The European Commission opened a four-week public consultation on Thursday 15 October on its roadmap for the new 10-year strategy on the rights of people with disabilities. A non-legislative initiative is expected to be presented early next year, says the EU institution.
Having consulted this summer with the representatives of the four member institutions of the EU Framework for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD - see EUROPE 12522/21), the Commission is now turning to civil society.
According to Eurostat, about 87 million European citizens aged 16 and over have a disability and live in private households.
In addition, almost 29% of people with disabilities in the EU face a significant risk of poverty or social exclusion - 10% more than able-bodied people.
Similarly, 20% of disabled young people leave education early, compared with just under 10% of able-bodied young people. Finally, a gap of 24.2 percentage points between disabled and able-bodied persons persists in employment.
“Actions will be proposed to improve the recruitment and employment of people with disabilities by the EU institutions, and to improve the accessibility and inclusiveness of European schools”, says the Commission in its roadmap.
The new strategy is also expected to call for the modernisation and consolidation of community support services, the improvement of social protection systems, and the advocacy of better access for people with disabilities to justice and security, as well as culture, leisure, sports, tourism and transport (see EUROPE 12572/9).
The objective of this initiative will also be to support the mainstreaming of disability in all EU policy areas, programmes and instruments and to contribute to the implementation of the CRPD by the EU-27. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)