Grave and systematic violations
May 16, 2018UN finds that cuts to benefits, social care, the legal system and cuts to local authorities have reversed decades of progress to the rights of persons with disabilities in England.
In August 2015 it was revealed in the national press
that the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) was to conduct an inquiry into the
impact of the UK Government’s policies on the rights
of disabled people under the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This allows the UN Committee to investigate a State
Party for “grave and systematic violations” of the Convention.
The Committee reported on 8th October 2016. It found
that UK Government reforms had led to “grave and
systematic” violations in respect of changes to Housing
Benefit, Personal Independence Payments and social
care. The UK Government rejected the findings.
The Committee met again in August 2017. It’s final report
is a 17-page catalogue of shame. It found cuts to
benefits, social care, the legal system and cuts to local
authorities have reversed decades of progress.
The UN Committee Chair, Theresia Degener is quoted
as saying: “social policies have led to a human catastrophe
in your country”.
The UK Government in reply, claimed it is a world
leader in disability rights; It stands by reforms to the
benefit system.
In January 2016 the Court of Appeal in London declared
the so called “bedroom tax” unlawful because
of its consequences for disabled children.
When the history of our times comes to be written the
“bedroom tax” will define this administration just as the
hated Household Means Test defined that of the
Chamberlain Government in the 1930s
While the UK Government refuses to acknowledge its
responsibility there is little hope of any improvement in
the lives of the disabled.
The UK is surely turning into a nasty little country