Litigation and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

08 June 2011

Declan O’Dempsey, John Horan and Jason Galbraith-Marten have delivered speeches in Trier, Germany, at the European Law Academy’s first conference on European Union Disability Discrimination Law and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

The conference explored the Convention’s provisions in detail, how it can be used in the context of litigation and the impact the Convention is likely to have in the context particularly of employment and occupation on matters such as the definition of “disability”.  Declan’s speech examined the relationship between the Employment Framework Directive (2000/78) and the UN Convention and suggests ways in which the Convention may be used in litigation. 

The conference was sponsored by the EU Commission as part of the PROGRESS programme, and is a measure to enable lawyers throughout the EU to use the UN Convention.   A copy of Declan’s paper will be made on the ERA website. The conference discussed one of the first Strasbourg cases to use the UNCRPD , Alajos Kiss, in which Robin Allen QC and Declan O’Dempsey were instructed for the interveners.