By Elisavet Athanasia Alexiadou
States have a human rights obligation to promote the full, meaningful, and informed participation of persons with disabilities in the context of policy-making and decision-making processes about climate change.
This essay seeks to explain the basis for this obligation, outline its scope, and elucidate how states can ensure its fulfillment.
A human rights obligation to disability participation and empowerment in the context of climate action: nature and scope
Under international human rights law States have a legal obligation to secure all people’s full and effective participation in public affairs as rights holders. This obligation to ensure that all members of society participate in public decision-making applies across a wide range of contexts, including climate action. The climate crisis poses considerable risks to the full and effective enjoyment of a wide array of human rights, like the right to health, with disproportionate and multiple implications on vulnerable groups including persons with disabilities. Within this context, intergovernmental organizations and human rights law increasingly acknowledge that effective climate action should empower people in vulnerable situations, including persons with disabilities.
In the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, under the Sustainable Development Target 16.7, the international community acknowledged its obligation to “[E]nsure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision making at all levels.”
Significantly, regarding persons with disabilities, the Preamble to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) highlights the importance of full and active participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes about policies and programs directly affecting them.
At the same time, under respective interrelated provisions (see, inter alia, Articles 1, 3(c), 4, 9(1), 19, 21, and 29 CRPD) the CRPD requires States parties to take all appropriate and effective (legislative, administrative and other) measures to ensure full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making processes and in all aspects of life. In this respect, the state obligation constitutes one of immediate application (see Articles 4(3) and 33(3) CRPD).
In 2016, in a thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to participate in decision-making, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provided a practical understanding of the state obligation to facilitate full and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in public decision-making processes. In fact, the UN Special Rapporteur pointedly stressed that “participation in itself can be a transformative tool for social change. Efforts to actively involve persons with disabilities in decision-making processes are important not only because they result in better decisions and more efficient outcomes, but also because they promote agency and empowerment” (A/HRC/31/62, para. 28).
By building upon the work of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD/C/GC/7), the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (A/HRC/31/62) and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/44/30, and A/HRC/46/46), certain implementation parameters can be identified that form part of the scope of the State obligation to ensure the full, meaningful, and informed disability participation and empowerment in all climate-related actions in compliance with the CRPD. Accordingly, these would include:
- due consideration to diverse perspectives and experiences of persons with disabilities for tailored and effective climate action, enhanced outcomes, and increased social cohesion;
- the promotion of empowerment of persons with disabilities as “agents of change” in climate change-related prevention and response processes towards addressing adverse impacts of climate change in their daily lives;
- the recognition in national legislation of the right of persons with disabilities to participate in climate decision-making and action on an equal basis with others in line with Articles 3(c), 4, 5 and 12 CRPD. This also requires the encouragement and support of the participation of persons with disabilities especially of those who experience multiple forms of discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status;
- the establishment and functioning of sustainable and independent representative organizations of persons with disabilities in compliance with Articles 4(3) and 33(3) CRPD;
- the adoption of legislation to require State authorities to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities through their representative organizations under Article 4(3) CRPD in the planning, implementation, and review of legislation, climate policies, and actions that (directly or indirectly) address their specific needs and concerns. To this end, States should establish formal accountability mechanisms and effective remedies to address decisions that do not adhere to this requirement in compliance with Article 16(3) CRPD, while ensuring the transparency of consultation processes (i.e., by establishing concrete procedures and responsibilities, proper time frames, verifiable indicators of good participation);
- the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all processes of legal harmonization (i.e., national implementation and monitoring) with the CRPD, whose content can significantly inform the design and implementation of effective disability-inclusive climate action policies. In this context it is important to recall the content of Article 11 of the CRPD, which mandates States parties to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters;
- the promotion of accessibility of all facilities, procedures, information, and communications related to decision-making and consultation, as well as the implementation of accessibility standards in post-emergency planning and reconstruction measures in accordance with Articles 9 and 21 CRPD;
- the provision of reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities in all procedures relating to the planning of climate action, review processes, decision-making, and consultation in line with Articles 2 and 5(3) CRPD;
- the adoption of strategies on inclusive disaster preparedness, which will ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making, including older persons, women, and children with disabilities in tandem with the provision of disability and age-appropriate assistance for their participation in such processes, so as to prevent or minimize risk and damage in times of disaster (Articles 4(3) and 6 CRPD);
- the provision of support for the participation of persons with disabilities through their representative organizations in international decision-making processes about climate adaptation and mitigation, in virtue also of the general requirement for “international cooperation” under Article 32 CRPD, so as to bring about an inclusive and sustainable international response to climate crisis (CRPD/C/GC/7, A/HRC/31/62, A/HRC/44/30, A/HRC/46/46).
Concluding remarks
International human rights law, informed by the work of human rights bodies, offers an overarching framework for coordinated multi-stakeholder climate action where all members of society, including persons with disabilities, have a significant role to play, from design and development to implementation and assessment of climate responses. Looking ahead, resilient climate action will require States to facilitate collaborative and effective participatory strategies where disability participation is viewed as an empowering process and as the lynchpin of climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Elisavet Athanasia Alexiadou is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
