Art.8 Awareness-Raising

Subject(s):

Disability — Jurisdiction — Equal treatment

This chapter examines Article 8 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Unlike most other provisions in the CRPD, there is no mainstreamed equality approach in Article 8. While most CRPD provisions set forth a general duty upon states parties to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy their human rights on equality of basis with others, Article 8 seems to include a series of obligations which are not necessarily associated with the equality standard. Thus, at first glance, the article might appear as a rather ‘decorative’ provision among many other relevant rights recognition statements. However, a closer look at the rationale and legal implication lets us understand the importance of this provision in building the groundwork for the paradigm shift. Without social awareness among the list of purposes underlying the CRPD, most of its provisions might end up wholly moot.