AGE provided input for a study prepared for the European Commission on the application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the European Disability Strategy. In our response we highlight that although the UNCRPD is supposed to offer protection to older persons suffering from impairments, related legislation and policies often refer in a rather narrow way to persons who have or are eligible to a “disability card”. We would therefore appreciate EU action aiming to clarify how the UNCRPD applies to older persons with disabilities and/or limitations in their daily activities. This can be done through monitoring, data gathering and analysis and awareness raising. The EU should aim to promote good practices to tackle old-age disabilities/limitations and discrimination based on age and disability in the Disability High Level Group and the Annual Work Forum. We moreover stress that older persons with disabilities should have a voice in all processes and consultations that concern them.
Last, the EU should issue specific guidelines to the various EU services clarifying action that should be taken by the different DGs of the Commission and the EU agencies to put the Convention in effect. In our experience, the practical implications of applying the CRPD obligations in sectors like financial services, tourism and other areas of the internal market are not always obvious by the relevant stakeholders. Concrete guidelines and a strengthened collaboration in the internal action of the EU would be of a real added value.
You can read AGE’s answer here.
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