Professor Gauthier De Beco

Human rights and development have attracted wide attention in recent years. While human rights and development organizations would benefit from mutual learning, they continue to operate on parallel tracks. This applies in particular to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This chapter deals with the integration of human rights indicators and MDG indicators. It examines the use of MDG indicators to monitor human rights and that of human rights indicators to monitor the MDGs, in order to evaluate how this integration can produce changes in approaches for both human rights and development organizations.

Disabled children are at the crossroad of two identities that taken together reinforce their marginalized position in society. They can call upon two human rights treaties, namely the Convention on Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). While both human rights treaties give disabled children a lot of consideration, they view these children predominantly from the perspective of a single identity, that is, as children first or as disabled people first. The chapter argues that a joint reading of these human rights treies can help fill the gap left by each of them individually. It also highlights the utility of such an intersectional approach through an analysis of the right of disabled children to education.

The article discusses life imprisonment in relation to a person's right to human dignity. It examines the different aspects of the right to human dignity as well as the legal and empirical arguments that a life sentence is incompatible with the human dignity of convicted persons. The imposition and implementation of life imprisonment in various countries is also analysed in the light of jurisprudence.

Since the 1990s, the number of national human rights institutions (NHRIs or ‘national institutions’) has been growing in Europe. The aim of these institutions is to help implement international human rights at the national level and narrow the gap between government and civil society. After discussing the history and role as well as the advantages of creating national institutions in European states, this article analyses the different models of composition and the principal competences of NHRIs in light of the Paris Principles that provide guidelines for these institutions. The NHRIs also create networks at national and regional levels. The article highlights how NHRIs in Europe can contribute to the implementation of human rights and what structure, functions and relationships they may adopt in order to ensure their effectiveness.

This article aims to bring a human rights perspective to corruption monitoring. While research has been done to explore the link between human rights and corruption, whether and how a human rights perspective could help to improve corruption monitoring has not been examined yet. The article is divided into four parts. The second part examines the rationale of both human rights monitoring and corruption monitoring, and how the former can help to improve the latter. The third part discusses the development and characteristics of both human rights indicators and corruption indicators. It also discusses the creation of indicators for monitoring corruption from a human rights perspective. The fourth part examines how a framework for monitoring corruption from a human rights perspective could be developed. It maps the different possibilities in the light of three existing frameworks of related fields. The fifth part discusses monitoring corruption from a human rights perspective in operation. It studies the kinds of data that could help to improve corruption monitoring and deals with the actors who should be involved in the monitoring.

Human rights indicators are an instrument that has received great attention in recent years. They provide a way of monitoring compliance with international human rights treaties with a view to evaluating progress towards the realization of human rights. However, most sets of human rights indicators have never been applied. Although there are a few examples of using such indicators, discussions on them seem not to leave the conceptual sphere, a problem which to date has not been discussed. This policy note aims to provide a methodology for developing human rights indicators with a view to their subsequent application and to elaborate strategies to facilitate this application. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section examines the origin, purpose and evolution of human rights indicators. The second section concerns the development of human rights indicators. After examining the reasons for their infrequent application, it proposes a methodology for their development divided into different steps, and then applies this methodology to the right to education. The third section discusses questions to be addressed in order to facilitate the application of human rights indicators.

This article deals with the transition to inclusive education systems and therefore concerns states that have built segregated education systems. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) proclaims the right to inclusive education for disabled people. State parties that are equipped with special schools, however, face particular challenges in progressively realising the right in question. This article therefore examines what ‘inclusive education’ truly means, what steps must be taken to achieve it, and what tools can be used to ensure the transition to inclusive education systems so as to comply with the CRPD. Considering the obstacles to inclusive education, the article argues that inclusive education is a process that needs permanent efforts to adapt the general education system to disabled children. It also considers the implementation of the right of disabled people to education through the adoption of national human rights action plans and the use of human rights indicators.

This article analyses intersectionality in the area of international human rights law. Moving attention away from the field of anti-discrimination law, it examines how an intersectional approach to international human rights law can offer stronger human rights protection to people who share a number of characteristics associated with distinct marginalised groups of people. In order to illustrate the application of this approach the article provides a case study addressing three groups of disabled people who possess such characteristics: first, disabled women; second, disabled people who belong to racial or ethnic minorities; and third, disabled children. It concludes by arguing for the adoption of ‘intersectional mainstreaming’ in international human rights law. Providing a novel scholarship analysis of intersectionality, it proposes an intersectional perspective as an effective tool for accommodating intersectionality. The article thereby aims to close a gap in research on intersectionality in the field of human rights.

Although the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) proclaims the right to inclusive education, and much attention is being given to the goal of inclusive education in debates on human rights, there are doubts as to whether this right has led to a new direction in policy-making. The under-researched question is: why is there so much opposition to the implementation of the right to inclusive education? This paper examines the question by distinguishing between both the concept and practice of inclusive education. Using a specific interdisciplinary approach in order to critically analyse a legal norm, the paper looks into the very meaning of inclusive education by utilising some central conclusions from disability studies to appraise the ideal of inclusive education, and seeks to resolve related challenges by drawing upon political philosophy to investigate pragmatic solutions to the obstacles to inclusive education. This paper claims that it is thereby possible to incorporate the element of actual achievability into such an ideal.

This article argues that a new understanding of the indivisibility of human rights has emerged through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD has blurred the distinction between civil and political rights, on the one hand, and economic and social rights, on the other. After showing how this distinction has been blurred in the Convention, the article critically analyses the impact this has had on the concept of indivisibility, as well as its consequences for international human rights law more generally. It shows that there is now a shift away from a preoccupation with different categories of rights and towards concern for the real and actual enjoyment of human rights.

This article studies the economic and social rights of people with disabilities in times of armed conflict. While hostilities prevent them from accessing the essential goods and services that they rely on to enjoy these rights, the topic has attracted little attention to date. Calling upon international human rights law, the article applies the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with a view to complementing the provisions of international humanitarian law. It focuses on the requirements above the provision of medical care and examines the legal obligations attached to economic and social rights.

This article argues that adopting the lens of disability may provide a way forward for the revival of human rights. It shows how it is disability that draws attention to resource deprivation that hampers the enjoyment of human rights. It does so by focusing on two novel aspects of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): the general principle of participation and the adoption of a rights-based approach to dealing with disability. To illustrate this view, it uses as example the impact the restrictions have had on disabled people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This article addresses the question of intersectionality in the field of international human rights law. While in this field much attention has been given to gender and race, here it is extended to disability. Starting from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the article explores a new as yet unexplored research avenue: how international human rights law can be used to protect different groups of disabled people by applying the Convention along with other human rights treaties. It focuses on three groups of disabled people: (1) disabled people belonging to racial or ethnic minorities; (2) disabled women and; (3) disabled children. These three groups have been chosen because all three come within the remit of human rights treaties that concern these groups in addition to the CRPD. Some other groups of disabled people are also considered. The article discusses the problems that emerge for these groups and shows how they can be resolved through international human rights law. This is done through an analysis of the jurisprudence of UN treaty bodies.

The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has introduced a new right in international human rights law: the right to inclusive education. What the ‘inclusive’ component of this right stands for is however unclear, with the result that a narrow approach to inclusion has taken priority. In order to counter this narrow approach, this article makes the normative case for advancing a particular understanding of inclusive education that moves beyond existing interpretations of the CRPD's provisions. It constructs a conceptual framework based on Fraser's recognition theory, arguing that the principle of ‘participatory parity’ orientates the right to inclusive education towards stressing the importance of offering all children equal consideration throughout the education system. This has implications not only for the fulfilment of legal obligations but also for how international human rights law can actually be used to combat inequalities.

In this article human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) will be discussed. After examining their background, including their history and the different kinds of human rights impact, the various purposes of HRIAs, namely compliance, policymaking, accountability and empowerment will be examined. Questions relating to the development of HRIAs will also be analysed. It will be examined whether HRIAs should be incorporated into other kinds of impact assessments and how impact on human rights can be determined. In the article, the three phases in carrying out HRIAs, namely the analytical process, the deliberative process, and the monitoring and evaluation, will be subsequently analysed, dividing them into different steps. Finally, the various actors taking part in HRIAs will be dealt with. These are policy-makers, human rights experts, civil society organisations, national human rights institutions, and affected people.

This article concerns Article 33(2) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or Convention) which provides that States should designate or establish one or more independent mechanisms to promote, protect and monitor the implementation of the Convention taking into account the Paris Principles. It analyses the content of Article 33(2) with a view to determining if national human rights institutions (NHRIs) should be designated independent mechanisms. The article adopts a two-pronged approach by explaining the functions of NHRIs and by evaluating their suitability to play the role of independent mechanisms. After explaining the importance of national monitoring, the article discusses the Paris Principles and the role of NHRIs and examines whether these institutions should exercise the functions of independent mechanisms. It also deals with cooperation between these mechanisms and the other actors mentioned in Article 33. Finally, the article analyses the consequences for NHRIs of the reference to the Paris Principles in Article 33(2) of CRPD.

This article examines whether the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the OPCAT) leads to duplication or reinforcement in Europe. In addition to creating the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), the OPCAT requires that states parties establish or designate national preventive mechanisms. In the Council of Europe, states adopted the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture (the ECPT), which created the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (the CPT). After having outlined the history of the OPCAT and the ECPT and the function of the CPT and the SPT, the article examines the differences between the OPCAT and the ECPT and the sharing of tasks between the SPT and the CPT. It also discusses cooperation between the two bodies as well as cooperation between the CPT and national preventive mechanisms. Finally, it examines obstacles to cooperation between the SPT and the CPT. The article comes to the conclusion that the SPT could focus on the establishment and strengthening of national preventive mechanisms, whereas the CPT could continue to visit places of detention to prevent torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against persons deprived of their liberty in European states.

This article deals with the right to inclusive education. Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides not only that children with disabilities should not be discriminated against but also that they should be able to participate in the general education system. Children with disabilities should therefore be educated in mainstream schools. The article begins by studying the right to education in international human rights law (Section 2). It continues with a general introduction to the CRPD (Section 3). After discussing its drafting history, the article goes on to analyse Article 24 of the CRPD, examining the concept of inclusive education, the duty to provide reasonable accommodation and the obligation to adopt support measures and asking the question whether special schools should still be available (Section 3).

This article investigates the deinstitutionalisation of children with disabilities in times of armed conflict, taking the situation in Ukraine as a case study. It argues that a proper implementation of the right to independent living involves adopting a human rights-based approach that considers all the socio-economic rights of children with disabilities with due regard for the knowledge and expertise existing within families. It highlights the importance of a community-based integration of education, health and social services as a pathway both to facilitate family reunification and resettlement and to avoid re-institutionalisation in the reconstruction process. The article uses the CRPD and CRC together with the recommendations of their respective Committees as normative framework, with a particular focus on the right to inclusive education, and relies on reports investigating the challenges faced by these families before and after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The book studies the human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe.

This volume brings together insights and experiences from across the world on the actual and potential role of national human rights institutions with respect to economic, social, and cultural rights.

This book provides an in-depth examination of Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It both analyses Article 33 of the CRPD and provides case studies on six EU Member States.

Demonstrates the benefits of placing disabled people at the heart of international human rights law.

This is the first book to thoroughly analyse the Paris Principles and will be essential reading for a global audience of both practitioners working for NHRIs and the UN as well as human rights scholars.

This volume studies the implications of the right to inclusive education in human rights law for disability law, policy and practice.