Working paper on best practice to maintain States obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during public health crises

This working paper sets out the applicable standards for States to maintain their obligations towards persons with disabilities under international law in situations of emergency such as the Covid-19 pandemic. About 15% of the world population (c. 1 billion people) are living with impairments which would fall within the definition of a `person with a disability under the CRPD . The paper takes the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as its normative framework and focuses on States Parties obligations towards those individuals with regard to their health and wellbeing in public health crises, taking a broad definition of those terms. As Armitage and Nellums note, even prior to the pandemic, persons with disabilities were less likely to access health services, while being more likely to experience `greater health needs, worse outcomes, and discriminatory laws and stigma , contrary to States parties obligations under the CRPD. The paper then examines laws, policies and practices of the ResPoNCE project countries (Ireland, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy), highlighting contraventions of the requirements of the CRPD and other relevant international norms, as well as identifying good practices which have emerged in response to the pandemic. This is not intended as an exhaustive overview of all the areas of incompatibility which have arisen due to the project countries legal and policy approaches to the pandemic as they have impacted on persons with disabilities. Its purpose is rather to provide a broad overview of the way in which that response has impacted on the lives of persons with disabilities, impacting on both their health and wellbeing.