Last week, the Human Rights Committee published its Concluding Observations on Ecuador, France, Greece, Iceland, Pakistan and Turkiye, adopted during its 142nd session (14th October to 7th November). The Committee included eight recommendations on and explicit references to issues of persons with disabilities in four out of the six of six concluding observations adopted.
The International Disability Alliance has produced its compilations of Disability-Related Extracts from the Concluding Observations for the 140th, 141st and 142nd held in 2024. The compilations are available in MS Word and PDF formats in IDA's specific webpage here. Some key concerns and recommendations specific to persons with disabilities of the Concluding Observations adopted last week 142nd session include:
- Greece: The Committee expressed concern about the living conditions and treatment of persons in psychiatric institutions and recommended to improve those living conditions and treatment, to strengthen independent monitoring of psychiatric institutions and complaints mechanisms and to ensure access to legal counsel and independent medical professionals of persons with disabilities.
- Iceland: While welcoming the inclusion of "disability" as a prohibited grounds of discrimination in the General Penal Code No. 19/1940, the Human Rights Committee recommended Iceland to "continue its efforts to tackle hate speech" including through a plan of action, effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes and compensation to victims. It also requested that "solitary confinement of persons with intellectual, psychosocial or physical disabilities is prohibited when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures".
- Pakistan: The Committee recommended the State to "[e]nforce the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Safia Bano case (2021) and enact legislation prohibiting that persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are sentenced to death and executed."
- Türkiye: The Committee recommended the State to "adopt comprehensive legislation prohibiting discrimination, including intersectional, direct and indirect discrimination, in both the public and the private sectors and on all grounds prohibited under the Covenant", as to fully protect persons with disabilities from discrimination, and to ensure its implementation and appropriate remedies for victims.
Find IDA’s Compilation of Disability Related Extracts of Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee here in Word and PDF.