Seven years on and no progress on disability rights by UK government, says UN

The UK government has made “no significant progress” in the more than seven years since it was found guilty of “grave and systematic” violations of the UN disability convention, it has been told by human rights experts.

In a report published late yesterday (Wednesday), the UN committee on the rights of disabled people said it had even found “signs of regression” – backward steps – in the UK’s progress towards fully realising the rights described in the convention.

This morning, the government said they “strongly reject” the committee’s findings.

The committee said the UK government had “failed to take all appropriate measures to address grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s human rights and had “failed to eliminate the root causes of inequality and discrimination” since November 2016.

It particularly highlighted its failures on the rights to independent living, to work, and to an adequate standard of living and social protection, laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Last month, the committee appeared to be preparing a highly-critical report into the UK’s failures after it accused the UK government of demonising disabled people and treating them as “undeserving citizens” by preparing to fund tax cuts through slashing disability benefits.

Representatives from more than 10 disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) had travelled to Geneva (pictured) to witness the UK government attempt to persuade the committee that it had made progress since being found guilty of “grave and systematic violations” of the convention in 2016.

Yesterday, the UN committee published its report, based partly on detailed evidence compiled by the UK disabled people’s movement.

DPOs that made the journey to Geneva said last night that the committee’s “damning verdict” was a vindication of those disabled people who have fought back against the rights violations of successive governments for more than a decade (see separate story).

Among its recommendations, the committee says it is “appalled” by reports of deaths linked to benefit claims that it says have a “disturbingly consistent theme”, with disabled people “resorting to suicide” following the denial of adequate support through social security.

It calls for the government to take urgent action to “prevent, review and respond to” benefit-related deaths and provide appropriate compensation for the victims’ families.

There are also calls for an urgent inquiry into the impact of the work capability assessment; stronger disability hate crime laws; and an investigation into unexplained deaths in the mental health system, particularly at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

And just days after the prime minister launched a series of “chilling” cuts and reforms to disabled people’s social security safety net (see separate story), the committee calls on Rishi Sunak’s government to “take comprehensive measures” to ensure disabled people are “adequately supported through social security payments, benefits and allowances”.

It also calls for action to ensure that disabled people who face “multiple marginalization”, including disabled women and children, disabled people of colour, disabled migrants and asylum-seekers and those in “refugee-like situations”, can “enjoy the right to live independently and be included in the community and the right to an adequate standard of living”.

The committee says it is concerned that the UK government has left “largely unaddressed” its obligation under the UN convention to “closely consult and actively involve disabled people” through their DPOs on issues affecting their lives.

It also says it is concerned that obligations to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices” across key parts of the convention have been “largely ignored”, while also raising “significant concerns” about plans to introduce laws through the data protection and digital information bill that would give DWP sweeping powers to carry out financial surveillance on benefit claimants through their bank accounts, using artificial intelligence.

That bill is currently passing through parliament, and was debated by peers this week.

The committee also warns of a “pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity” and says that benefit reforms are painting disabled people as “skiving off” and “defrauding the system”, which has led to “hate speech and hostility towards disabled people”.

The report concludes that there has been “no significant progress for disabled people throughout the UK concerning their right to living independently and being included in the community”.

And the committee says it is “deeply concerned” at evidence of “increasing rates of institutionalisation of disabled people”, and of “abuse, mistreatment and the increasing use of restraints, restrictive practices and coercive measures” in institutions.

As well as responding to the committee’s findings, the government will also now be forced to produce a follow-up report by March 2029 on how it has implemented its recommendations.

A government spokesperson said this morning: “We are grateful for the committee’s work monitoring this vital convention, but strongly reject their conclusions.

“Individuals and organisations may not agree with this government’s approach, but it is a fact that we are tackling the barriers faced by disabled people, including helping one million more disabled people into jobs five years ahead of schedule, providing unprecedented health and employment support through our £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan as well as our Chance to Work Guarantee, improving the health and disability benefits system, and enhancing the accessibility of homes and transport.

“In addition, our new Disability Action Plan sets out the practical actions the government is taking to improve disabled people’s daily lives, complementing the long term vision set out in the National Disability Strategy.”

Picture, by Natasha Hirst

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