Ratify the CRPD

From the Association on Higher Education and Disability

On Tuesday AHEAD posted a brief statement explaining how the Supreme Court’s decision in Bond vs. the U.S. addressed and removed concerns that ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would impinge on American sovereignty or the balance between State and Federal authority (https://www.facebook.com/AHEAD.org). In response many disability organizations, veteran’s groups, civil rights groups and congressional leadership from both sides of the isle are calling on the Senate to bring the CRPD to the floor and ratify it. The following statement released by Senator’s Kirk, McCain, Ayotte and Barrasso is a good example.

“The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Bond is a positive development that should clear the way for Senate action on the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Court has made it clear that the Bond case should not in any way impede the ratification of the CRPD, and that the Senate can provide advice and consent to this important treaty while preserving American sovereignty and maintaining our Constitution’s balance of powers between the Federal government and the States. The CRPD will ensure that our wounded warriors and disabled citizens are entitled to the same rights and protections around the world that they enjoy here at home. We hope our Senate colleagues will join us to ratify the CPRD as soon as possible.”

It is true that Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act and the ADA provide virtually the same protections to both citizens and visitors to the United States while they do not apply beyond the U.S. territorial waters (see Archut v. Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine 46 NDLR 73, D.N.J. 2012 and Arizona State University 22 Nat’l Disability L. Rep. 239, O.C.R. Region VIII 2001). The protections of the CRPD are based on whether the country you are in has ratified the treaty, not the status of your country of origin. So, why is the CRPD important to AHEAD’s membership, their institutions, over 2,320,000 matriculated postsecondary students with disabilities, and America?

 U.S. ratification encourages the countries where our students study to ratify.

 Unless Congress wants to address extraterritoriality of the ADA, ratifying the CRPD is a way to ensure access and protect the rights of students with disabilities studying abroad, even when they are in federally sponsored programs.

 Ratifying is an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the human rights arena.

 America helped craft the CRPD using the ADA as a model; ratification would allow us to come back to the table and influence the CRPD as it matures.

 Enhanced credibility when we take a principled stance in world politics.

 It is the right thing to do.

 

For more information visit Http://www.disabilitytreaty.org

I encourage you to form and opinion and to share it with your Senators and the foreign relations committee.

 

L. Scott Lissner, President, AHEAD