with disabilities regardless of their impairment, legal status or place of residence had a right to vote and participate in public life, on an equal basis with others. The Committee requested Spain to amend Art. 3 of the Organic Law 5/1985 which allowed the denial of the right to vote based on individualised decisions taken by the judge. According to the Committee the amendment should ensure that all persons with disabilities had the right to vote. The Committee further recommended that all persons with disabilities who were elected to a public position were provided with all required support, including personal assistants. The Committee reiterated that denial of reasonable accommodation constituted discrimination and the duty to provide reasonable accommodation was immediately applicable and not subject to progressive realisation. The Committee further urged Spain to ensure that the decisions to place children with a disability in a special school or in special classes, or to offer them solely a reduced standard curriculum, were taken in consultation with the parents; further more, parents of children with disabilities were not obliged to pay for the education or for the measures of reasonable accommodation in mainstream schools.

The full report and concluding observations can be viewed here: (CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1).

The next session of the Committee will take place from 16 to 20 April 2012, during which it is expected to review the initial report of Peru and adopt lists of issues related to China, Argentina and Hungary.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CRPD11/009E