The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth announced that the Optional Protocol to the Convention on Persons with Disabilities (the “Protocol”) came into effect in Ireland on 30 November 2024. This announcement comes six years after Ireland’s ratification of the United Nations Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The UNCRPD seeks to protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by disabled persons.
The Protocol supplements the UNCRPD by establishing an individual complaints mechanism. By ratifying the Protocol, Ireland has agreed to recognise the competence of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Committee). From 30 November, people in Ireland will be able to notify the Committee of breaches of the rights under the Convention. The breaches must have occurred after the ratification of the Protocol. Notifications to the Committee can be made on a person’s own behalf, or on behalf of individuals or groups who claim to be victims of a violation of the rights under the Convention.
The complaints mechanism under the Protocol relies on the “communication procedure”. This means that individuals make a written submission to the Committee detailing the alleged violation of UNCRPD rights. If the Committee deem the submission to be admissible, they will contact the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the State will be given six months to provide a response. The Committee will then examine the complaint and make recommendations to the State. While these recommendations are legally non-binding on the State, they have persuasive value.
Before submitting a complaint to the Committee, the complainant must first have exhausted all domestic remedies for the complaint to be deemed admissible. This means that Irish complainants are required to avail of remedies from the Irish State, usually through the Irish court system, before proceeding to the Committee. The Committee may make an exception to this requirement in cases where the domestic remedies are deemed to be unreasonably prolonged, or futile. This requirement is only waived in exceptionally rare circumstances.
The Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) highlighted in their briefing note that it may take years for complaints issued to the Committee to be decided upon. Nevertheless, the DFI concluded that the Protocol, when used correctly, is a useful tool, though public education will be necessary to manage expectations of what the Protocol can achieve.
Roderic O’Gorman, Minister for Children, stated that the Protocol will “strengthen accountability on how we uphold the rights set out in the Convention”. Irish disability rights groups have also welcomed the announcement to ratify the Protocol. Inclusion Ireland noted that accession to the Protocol “represents a milestone in the recognition of the human rights of disabled people in Ireland”.
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