The EU in the Negotiation of the UN Disability Convention

European Law Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2010

Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1525611

23 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2009 Last revised: 24 Mar 2010

See all articles by Grainne De Burca

Grainne De Burca

New York University (NYU) - Law School; University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Abstract

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is a novel and ambitious human rights treaty which entered into force in 2008. Amongst its many interesting features are two of particular relevance to the European Union. The first is its strikingly ‘experimentalist’ architecture, to use the term coined by Charles Sabel and Jonathan Zeitlin in describing EU governance, and the second is the fact that this was the first occasion on which the European Community, as it then was, participated in the drafting and signing of an international human rights treaty. This article examines the role played by the EC in the process of negotiating the CRPD and considers whether or not the EU significantly influenced the experimentalist character of the Convention. It concludes that while the EU was, on the whole, an active and supportive participant in the drafting process, the Convention’s experimentalist character was driven by other factors, in particular by the central role of NGOs and other non-state actors in the negotiation process. The EU, on the other hand, strove mainly to promote the adoption of its own internal model of disability discrimination at the international level.

Suggested Citation

De Burca, Grainne, The EU in the Negotiation of the UN Disability Convention. European Law Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2010, Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1525611, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1525611

Grainne De Burca (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Law School ( email )

Bobst Library, E-resource Acquisitions
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New York, NY 10003-711
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University of California, Berkeley - Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law

Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States

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