University of Twente Student Theses

The United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in the European Union : why has the European Commission assumed a proactive role in the EUs accession and implementation process of the UNCRPD?

Rößler, Max (2013) The United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in the European Union : why has the European Commission assumed a proactive role in the EUs accession and implementation process of the UNCRPD?

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Abstract:	On 23rd December 2010 the European Union formally ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which marks the first accession of the EU to a UN human rights body. What appears as extraordinary in this unprecedented process is that, besides the EU ratification of the UN Convention, additionally almost all EU member states have signed and ratified the Convention in parallel. This European dualratification of the UNCRPD seems to have created a complex multi-level relationship: Firstly, between the UNCRPD and national as well as the EU disability policy regimes; Secondly, as the member states and the EU share different competencies in the fields covered by the Convention, the institutional relationship between the EU and its member states needed to adapt to the governance provisions of the Convention. Despite entering a seemingly complex multi-level relationship in the sensitive disability policy field, the European Commission has assumed remarkably active roles in the negotiation, ratification and implementation processes of the UNCRPD. Why has this been the case? Based on the analysis of the formal European Disability Governance setting prior and posterior to the UNCRPD ratification, this study attempts to explain the proactive behaviour of the Commission in relation to the UNCRPD. Therefore, this study discusses as to why the European Commission has actively supported the EUs accession to the UN Convention. In parallel to analysing the governance changes induced by the UNCRPD into European Disability Governance, the study assesses changes in the relationship between the Commission vis à vis the member states against the backdrop of the UNCRPD to find explanations for the behaviour of the Commission. In sum, it is therefore to be analysed to what extent the ratification by both, the European Union and its member states, induced governance reconfigurations within the European Disability Governance regime that appear to be in line with the interests of the European Commission.
Item Type:	Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	88 social and public administration
Programme:	European Studies BSc (56627)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/64555
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