Article 24 General Comment adopted

Everyone has the right to go to school. Schools should teach all children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in short, the UN CRPD) explains and defends this right. There is group of experts called the United Nations Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They find out whether children and adults with disabilities have the right to a good education in their countries.They analyse and explain the UN CRPD and check if countries respect it. The Committee can write a document on how to better respect what is written in the UN CRPD. This document is called a General Comment. Inclusion Europe went to Geneva, Switzerland to make sure the General Comment on Article 24 really supports Inclusive Education. The United Nations Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities decided member countries must make sure students with intellectual disabilities go to the same schools as other children. We are very pleased with the result.

Inclusion Europe has been in Geneva for the 16th session of the UN CRPD Committee on the General Comment on Article 24 of the Convention, the Right to Inclusive Education. A General Comment is devised to clarify what is meant by ‘inclusive education’ and what the exact obligations of Member States are to provide persons with disabilities an education are. Inclusion Europe welcomed the development of the General Comment on Article 24 to clarify concepts and support its implementation.

Our President, Maureen Piggot, attended the session with Diane Richler to discuss with Committee members their position and advocate for the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities.

We have been following the situation closely because Inclusive Education is one of our primary policy areas. We are in partnership with the Open Society Foundations in a project aimed to convince first the CRPD Committee then national governments that full inclusion of all persons with disabilities in mainstream education is the way forward. We wanted the UN CRPD to reflect a commitment to inclusive education as best for all learners as well as the way to create truly inclusive societies.

On Friday 26th August the CRPD Committee announced their unanimous adoption of a General Comment that defines and promotes inclusive education. The full text is now available to read in full here and we are delighted that, whole recognizing the challenges ahead, the Committee kept the focus on the future and the inclusive world the CRPD envisages.