Disability Rights Litigation
Recognising that litigation is an important tool for advocacy, in particular that strategic litigation is a powerful means to address gaps in the implementation of rights via specific laws, policies or practices, and that litigation serves to raise awareness by bringing issues to the fore in public discourse, IDA is increasing its focus to support litigation efforts of DPOs and to engage with judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms to ensure the establishment of important legal precedents upholding disability rights.
IDA monitors the views adopted by the CRPD Committee on communications and produces case summaries of those decisions. In addition, IDA is supporting DPOs to lodge communications to the CRPD Committee under the Optional Protocol and has compiled a factsheet on this. Further information is also available on how to lodge communications and inquiries before the other UN treaty bodies.
With its members, IDA is active in submitting third party interventions, also known as amicus curiae briefs, to the European Court of Human Rights, and will also look to other regional human rights mechanisms for similar opportunities.
For further information on IDA’s litigation activities, please contact vlee@ida-secretariat.org
We welcome information on ongoing cases and decisions at the national level concerning disability rights (both positive and negative), and with respect to potential cases before domestic, regional or international judicial human rights mechanisms.
