Green and Red
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The corncrake rebels
Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:14 AM PDT
Sunday’s enormously uplifting win over Cork has, I’m sure, come to mean different things to different people. Here’s ontheroad with his perspective on it.
They say that only 126 pairs of corncrakes are left in the country. As a kid my night-time sleep was induced by the corncrake that lived in the bottom of our field. He was as much part of us as the lighthouse in the village and the fog horn on Eagle Island. Then the fog horn went and so too nearly the corncrake.
Near my home on the Erris peninsula lives one of the remaining 126 pairs of corncrakes. Recently I got a letter telling me the entire area is going to be an area of conservation for the very same fellow…the corncrake.. Delighted I am. Indeed if I happened to live within 250 metres of said corncrake it appears I am entitled to claim a grant.
Now despite having four children, a mortgage, a pile of bills and a pickpocket government even I could not stoop as low as to claim for the privilege of hearing the threatened corncrake. The abrasive sound from his throat is payment enough.
Since 2006 Mayo started to take on the elusiveness of the corncrake. We knew it was out there but somehow it lost its voice. At first expectation was high that it would be found but as time went by with trips to Salthill, Derry, Cavan, Sligo and Longford the Mayo GAA corncrake almost disappeared.
The grand project of kicking on from two All-Ireland final defeats of 2004/06 became instead a tour of the Via Dolorosa with its attendant Sorrowful Mysteries. We went from expectation of the final piece of the jigsaw to rebuilding, excuses and grand ineptitude. Everybody seemed to be better than us. Every game seemed to take on the scale of climbing Everest.
The mantra of the poor mouth finally convinced the players and the followers than indeed we were rubbish. To confirm it we went and crumbled against Sligo and Longford a scarce twelve months ago. The prophetic covering of arses and options finally came home to roost. Like the corncrake, Mayo were about to almost disappear.
Then this year’s summer skies didn’t clear but Mayo cleared the mind. “Is féidir línn” somebody wrote for Mr Obama. Mayo, one of the last homes of the beautiful language heeded the message. The draw from Hell v Cork was met head on by James Horan with words along “well this game will tell us where we are”. It did sir. Can you imagine the keening, imploring and shaking of holy water had we drawn Cork 14 months ago?
Mayo won more than a game of football on July 31st 2011. They showed a nation what we mean when we say “the Mayo style”, a style good enough to produce two Millennium greats in Flanagan and Langan. The past is where we reference to but do not dwell in. But we should never forget our proud place in the history of the Gael. For the last few years we have tiptoed around almost apologising for being Mayo. No more.
I myself was inflicted by the doom and gloom going as far as to advocate a change in our jersey colours. Become like Sligo and Cavan by darkening the shirt. But darkening the shirt does not make you an All-Black or invincible, nor does the acquisition of a former Mayo fringe player or a former O’Byrne Cup Dublin player.
Last year I read the opinion of a former Mayo extra on playing his former county thus “What comes before me comes before me”. We were reduced to stage extras as our own came back to haunt us. The slashing in Longford mercifully put an end to the charade.
Whether we beat Kerry and then Tyrone/Dublin/Donegal is irrelevant. Like the corncrake, we have made our voice known once more. We remind a nation of our not inconsiderable pedigree. We ride tall in the saddle and we can look the nation in the eye. We ask no more than James Horan and his cohorts stay honest. If they do then we all benefit.
The corncrake will survive and prosper. As I went out for my run around Dunboyne on Monday I saw the village festooned with Mayo flags, many on houses that I never knew had a Mayo connection. Long may they fly and long may Mayo and the corncrake prosper.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
TUESDAY, 02 AUGUST 2011 19:47
TV View ... No one saw that coming
TUESDAY, 02 AUGUST 2011 19:47
APART from the satisfaction of witnessing a Mayo performance of passion, commitment and no little skill, it was heartening to see Joe Brolly get some comeuppance.
While waiting for the TV3 game coverage to start, I flicked over to see if the RTÉ boys had anything to say on the Cork v Mayo game at the end of their coverage of Sunday’s other quarterfinal clash between Kerry and Limerick.
Brolly had something to say alright – but only on the question of if Cork would be able to beat Kerry on the big stage in Croke Park.
“It’s the most interesting debate out there,” he said to RTÉ anchor Michael Lyster.
In fairness to Brolly, most people had Mayo written off before this game. And to further put a feather in the Derry man’s cap, he had raised some questions about the potency of Cork – without, it must be said, ever countenancing the possibility that it would be Mayo to test the All-Ireland champions’ mettle.
Back in TV3 land, analysts Senan Connell, David Brady and Peter Canavan weren’t too concerned at half time that Mayo – just two points down at that stage – might cause an upset.
That said, the way Cork conceded the goal to Kevin McLoughlin did raise eyebrows. “You don’t associate poor defending with Cork but that was poor,” said Canavan.
As the second half commenced, match commentator Mike Finnerty pointed out how good Mayo’s second half record has been in matches of late – they conceded just one second-half point against Galway in the Connaught semi-final and two points in the second half against Roscommon in the final. “I’m sure it’s a point James Horan was making at half time,” he said.
Around the hour mark, with Mayo pushing clear thanks to a Cillian O’Connor point, Finnerty gushed about the corner forward: “He’s just 19 years of age, he’s Mayo’s leading scorer in the championship, that’s his fifth point of the game, his first from play…he looks like he’s been doing it all his life.”
Co-commentator Paul Earley said Mayo deserved ‘enormous credit’ for what they had done in beating Cork, especially given that everyone had written them off. The Connaught kingpins had, added Finnerty, ‘blown the championship wide open’ with their first win over Cork in the championship since 1916.
And Cork could have few complaints, observed Peter Canavan – especially since they were outscored by seven points to one in the second half. Connell chimed in that the ‘malaise and lethargy’ evident in Cork against Kerry in the Munster final was evident again on Sunday in Croke Park.
“Mayo looked like All-Ireland champions,” said an enthusiastic David Brady. “Steady on now David,” said anchor Matt Cooper, a Cork man reeling in the former Mayo and Ballina Stephenites star.
Later, on The Sunday Game on RTÉ, commentator Ger Canning wondered what kind of training Mayo had been doing since the Connaught final. “Maybe they’ve been up Croagh Patrick; maybe they’ve been saying their prayers.” Whatever it was, it worked.
Analyst Pat Spillane said Mayo has shown signs in their Connaught championship games, particularly in the second halves, that they were improving. And where they had really improved was in the defending – simple, man-to-man defending and not the ‘blanket’ style favoured by some, notably Donegal. “It still works,” said the Kerry man. “It was superb.”
It all added up to one thing, said Kevin McStay: “A great victory, thoroughly deserved.”
TUESDAY, 02 AUGUST 2011 19:47
APART from the satisfaction of witnessing a Mayo performance of passion, commitment and no little skill, it was heartening to see Joe Brolly get some comeuppance.
While waiting for the TV3 game coverage to start, I flicked over to see if the RTÉ boys had anything to say on the Cork v Mayo game at the end of their coverage of Sunday’s other quarterfinal clash between Kerry and Limerick.
Brolly had something to say alright – but only on the question of if Cork would be able to beat Kerry on the big stage in Croke Park.
“It’s the most interesting debate out there,” he said to RTÉ anchor Michael Lyster.
In fairness to Brolly, most people had Mayo written off before this game. And to further put a feather in the Derry man’s cap, he had raised some questions about the potency of Cork – without, it must be said, ever countenancing the possibility that it would be Mayo to test the All-Ireland champions’ mettle.
Back in TV3 land, analysts Senan Connell, David Brady and Peter Canavan weren’t too concerned at half time that Mayo – just two points down at that stage – might cause an upset.
That said, the way Cork conceded the goal to Kevin McLoughlin did raise eyebrows. “You don’t associate poor defending with Cork but that was poor,” said Canavan.
As the second half commenced, match commentator Mike Finnerty pointed out how good Mayo’s second half record has been in matches of late – they conceded just one second-half point against Galway in the Connaught semi-final and two points in the second half against Roscommon in the final. “I’m sure it’s a point James Horan was making at half time,” he said.
Around the hour mark, with Mayo pushing clear thanks to a Cillian O’Connor point, Finnerty gushed about the corner forward: “He’s just 19 years of age, he’s Mayo’s leading scorer in the championship, that’s his fifth point of the game, his first from play…he looks like he’s been doing it all his life.”
Co-commentator Paul Earley said Mayo deserved ‘enormous credit’ for what they had done in beating Cork, especially given that everyone had written them off. The Connaught kingpins had, added Finnerty, ‘blown the championship wide open’ with their first win over Cork in the championship since 1916.
And Cork could have few complaints, observed Peter Canavan – especially since they were outscored by seven points to one in the second half. Connell chimed in that the ‘malaise and lethargy’ evident in Cork against Kerry in the Munster final was evident again on Sunday in Croke Park.
“Mayo looked like All-Ireland champions,” said an enthusiastic David Brady. “Steady on now David,” said anchor Matt Cooper, a Cork man reeling in the former Mayo and Ballina Stephenites star.
Later, on The Sunday Game on RTÉ, commentator Ger Canning wondered what kind of training Mayo had been doing since the Connaught final. “Maybe they’ve been up Croagh Patrick; maybe they’ve been saying their prayers.” Whatever it was, it worked.
Analyst Pat Spillane said Mayo has shown signs in their Connaught championship games, particularly in the second halves, that they were improving. And where they had really improved was in the defending – simple, man-to-man defending and not the ‘blanket’ style favoured by some, notably Donegal. “It still works,” said the Kerry man. “It was superb.”
It all added up to one thing, said Kevin McStay: “A great victory, thoroughly deserved.”
Monday, August 01, 2011
Sydney man shoots wife dead, kills self
Sydney man shoots wife dead, kills self
Vincent Morello and Miles Godfrey
August 1, 2011 - 5:29PM
AAP
A school employee shot his wife, rang local police and then turned the gun on himself as officers rushed to the couple's Sydney home.
The bodies of Rod and Marina-Louise Tuddenham, both aged in their mid-50s, were found at their Rosemead Road home at Hornsby, in Sydney's north, about 1am (AEST) on Monday.
Detective Inspector Mick Banfield said police would review telephone records but believe the man they found was the caller.
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"More than likely, he's murdered her, then turned the gun on himself," Det Insp Banfield told AAP.
He said officers were "pretty quick" to respond, and neighbours later told police they had heard gunshots.
Hornsby Local Area Commander Superintendent Michael Kenny said a woman's body was found in a bedroom and police located the man's body in the backyard.
"We do know that in relation to the deceased that a firearm was used and we believe that was the cause of both people's death," Supt Kenny told reporters on Monday.
Police established a crime scene and determined that both victims suffered a single gunshot, he said.
Supt Kenny would not rule out an assisted suicide or murder-suicide and would not comment on media reports the woman had a terminal illness.
The couple was not known to police and there was no record of domestic disturbances at the home.
No note was left at the scene, but two people who appeared to know the couple arrived at the house on Monday afternoon and were later driven away in police vehicles.
After alighting from a taxi, a woman put her hand over her mouth and bent over with an expression of shock and sorrow, witnesses told AAP.
A man later walked up and was spoken to police. Later, one officer outside the house was heard talking about a "brother" arriving on the scene.
Mr Tuddenham worked as a technical support officer at Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School, in nearby North Turramurra.
On an internet networking website he described his work as providing "day-to-day support to students and staff for laptops and wireless infrastructure provided by the Digital Education Revolution".
School principal Terri-Anne Kamasz declined to speak about the incident.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Education said comment was limited as the police investigation was ongoing.
"The sympathies of Ku-ring-gai High School are with the family and friends of the couple involved in this tragic event," the spokeswoman told AAP.
"Counselling is being offered to students and staff from the school."
A spokeswoman for insurance firm QBE, where Marina-Louise worked as an analyst, said it was difficult to respond because Monday was a bank holiday.
Mr Tuddenham's Facebook page mentions his son Zach Tuddenham, who states that he lives in Brisbane.
Police have spoken to neighbours but are still seeking information from anyone who may have witnessed anything related to the incident.
"Anybody with any information in relation to the history of the couple ... anybody that heard anything around 1am this morning, anybody that saw anything around 1am this morning, we would ask that they come forward," Supt Kenny said.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263)
Vincent Morello and Miles Godfrey
August 1, 2011 - 5:29PM
AAP
A school employee shot his wife, rang local police and then turned the gun on himself as officers rushed to the couple's Sydney home.
The bodies of Rod and Marina-Louise Tuddenham, both aged in their mid-50s, were found at their Rosemead Road home at Hornsby, in Sydney's north, about 1am (AEST) on Monday.
Detective Inspector Mick Banfield said police would review telephone records but believe the man they found was the caller.
Advertisement: Story continues below
"More than likely, he's murdered her, then turned the gun on himself," Det Insp Banfield told AAP.
He said officers were "pretty quick" to respond, and neighbours later told police they had heard gunshots.
Hornsby Local Area Commander Superintendent Michael Kenny said a woman's body was found in a bedroom and police located the man's body in the backyard.
"We do know that in relation to the deceased that a firearm was used and we believe that was the cause of both people's death," Supt Kenny told reporters on Monday.
Police established a crime scene and determined that both victims suffered a single gunshot, he said.
Supt Kenny would not rule out an assisted suicide or murder-suicide and would not comment on media reports the woman had a terminal illness.
The couple was not known to police and there was no record of domestic disturbances at the home.
No note was left at the scene, but two people who appeared to know the couple arrived at the house on Monday afternoon and were later driven away in police vehicles.
After alighting from a taxi, a woman put her hand over her mouth and bent over with an expression of shock and sorrow, witnesses told AAP.
A man later walked up and was spoken to police. Later, one officer outside the house was heard talking about a "brother" arriving on the scene.
Mr Tuddenham worked as a technical support officer at Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School, in nearby North Turramurra.
On an internet networking website he described his work as providing "day-to-day support to students and staff for laptops and wireless infrastructure provided by the Digital Education Revolution".
School principal Terri-Anne Kamasz declined to speak about the incident.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Education said comment was limited as the police investigation was ongoing.
"The sympathies of Ku-ring-gai High School are with the family and friends of the couple involved in this tragic event," the spokeswoman told AAP.
"Counselling is being offered to students and staff from the school."
A spokeswoman for insurance firm QBE, where Marina-Louise worked as an analyst, said it was difficult to respond because Monday was a bank holiday.
Mr Tuddenham's Facebook page mentions his son Zach Tuddenham, who states that he lives in Brisbane.
Police have spoken to neighbours but are still seeking information from anyone who may have witnessed anything related to the incident.
"Anybody with any information in relation to the history of the couple ... anybody that heard anything around 1am this morning, anybody that saw anything around 1am this morning, we would ask that they come forward," Supt Kenny said.
* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or SANE Helpline on 1800 18 SANE (7263)
Mayo 1-13 Cork 2-6: Horan’s heroes crush Cork
Green and Red
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Mayo 1-13 Cork 2-6: Horan’s heroes crush Cork
Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:28 AM PDT
Lions. Warriors. Absolute monsters. Uncompromising, utterly irrepressible. Like every other Mayo person this evening, I am so, so, proud of our team and what they achieved at Croke Park today. It was a huge and enormously gutsy win and it puts us firmly back on the map. Well done, James and his team of heroes for pulling it off and for giving us cause to start dreaming those dreams. And downing those pints.
Where does a man start? Possibly by looking back to all those sneering, dismissive put-downs we had to endure in advance. Well, Joe Brolly, you ignorant clown, I have two words for you: fuck you. And the same to Pat Spillane and that twat who claimed that Connacht teams don’t do August anymore. And all those pundits who didn’t even have the good manners to acknowledge our existence before gushing about the Cork-Kerry rematch. Fuck the lot of ye.
Okay, I feel a lot better to have got that off my chest. Enough about the clowns, time to talk about the heroes.
I felt in advance that if we were to have any chance (and I did give us a small chance though, unlike PJ and his fifty notes at 5/1, I didn’t get around to putting my money where my mouth was), we’d need to stay with them for the full seventy minutes and would needs goals (plural). We didn’t and we didn’t but, through sheer indomitable will and the hardest shift I think I’ve ever seen a Mayo team put in, we still played the All-Ireland champions off the park and beat them comprehensively.
While the fact that we won today is obviously the big story, our achievement in coming from six down at the end of the first quarter spoke volumes about just how good our performance was today. I truly feared for us then, not because we weren’t doing all we could to stop them (our workrate was transparently obvious even then) but that we didn’t seem to have enough in us to prevent them steamrolling us.
We even had a refereeing howler to moan about at that stage too. We could have had no quibbles with the penalty decision for Cork, as Ger clearly dragged down O’Connor, but Andy was also inside the square when he was hauled down and all we got for our troubles was a 14-yard free.
A full twenty minutes had passed before our first point from play – from Kevin McLoughlin – arrived but you could sense by then that we were starting to settle and that, as a consequence, the steamroller scenario was starting to recede. Sheamie was getting better and better at midfield and the backs, although under immense pressure, we kept our shape and began to turn back the red tide..
And then came Kevin McLoughlin’s screamer, a goal of true wonder, as the Knockmore man went on a mazy run from over 50 yards out and knifed through the Cork backline single-handedly before emphatically smashing the ball to the net. Game on.
Shades of 1996 hit us just after, though, when they cancelled out that score with one of their own. It looked at first as if it was Robbie’s despairing dive that made the goal a legitimate one (as the ball in was a punched one) but replays showed that Kerrigan had got a touch to it on the way in so it was a goal alright.
Four down and now I was praying that they wouldn’t hit us with a knockout third major before half-time. Instead, we clawed back two points to go in two behind.
So we’d reached the safety of half-time and still in the contest.. Thoughts of having the floor wiped with us were now falling away like the remnants of that tool Brolly’s reputation. Did I forget to say: fuck you, Joe Brolly? Well, there it is again just to be sure, like.
Coming out for the second half, you could feel that something was starting to build but we’d seen how Cork had cut loose in the second half against Down and, indeed, how they’d ripped into Kerry after the break too. I texted to at least ten people the same message – “we’re a second half team” – but I knew damn well that Cork had it in them to be that too.
Hands up anyone who would have guessed we’d hold them – the reigning All-Ireland champions, the 2/11 favourites to wallop us – to one lousy point in that second half? Or that we’d see Alan O’Connor, universally lauded last weekend as the best footballer in the country, taken off before the end? Or that we’d our disbelieving eyes would feast on the sight of Cork being outthought, outfought and outplayed by our lads all over the pitch? Or that we’d win almost pulling up?
Yet that’s what happened. We were truly magnificent in that second period and the most pleasing aspect of this stellar showing was that it was so much a team effort. The O’Sheas continued to dominate at midfield, Ger Caff (very close to a second yellow at half-time) drove us forward repeatedly from deep, Donie Vaughan got better and better as the half went on, Cillian O’Connor was exceptional in the way he got so much ball in the middle third and took the fight to them, Andy won a shedload of ball inside and kept them pinned back when they needed to break out, Jason Doherty came on and showed up for plenty of ball forcing them further on the defensive, Alan Freeman tracked way back, Trevor was the monster that Trevor in top form can be … it just went on and on.
When we hit the front (I think it was Alan Dillon who got that one) it was obvious that we were, at worst, going to be able to leave HQ with our heads held high but there were still more than twenty minutes to go at that stage, leaving Cork with plenty of time for the kind of onslaught that finally shook off a sticky Dublin challenge in last year’s semi-final.
Miskella’s fisted point put them level and had they gone in front again then, I suspect we’d really have been under the hammer in the closing stages but instead we just put the heads down, stepped on the gas and, incredibly, began to ease clear of them as the final straight started to come into view.
It was Keith Higgins who edged us in front again, haring forward into acres of space to take a return pass and thump it over. By now, there was hardly a breaking ball around the middle we weren’t winning and our will to win was there for all to see. James was using the bench cleverly too, with Ronan coming on to replace Sheamie (who’d got a bad kick in the leg just before half-time) and Peadar came on too to add more experience to all that exuberance.
When Goold blazed badly wide with a third Cork goal looking certain, it really did begin to look as if it would be our day and when Jason Doherty finally got some return for all that running by shooting us two clear with ten minutes left, the shape of our victory was beginning to become apparent.
Cork were now panicking, passing up chances for points as they desperately sought the goal that would get them back into it. Instead, Cillian’s two late points – one a monster from play – put us into insurance score territory and these points were the final ones of the day.
There was only a small Mayo following in the 20,000 or so punters in HQ today but the hard core support (myself included) went bananas after the final whistle sounded and the enormity of what the lads had done began to sink in. I doubt very much that I was the only Mayoman to shed a tear at that moment as a tsunami of emotion washed over us and we, literally, danced in the aisles.
I then sloped off to try to do my audio and although I recorded it, the O2 network failed to upload it and so it was lost to posterity. Never mind, there are more important things to be thinking about tonight. Like an All-Ireland semi-final with Kerry in three weeks time for starters.
That’s going to be an even bigger challenge for us and we know from bitter experience what Kerry are capable of doing to us. Many of those lads who leathered us in 2004 and 2006 are still there now and they’ll want to do exactly the same to us again the next day. But, if there’s one thing we can be sure of after today, the Mayo team they’ll meet in 2011 will not lie down and let the Kerry lads walk all over them. If Kerry make it to the final, then they’ll bloody well have to do it the hard way.
There’ll be plenty of time over the next three weeks to think long and deep about the Kerrymen, though – tonight there’s a stunning performance (and porter) to focus on. We had heroes all over the pitch today and it’d be unfair to single anyone out. We had a team of lions and they all, including James and his colleagues on the sideline, deserve our heartfelt thanks and praise for fashioning out such a truly uplifting win.
So now we’re down to the last four, back in the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time in five years and the knowledge that, after all those dog days in recent times, we’re once more a force to be reckoned with in Gaelic football. How much further we’ll go (not least because of who we next face) is still anyone’s guess but that’s the magic of sport, isn’t it? And Mayo were truly magical today.
Mayo: Robert Hennelly (0-1. ’45); Keith Higgins (0-1), Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cunniffe; Richie Feeney, Donal Vaughan, Trevor Mortimer; Aidan O’Shea, Seamus O’Shea; Kevin McLoughlin (1-1), Alan Dillon (0-1), Andy Moran (0-1); Enda Varley (0-1, free), Alan Freeman, Cillian O’Connor (0-6, 5 frees). Subs: Jason Doherty (0-1) for Varley, Peadar Gardiner for Freeman, Ronan McGarrity for Seamus O’Shea, Lee Keegan for Feeney.
Best of luck, lads
Posted: 31 Jul 2011 12:57 AM PDT
So today’s the day – our first championship appearance at Croke Park since 2009 and the first opportunity for James Horan’s side to show what they can do on the big stage.
The lads face a huge challenge today but it’s also a fantastic chance to show that we’re back in business. I’m sure every last one of them will give their all, as will those of us supporting them in the stands. While we go into this match as rank outsiders, we also know that wins on days like today are the sweetest ones of all.
A good start today is clearly vital – we have to get into this game right from the throw-in and keep at it relentlessly until the end. Roscommon’s bright 50 minutes against Tyrone yesterday should provide encouragement but also carries a warning: if we can’t keep pace with them right through the game, we too will pay the consequences.
But, good and all as Cork are, we also know that they’re not unbeatable, as Kerry showed down in Killarney early in the month. Our lads may not be household names amongst the GAA chattering classes going into this contest but they’ve a great opportunity to become so afterwards. If we play without fear and keep playing ’till the end we’ve definitely got a chance. And think of the fun we’d have if we win.
Best of luck today, lads.
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Mayo 1-13 Cork 2-6: Horan’s heroes crush Cork
Posted: 31 Jul 2011 10:28 AM PDT
Lions. Warriors. Absolute monsters. Uncompromising, utterly irrepressible. Like every other Mayo person this evening, I am so, so, proud of our team and what they achieved at Croke Park today. It was a huge and enormously gutsy win and it puts us firmly back on the map. Well done, James and his team of heroes for pulling it off and for giving us cause to start dreaming those dreams. And downing those pints.
Where does a man start? Possibly by looking back to all those sneering, dismissive put-downs we had to endure in advance. Well, Joe Brolly, you ignorant clown, I have two words for you: fuck you. And the same to Pat Spillane and that twat who claimed that Connacht teams don’t do August anymore. And all those pundits who didn’t even have the good manners to acknowledge our existence before gushing about the Cork-Kerry rematch. Fuck the lot of ye.
Okay, I feel a lot better to have got that off my chest. Enough about the clowns, time to talk about the heroes.
I felt in advance that if we were to have any chance (and I did give us a small chance though, unlike PJ and his fifty notes at 5/1, I didn’t get around to putting my money where my mouth was), we’d need to stay with them for the full seventy minutes and would needs goals (plural). We didn’t and we didn’t but, through sheer indomitable will and the hardest shift I think I’ve ever seen a Mayo team put in, we still played the All-Ireland champions off the park and beat them comprehensively.
While the fact that we won today is obviously the big story, our achievement in coming from six down at the end of the first quarter spoke volumes about just how good our performance was today. I truly feared for us then, not because we weren’t doing all we could to stop them (our workrate was transparently obvious even then) but that we didn’t seem to have enough in us to prevent them steamrolling us.
We even had a refereeing howler to moan about at that stage too. We could have had no quibbles with the penalty decision for Cork, as Ger clearly dragged down O’Connor, but Andy was also inside the square when he was hauled down and all we got for our troubles was a 14-yard free.
A full twenty minutes had passed before our first point from play – from Kevin McLoughlin – arrived but you could sense by then that we were starting to settle and that, as a consequence, the steamroller scenario was starting to recede. Sheamie was getting better and better at midfield and the backs, although under immense pressure, we kept our shape and began to turn back the red tide..
And then came Kevin McLoughlin’s screamer, a goal of true wonder, as the Knockmore man went on a mazy run from over 50 yards out and knifed through the Cork backline single-handedly before emphatically smashing the ball to the net. Game on.
Shades of 1996 hit us just after, though, when they cancelled out that score with one of their own. It looked at first as if it was Robbie’s despairing dive that made the goal a legitimate one (as the ball in was a punched one) but replays showed that Kerrigan had got a touch to it on the way in so it was a goal alright.
Four down and now I was praying that they wouldn’t hit us with a knockout third major before half-time. Instead, we clawed back two points to go in two behind.
So we’d reached the safety of half-time and still in the contest.. Thoughts of having the floor wiped with us were now falling away like the remnants of that tool Brolly’s reputation. Did I forget to say: fuck you, Joe Brolly? Well, there it is again just to be sure, like.
Coming out for the second half, you could feel that something was starting to build but we’d seen how Cork had cut loose in the second half against Down and, indeed, how they’d ripped into Kerry after the break too. I texted to at least ten people the same message – “we’re a second half team” – but I knew damn well that Cork had it in them to be that too.
Hands up anyone who would have guessed we’d hold them – the reigning All-Ireland champions, the 2/11 favourites to wallop us – to one lousy point in that second half? Or that we’d see Alan O’Connor, universally lauded last weekend as the best footballer in the country, taken off before the end? Or that we’d our disbelieving eyes would feast on the sight of Cork being outthought, outfought and outplayed by our lads all over the pitch? Or that we’d win almost pulling up?
Yet that’s what happened. We were truly magnificent in that second period and the most pleasing aspect of this stellar showing was that it was so much a team effort. The O’Sheas continued to dominate at midfield, Ger Caff (very close to a second yellow at half-time) drove us forward repeatedly from deep, Donie Vaughan got better and better as the half went on, Cillian O’Connor was exceptional in the way he got so much ball in the middle third and took the fight to them, Andy won a shedload of ball inside and kept them pinned back when they needed to break out, Jason Doherty came on and showed up for plenty of ball forcing them further on the defensive, Alan Freeman tracked way back, Trevor was the monster that Trevor in top form can be … it just went on and on.
When we hit the front (I think it was Alan Dillon who got that one) it was obvious that we were, at worst, going to be able to leave HQ with our heads held high but there were still more than twenty minutes to go at that stage, leaving Cork with plenty of time for the kind of onslaught that finally shook off a sticky Dublin challenge in last year’s semi-final.
Miskella’s fisted point put them level and had they gone in front again then, I suspect we’d really have been under the hammer in the closing stages but instead we just put the heads down, stepped on the gas and, incredibly, began to ease clear of them as the final straight started to come into view.
It was Keith Higgins who edged us in front again, haring forward into acres of space to take a return pass and thump it over. By now, there was hardly a breaking ball around the middle we weren’t winning and our will to win was there for all to see. James was using the bench cleverly too, with Ronan coming on to replace Sheamie (who’d got a bad kick in the leg just before half-time) and Peadar came on too to add more experience to all that exuberance.
When Goold blazed badly wide with a third Cork goal looking certain, it really did begin to look as if it would be our day and when Jason Doherty finally got some return for all that running by shooting us two clear with ten minutes left, the shape of our victory was beginning to become apparent.
Cork were now panicking, passing up chances for points as they desperately sought the goal that would get them back into it. Instead, Cillian’s two late points – one a monster from play – put us into insurance score territory and these points were the final ones of the day.
There was only a small Mayo following in the 20,000 or so punters in HQ today but the hard core support (myself included) went bananas after the final whistle sounded and the enormity of what the lads had done began to sink in. I doubt very much that I was the only Mayoman to shed a tear at that moment as a tsunami of emotion washed over us and we, literally, danced in the aisles.
I then sloped off to try to do my audio and although I recorded it, the O2 network failed to upload it and so it was lost to posterity. Never mind, there are more important things to be thinking about tonight. Like an All-Ireland semi-final with Kerry in three weeks time for starters.
That’s going to be an even bigger challenge for us and we know from bitter experience what Kerry are capable of doing to us. Many of those lads who leathered us in 2004 and 2006 are still there now and they’ll want to do exactly the same to us again the next day. But, if there’s one thing we can be sure of after today, the Mayo team they’ll meet in 2011 will not lie down and let the Kerry lads walk all over them. If Kerry make it to the final, then they’ll bloody well have to do it the hard way.
There’ll be plenty of time over the next three weeks to think long and deep about the Kerrymen, though – tonight there’s a stunning performance (and porter) to focus on. We had heroes all over the pitch today and it’d be unfair to single anyone out. We had a team of lions and they all, including James and his colleagues on the sideline, deserve our heartfelt thanks and praise for fashioning out such a truly uplifting win.
So now we’re down to the last four, back in the All-Ireland semi-final for the first time in five years and the knowledge that, after all those dog days in recent times, we’re once more a force to be reckoned with in Gaelic football. How much further we’ll go (not least because of who we next face) is still anyone’s guess but that’s the magic of sport, isn’t it? And Mayo were truly magical today.
Mayo: Robert Hennelly (0-1. ’45); Keith Higgins (0-1), Ger Cafferkey, Tom Cunniffe; Richie Feeney, Donal Vaughan, Trevor Mortimer; Aidan O’Shea, Seamus O’Shea; Kevin McLoughlin (1-1), Alan Dillon (0-1), Andy Moran (0-1); Enda Varley (0-1, free), Alan Freeman, Cillian O’Connor (0-6, 5 frees). Subs: Jason Doherty (0-1) for Varley, Peadar Gardiner for Freeman, Ronan McGarrity for Seamus O’Shea, Lee Keegan for Feeney.
Best of luck, lads
Posted: 31 Jul 2011 12:57 AM PDT
So today’s the day – our first championship appearance at Croke Park since 2009 and the first opportunity for James Horan’s side to show what they can do on the big stage.
The lads face a huge challenge today but it’s also a fantastic chance to show that we’re back in business. I’m sure every last one of them will give their all, as will those of us supporting them in the stands. While we go into this match as rank outsiders, we also know that wins on days like today are the sweetest ones of all.
A good start today is clearly vital – we have to get into this game right from the throw-in and keep at it relentlessly until the end. Roscommon’s bright 50 minutes against Tyrone yesterday should provide encouragement but also carries a warning: if we can’t keep pace with them right through the game, we too will pay the consequences.
But, good and all as Cork are, we also know that they’re not unbeatable, as Kerry showed down in Killarney early in the month. Our lads may not be household names amongst the GAA chattering classes going into this contest but they’ve a great opportunity to become so afterwards. If we play without fear and keep playing ’till the end we’ve definitely got a chance. And think of the fun we’d have if we win.
Best of luck today, lads.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Norris 'remains committed' to presidential campaign
irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Sunday, July 31, 2011, 17:31
Norris 'remains committed' to presidential campaign
Senator David Norris had admitted his campaign is in trouble following the latest controversy.
Related
Date set for presidential poll | 26/07/2011
Key staff quit Norris campaign | 30/07/2011
Norris confident of winning nomination | 26/07/2011
Norris ahead of Mitchell and Higgins in race for presidency | 20/07/2011
CHARLIE TAYLOR and STEPHEN COLLINS
David Norris has said he will continue to seek a presidential nomination despite the resignation of many of his campaign team members amid controversy over a clemency letter sent by the senator in 1997 on behalf of his former partner.
Mr Norris, who was favourite to win the presidential race according to most polls, admitted that his campaign was in trouble after claims emerged about a court case in Israel involving his former partner, Ezra Yizhak Nawi, who was convicted of having sex with an underage Palestinian youth in 1992.
The two men have remained close friends and continue to meet regularly and are in frequent phone contact.
A letter written on Seanad notepaper in which the Trinity Senator seeks clemency for Mr Yizhak was published online and in some newspapers today.
In the letter, Mr Norris describes Mr Yizhak as "an intelligent, honest trustworthy, good and moral person." It goes on to claim that Mr Yizhak was "lured into a carefully prepared trap" and had "unwisely" pleaded guilty to the charges against him
Director of communications Jane Cregan and director of elections Derek Murphy are among those to resign from Mr Norris’s campaign team following the latest revelations.
In an interview in today's Sunday Independent the Senator admitted his campaign was in trouble but said he was "absolutely committed" to running for the presidency.
Mr Norris’ campaign was embroiled in controversy earlier in the summer when comments he made about sexual activity between older and younger men and boys in Magill magazine in January 2002 resurfaced.
The interview with restaurant critic and columnist Helen Lucy Burke was circulated to county councillors in May following Mr Norris’ announcement that he was going to seek a nomination to run for the presidency.
Ms Burke said Mr Norris’ “dangerous” and “shocking” views on sexuality made him an unsuitable person to be president of Ireland.
Mr Norris told the Irish Times at that stage that he had engaged in an academic discussion on sexual relations between older men and younger men and boys arising from Plato’s Symposium and ancient Greek classical literature.
“I made a distinction between paedophilia and pederasty, which is a totally different thing. To the average person it would not make any difference I suppose but to me it did because I knew what I was talking about. That got mixed up and stayed mixed up.
“I abhor with every fibre of my being the idea of interference with children, sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse. My record on that speaks for itself.”
The controversy was revived a few weeks later when an interview Mr Norris gave to the Daily Mail last year covering much of the same ground was reprinted.
While they set back Mr Norris’ prospects of getting a nomination from county councils he appeared to have recovered in recent weeks following an Irish Times poll that showed him leading the presidential race with 25 per cent support.
By this week 15 Oireachtas members had pledged to sign his nomination papers and he only needs another five names to get on the ballot paper.
Senator John Crown has said he will continue to give his backing to Mr Norris as have Independent TDs Maurenn O'Sullivan and Stephen Donnelly. However, some of the senator's other backers have asked for further clarification from him over the controversy.
Independent TD John Halligan said today he would be consulting with his advisors before deciding whether to continue backing Mr Norris.
“I’m meeting my campaign over the next couple of days and I’ll make a decision then,” he said.
“I think David Norris is a very good man, and I’m disappointed but I’m troubled by what has happened,” he added.
Norris 'remains committed' to presidential campaign
Senator David Norris had admitted his campaign is in trouble following the latest controversy.
Related
Date set for presidential poll | 26/07/2011
Key staff quit Norris campaign | 30/07/2011
Norris confident of winning nomination | 26/07/2011
Norris ahead of Mitchell and Higgins in race for presidency | 20/07/2011
CHARLIE TAYLOR and STEPHEN COLLINS
David Norris has said he will continue to seek a presidential nomination despite the resignation of many of his campaign team members amid controversy over a clemency letter sent by the senator in 1997 on behalf of his former partner.
Mr Norris, who was favourite to win the presidential race according to most polls, admitted that his campaign was in trouble after claims emerged about a court case in Israel involving his former partner, Ezra Yizhak Nawi, who was convicted of having sex with an underage Palestinian youth in 1992.
The two men have remained close friends and continue to meet regularly and are in frequent phone contact.
A letter written on Seanad notepaper in which the Trinity Senator seeks clemency for Mr Yizhak was published online and in some newspapers today.
In the letter, Mr Norris describes Mr Yizhak as "an intelligent, honest trustworthy, good and moral person." It goes on to claim that Mr Yizhak was "lured into a carefully prepared trap" and had "unwisely" pleaded guilty to the charges against him
Director of communications Jane Cregan and director of elections Derek Murphy are among those to resign from Mr Norris’s campaign team following the latest revelations.
In an interview in today's Sunday Independent the Senator admitted his campaign was in trouble but said he was "absolutely committed" to running for the presidency.
Mr Norris’ campaign was embroiled in controversy earlier in the summer when comments he made about sexual activity between older and younger men and boys in Magill magazine in January 2002 resurfaced.
The interview with restaurant critic and columnist Helen Lucy Burke was circulated to county councillors in May following Mr Norris’ announcement that he was going to seek a nomination to run for the presidency.
Ms Burke said Mr Norris’ “dangerous” and “shocking” views on sexuality made him an unsuitable person to be president of Ireland.
Mr Norris told the Irish Times at that stage that he had engaged in an academic discussion on sexual relations between older men and younger men and boys arising from Plato’s Symposium and ancient Greek classical literature.
“I made a distinction between paedophilia and pederasty, which is a totally different thing. To the average person it would not make any difference I suppose but to me it did because I knew what I was talking about. That got mixed up and stayed mixed up.
“I abhor with every fibre of my being the idea of interference with children, sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse. My record on that speaks for itself.”
The controversy was revived a few weeks later when an interview Mr Norris gave to the Daily Mail last year covering much of the same ground was reprinted.
While they set back Mr Norris’ prospects of getting a nomination from county councils he appeared to have recovered in recent weeks following an Irish Times poll that showed him leading the presidential race with 25 per cent support.
By this week 15 Oireachtas members had pledged to sign his nomination papers and he only needs another five names to get on the ballot paper.
Senator John Crown has said he will continue to give his backing to Mr Norris as have Independent TDs Maurenn O'Sullivan and Stephen Donnelly. However, some of the senator's other backers have asked for further clarification from him over the controversy.
Independent TD John Halligan said today he would be consulting with his advisors before deciding whether to continue backing Mr Norris.
“I’m meeting my campaign over the next couple of days and I’ll make a decision then,” he said.
“I think David Norris is a very good man, and I’m disappointed but I’m troubled by what has happened,” he added.
Mayo deliver knockout blow
irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Sunday, July 31, 2011, 18:47
Mayo deliver knockout blow
Mayo's Kevin McLoughlin celebrates his goal with Enda Varley. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Cork 2-6 Mayo 1-13: Croke Park, so often a graveyard for Mayo football, was the scene of one of the county’s finest hours this afternoon as the rank outsiders deposed defending champions Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
It was a victory even the most one-eyed of diehards west of the Shannon would not have predicted, not least when Conor Counihan’s side raced into an early five point lead.
But Mayo kept plugging away and finally hit the front in the 42nd minute. Having got their noses in front, the Connacht champions would never be behind again as Cork’s misfiring attack was restricted to just a single score in the entire second half.
By the end, Cork’s increasingly desperate attacks were easily repelled as Mayo ran out thoroughly deserving four-point winners.
There was a much different complexion to a fascinating contest – the perfect antidote to Kerry’s procession earlier at GAA headquarters – after an opening 15 minutes which went perfectly according to the script.
An early penalty was expertly dispatched by Donnacha O’Connor before he added a brace of points while Paul Kerrigan also found his range.
Mayo had mustered just a the one point at that stage but their challenge ignited with a stunning strike from Kevin McLoughlin six minutes later. McLoughlin gathered the ball on the 45 metre line and made a beeline for the Cork goal before hammering it past Alan Quirke.
Kerrigan threatened to snuff out the revival with Cork’s second goal moments later but Mayo were not in the mood to be pushed around and turned just two points down.
And James Horan’s side carried that momentum into the second half, with goalkeeper Robert Hennelly among those on the scoresheet as the scores were swiftly tied.
Alan Dillon fired his side in front soon after and although Cork would level matters through John Miskella, the wear and tear of an injury-ravaged campaign began to tell as the Rebel’s challenge faded.
Their only chance of a lifeline was wasted when Fintan Goold sidefooted his effort badly wide and scores from Keith Higgins, Jason Doherty and Cillian O'Connor (2) ensured it would be Mayo’s day.
“We’re delighted,” admitted Horan afterwards. “Cork are superb All-Ireland champions so we’re delighted to get the better of them.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Mayo, with 2009 champions Kerry now waiting in the semi-finals.
“Look at the team Kerry have, the players they have available,” conceded Horan. “We’ll just do out own thing as we have done all year despite all the criticism. We’ll get on with it and be ready for the semi-final.
Mayo deliver knockout blow
Mayo's Kevin McLoughlin celebrates his goal with Enda Varley. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Cork 2-6 Mayo 1-13: Croke Park, so often a graveyard for Mayo football, was the scene of one of the county’s finest hours this afternoon as the rank outsiders deposed defending champions Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
It was a victory even the most one-eyed of diehards west of the Shannon would not have predicted, not least when Conor Counihan’s side raced into an early five point lead.
But Mayo kept plugging away and finally hit the front in the 42nd minute. Having got their noses in front, the Connacht champions would never be behind again as Cork’s misfiring attack was restricted to just a single score in the entire second half.
By the end, Cork’s increasingly desperate attacks were easily repelled as Mayo ran out thoroughly deserving four-point winners.
There was a much different complexion to a fascinating contest – the perfect antidote to Kerry’s procession earlier at GAA headquarters – after an opening 15 minutes which went perfectly according to the script.
An early penalty was expertly dispatched by Donnacha O’Connor before he added a brace of points while Paul Kerrigan also found his range.
Mayo had mustered just a the one point at that stage but their challenge ignited with a stunning strike from Kevin McLoughlin six minutes later. McLoughlin gathered the ball on the 45 metre line and made a beeline for the Cork goal before hammering it past Alan Quirke.
Kerrigan threatened to snuff out the revival with Cork’s second goal moments later but Mayo were not in the mood to be pushed around and turned just two points down.
And James Horan’s side carried that momentum into the second half, with goalkeeper Robert Hennelly among those on the scoresheet as the scores were swiftly tied.
Alan Dillon fired his side in front soon after and although Cork would level matters through John Miskella, the wear and tear of an injury-ravaged campaign began to tell as the Rebel’s challenge faded.
Their only chance of a lifeline was wasted when Fintan Goold sidefooted his effort badly wide and scores from Keith Higgins, Jason Doherty and Cillian O'Connor (2) ensured it would be Mayo’s day.
“We’re delighted,” admitted Horan afterwards. “Cork are superb All-Ireland champions so we’re delighted to get the better of them.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Mayo, with 2009 champions Kerry now waiting in the semi-finals.
“Look at the team Kerry have, the players they have available,” conceded Horan. “We’ll just do out own thing as we have done all year despite all the criticism. We’ll get on with it and be ready for the semi-final.
Mayo without hype are Mayo with hope
The Irish Times - Saturday, July 30, 2011
Mayo without hype are Mayo with hope
Trevor Mortimer has impressed at wing back for Mayo and will be a key man against Cork.
In this section »
Sideline machinations could decide this battle of self-belief
Understrength champions still a formidable prospect
Red Hand trust in heady mix of youth and experience
Tyrone have that renewed hunger
Pressure piling up on the men in white coats
Kerry to give no quarter here
KEITH DUGGAN
GAA : IT HAD to be. Four possible teams for Mayo, the Connacht champions, to draw from the qualifier lottery but there was a groan of inevitability across the county when Cork appeared. Just as it is Limerick’s fate to be linked with Kerry, so Mayo have an affiliation they don’t particularly want with Cork.
The obvious reference points are the 1989 All-Ireland final between the teams, which Cork won narrowly and an ill-fated semi-final some four years later when Cork amassed a staggering 5-15 against a Mayo team which was nothing like that bad.
They last met in the championship in 2002, when a late Ciarán McDonald penalty pre-empted a frantic scramble for a late goal: Cork hung on, 0-16 to 1-10.
Among the Mayo forwards that day was James Horan, the current manager. The Ballinrobe man is naturally understated in his reaction to Mayo performances, a quality that has served him well in a county where football enthusiasms are prone to over-excitement.
He kept his counsel during Mayo’s league run, kept calm after the near slip-up against London in Ruislip and was equally businesslike after Mayo dispatched their perpetual foes: Galway in the Connacht semi-final and then Roscommon on a dismal afternoon in Hyde Park.
After last Sunday night’s draw, he approached the prospect of facing the All-Ireland champions as if pulling them from the hat was a bonus. “This is a great opportunity for us,” he said during the week.
“It’s a great chance for us to see where we are at, to see if there is a gap between us and the likes of Cork. It’s a huge chance, a huge game and we are really looking forward to it. It’s not often that you get a chance like this to get a crack at the big guns at this stage of the season. We intend to meet them head on and to go toe-to-toe.”
Playing Cork has several advantages for Mayo. It guarantees there will be none of the attendant hype and expectation that too often followed Mayo on visits to Croke Park. And even though Horan was duty-bound to strike a note of optimism about this match, there is truth in what he says. Mayo can come into this match with absolutely no expectation.
Horan has wasted little time in refashioning the Mayo team. Most of the personnel are the same but the duties are radically different, from the deployment of the O’Shea brothers at midfield to the use of Trevor Mortimer in the half- back line.
Mayo’s championship has been strange because both of their wins in Connacht have been gained on wintry afternoons reminiscent of league Sundays. They have yet to discover just what it is in them on a dry, summer afternoon. In the league, their promise seemed to revolve around their ability to scores goals. Jason Doherty, who scored goals for fun in the league, has not been able to carry that form into the championship and has been replaced by Enda Varley.
And although nobody is saying it, it may not be the worst time to be playing Cork; their comfortable win over Down may have left them back in the comfort zone and the injury to Daniel Goulding in that game adds to the terrible run of luck that Conor Counihan’s team has had with its marquee players.
Cork still have formidable depth but the absence of Goulding along with Colm O’Neill and Ciarán Sheehan means they are not quite as fearsome as they looked this time last year.
But those absences will not diminish Cork’s best quality: their remorselessness. Cork just keep on coming and do not panic. Mayo only have to think to their most recent Croke Park meeting, the league final of 2010, to remind themselves of just how punishing the current Cork model can be. Goulding scored 1-5 of the 1-17 that Cork posted that day, to Mayo’s 0-12.
They managed to beat Cork in the league to save their skins in Division One this year and have grown as a team since then. But can they possibly beat Cork? Nobody believes it outside the Mayo dressingroom. As Horan said, it’s a great opportunity
Mayo without hype are Mayo with hope
Trevor Mortimer has impressed at wing back for Mayo and will be a key man against Cork.
In this section »
Sideline machinations could decide this battle of self-belief
Understrength champions still a formidable prospect
Red Hand trust in heady mix of youth and experience
Tyrone have that renewed hunger
Pressure piling up on the men in white coats
Kerry to give no quarter here
KEITH DUGGAN
GAA : IT HAD to be. Four possible teams for Mayo, the Connacht champions, to draw from the qualifier lottery but there was a groan of inevitability across the county when Cork appeared. Just as it is Limerick’s fate to be linked with Kerry, so Mayo have an affiliation they don’t particularly want with Cork.
The obvious reference points are the 1989 All-Ireland final between the teams, which Cork won narrowly and an ill-fated semi-final some four years later when Cork amassed a staggering 5-15 against a Mayo team which was nothing like that bad.
They last met in the championship in 2002, when a late Ciarán McDonald penalty pre-empted a frantic scramble for a late goal: Cork hung on, 0-16 to 1-10.
Among the Mayo forwards that day was James Horan, the current manager. The Ballinrobe man is naturally understated in his reaction to Mayo performances, a quality that has served him well in a county where football enthusiasms are prone to over-excitement.
He kept his counsel during Mayo’s league run, kept calm after the near slip-up against London in Ruislip and was equally businesslike after Mayo dispatched their perpetual foes: Galway in the Connacht semi-final and then Roscommon on a dismal afternoon in Hyde Park.
After last Sunday night’s draw, he approached the prospect of facing the All-Ireland champions as if pulling them from the hat was a bonus. “This is a great opportunity for us,” he said during the week.
“It’s a great chance for us to see where we are at, to see if there is a gap between us and the likes of Cork. It’s a huge chance, a huge game and we are really looking forward to it. It’s not often that you get a chance like this to get a crack at the big guns at this stage of the season. We intend to meet them head on and to go toe-to-toe.”
Playing Cork has several advantages for Mayo. It guarantees there will be none of the attendant hype and expectation that too often followed Mayo on visits to Croke Park. And even though Horan was duty-bound to strike a note of optimism about this match, there is truth in what he says. Mayo can come into this match with absolutely no expectation.
Horan has wasted little time in refashioning the Mayo team. Most of the personnel are the same but the duties are radically different, from the deployment of the O’Shea brothers at midfield to the use of Trevor Mortimer in the half- back line.
Mayo’s championship has been strange because both of their wins in Connacht have been gained on wintry afternoons reminiscent of league Sundays. They have yet to discover just what it is in them on a dry, summer afternoon. In the league, their promise seemed to revolve around their ability to scores goals. Jason Doherty, who scored goals for fun in the league, has not been able to carry that form into the championship and has been replaced by Enda Varley.
And although nobody is saying it, it may not be the worst time to be playing Cork; their comfortable win over Down may have left them back in the comfort zone and the injury to Daniel Goulding in that game adds to the terrible run of luck that Conor Counihan’s team has had with its marquee players.
Cork still have formidable depth but the absence of Goulding along with Colm O’Neill and Ciarán Sheehan means they are not quite as fearsome as they looked this time last year.
But those absences will not diminish Cork’s best quality: their remorselessness. Cork just keep on coming and do not panic. Mayo only have to think to their most recent Croke Park meeting, the league final of 2010, to remind themselves of just how punishing the current Cork model can be. Goulding scored 1-5 of the 1-17 that Cork posted that day, to Mayo’s 0-12.
They managed to beat Cork in the league to save their skins in Division One this year and have grown as a team since then. But can they possibly beat Cork? Nobody believes it outside the Mayo dressingroom. As Horan said, it’s a great opportunity
RE: Sponsorship Opportunity--- Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2011
RE: Sponsorship Opportunity--- Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2011
Dear
My name is Thomas Chambers and once again I am participating of the Strasbourg Freedom
Drive campaign organised by the European Network on Independent Living and the Centre for Independent Living, Carmichael Centre, Dublin 7. The Centre for Independent Living is an organisation supporting people with physical disabilities in order to achieve independent living.
The Independent Living movement is a world-wide community fighting for equal rights, opportunities, choices and responsibilities of disabled people around the world. It is indeed a very strong European movement liaising with MEPs since 2003.
Strasbourg Freedom Drive is a lobbying campaign attended by people with disabilities from all Europe aiming to establish a relationship between the participants and their national Members of EU parliament. It is a unique lobbying exercise happening every second year since 2003. A rally on the building of the EU Parliament takes place as well and usually results in a meeting with the Disability Intergroup.
The Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2011 will take place in Strasbourg from 14th September to 16th September. All participants of the campaign have to cover the costs related to the trip to Strasbourg individually by fundraising or out of their own pocket. This is especially difficult task during the economic downturn Ireland is facing at the moment. My target is to fundraise €2,000 to cover mainly the costs related to the transport and accommodation in Strasbourg. I would very much appreciate if you could support me in any possible way.
I would like you to consider me and my Personal Assistant in participation of this year’s rally as in any way you can. Donations can be paid to the above address.
Check www.freedom driver short story for DVD of 2009 Freedom Drive
Thank you for giving this your consideration
Yours Sincerely
…………………………………….
Tom Chambers
Dear
My name is Thomas Chambers and once again I am participating of the Strasbourg Freedom
Drive campaign organised by the European Network on Independent Living and the Centre for Independent Living, Carmichael Centre, Dublin 7. The Centre for Independent Living is an organisation supporting people with physical disabilities in order to achieve independent living.
The Independent Living movement is a world-wide community fighting for equal rights, opportunities, choices and responsibilities of disabled people around the world. It is indeed a very strong European movement liaising with MEPs since 2003.
Strasbourg Freedom Drive is a lobbying campaign attended by people with disabilities from all Europe aiming to establish a relationship between the participants and their national Members of EU parliament. It is a unique lobbying exercise happening every second year since 2003. A rally on the building of the EU Parliament takes place as well and usually results in a meeting with the Disability Intergroup.
The Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2011 will take place in Strasbourg from 14th September to 16th September. All participants of the campaign have to cover the costs related to the trip to Strasbourg individually by fundraising or out of their own pocket. This is especially difficult task during the economic downturn Ireland is facing at the moment. My target is to fundraise €2,000 to cover mainly the costs related to the transport and accommodation in Strasbourg. I would very much appreciate if you could support me in any possible way.
I would like you to consider me and my Personal Assistant in participation of this year’s rally as in any way you can. Donations can be paid to the above address.
Check www.freedom driver short story for DVD of 2009 Freedom Drive
Thank you for giving this your consideration
Yours Sincerely
…………………………………….
Tom Chambers
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
“Let’s meet them head on”
Let’s meet Cork “head on”, says Mayo manager
TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2011 07:11
“Let’s meet them head on”
James Horan issues battle-cry ahead of clash with champions
Mike Finnerty
MAYO manager James Horan has called on his players to seize ‘a great opportunity’ and meet the reigning All-Ireland champions Cork ‘head on’ in next Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final at Croke Park (throw-in at 4pm).
The Connacht champions have been rated as 5/1 outsiders to beat Cork for the first time in the championship for 95 years next weekend. However, Horan is approaching the game in a positive frame of mind.
“This is a great opportunity for us,” he told The Mayo News last night. “It’s a great chance for us to see where we’re at, to see if there is a gap between us and the likes of Cork. It’s a huge chance, a huge game, and we’re all really looking forward to it.
“It’s not often you get a chance like this to get a real crack at one of the big guns at this stage of the season. We intend to meet them head on, and go toe-to-toe with them.
“This group of Mayo players want to do well in every single game and that’s the attitude we’ll be bringing into next weekend too.”
The Mayo boss was in Croke Park last Saturday evening to see Cork beat Down in their Round 4 All-Ireland Qualifier.
“Cork were strong and pacy,” he admitted. “It’s a very hard game to interpret though. Down were very open defensively, they didn’t really perform, and I’m sure they’re disappointed with how they played.
“Cork dominated around the middle and have some dangerous forwards. But I think we’ve done okay around the middle and have some good forwards too.”
Meanwhile, Mayo are expected to name their team after training tonight (Tuesday) and James Horan admitted that there are ‘one or two tough calls’ that will have to be made by the team management.
Ger Cafferkey and Enda Varley are both believed to be pushing hard for inclusion, but Ronan McGarrity, who is still not ‘fully fit’ according to the manager, will have to be content with a place on the substitute’s bench.
TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2011 07:11
“Let’s meet them head on”
James Horan issues battle-cry ahead of clash with champions
Mike Finnerty
MAYO manager James Horan has called on his players to seize ‘a great opportunity’ and meet the reigning All-Ireland champions Cork ‘head on’ in next Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final at Croke Park (throw-in at 4pm).
The Connacht champions have been rated as 5/1 outsiders to beat Cork for the first time in the championship for 95 years next weekend. However, Horan is approaching the game in a positive frame of mind.
“This is a great opportunity for us,” he told The Mayo News last night. “It’s a great chance for us to see where we’re at, to see if there is a gap between us and the likes of Cork. It’s a huge chance, a huge game, and we’re all really looking forward to it.
“It’s not often you get a chance like this to get a real crack at one of the big guns at this stage of the season. We intend to meet them head on, and go toe-to-toe with them.
“This group of Mayo players want to do well in every single game and that’s the attitude we’ll be bringing into next weekend too.”
The Mayo boss was in Croke Park last Saturday evening to see Cork beat Down in their Round 4 All-Ireland Qualifier.
“Cork were strong and pacy,” he admitted. “It’s a very hard game to interpret though. Down were very open defensively, they didn’t really perform, and I’m sure they’re disappointed with how they played.
“Cork dominated around the middle and have some dangerous forwards. But I think we’ve done okay around the middle and have some good forwards too.”
Meanwhile, Mayo are expected to name their team after training tonight (Tuesday) and James Horan admitted that there are ‘one or two tough calls’ that will have to be made by the team management.
Ger Cafferkey and Enda Varley are both believed to be pushing hard for inclusion, but Ronan McGarrity, who is still not ‘fully fit’ according to the manager, will have to be content with a place on the substitute’s bench.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Norway suspect 'admits' twin gun and bomb attacks
ishtimes.com - Last Updated: Sunday, July 24, 2011, 15:33
Norway suspect 'admits' twin gun and bomb attacks
Anders Behring Breivik: Lawyer says he believed his actions 'were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary'
Related
Up to 20 now feared dead in Oslo bomb and gun attacks | 22/07/2011
Profile of 32-year-old suspect | 23/07/2011
Norway mourns as toll from twin attacks reaches 92 | 23/07/2011
Witnesses tell of island horror | 23/07/2011
Profile of 32-year-old suspect | 23/07/2011
World reacts to attacks in Norway | 23/07/2011
McAleese sends message of sympathy | 23/07/2011
Norway Attacks slideshow
Norway Attacks
The man suspected of carrying out Friday's bomb and gun attacks in Norway that killed 93 people has admitted responsibility, his lawyer has said.
The death toll rose to 93 after one of theinjured died in hospital this morning.
In his first comment via a lawyer since he was arrested, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik expressed willingness to explain himself in court at a hearing likely to be held tomorrow.
"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," lawyer Geir Lippestad told independent TV2 news, adding that his client admitted to both the shootings and the bombing.
Police said Breivik gave himself up to armed officers when they arrived on the small island of Utoeya in a lake about 42km northwest of Oslo where at least 85 people were gunned down. Most were teenagers and young adults attending a summer camp of the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party.
While some on the island reported that there was a second assailant and police said they were looking into that, Mr Lippestad said his client claims to have acted alone.
About 650 people were on the island when the gunman, wearing a police uniform according to witnesses, opened fire. Police said it took them one hour to stop the massacre from when they first received information about the shootings, the worst by a single gunman in modern times.
Authorities are investigating whether a possible second gunman took part in the shooting massacre and bomb attack.
Memorial services are being held across Norway including one at Oslo's Lutheran cathedral.
King Harald, his wife Queen Sonja and the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, attended the Oslo memorial along with grieving relatives of those killed and wounded in the twin attacks.
Meanwhile, Norwegian police have detained several people in Oslo this morning in a raid linked to their investigatino into Friday's shootings and bomb attack.
Police defended the speed of their response to the second stage of the attack when the gunman was able to shoot unchallenged for a prolonged period on an island outside Oslo, shortly after the huge bomb went off in the capital.
"The response time from when we got the message was quick. There were problems with transport out to the island," police chief Sveinung Sponheim said, defending the delay.
Witnesses said the gunman picked off his victims at will, forcing youngsters to scatter in panic or to jump into the lake to swim for the mainland.
Breivik was also arrested for the bombing in Oslo's government district that killed seven people hours earlier. Norway's toughest sentence is 21 years in jail. Police believe Breivik drove to Utoeya after the explosion in the capital.
Survivors, relatives of those killed and supporters planned a procession to mourn the dead at Sundvollen today, near the island where the massacre took place.
King Harald is due to attend a service in Oslo cathedral, a few hundred metres from where a bomb devastated government buildings including the offices of Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
Police said they were seeking several missing people and the toll could rise to 98, in the worst case.
Mr Lippestad, speaking late yesterday, did not give more details of possible motives by Breivik.
Breivik hated "cultural marxists," wanted a "crusade" against the spread of Islam and liked guns and weightlifting, web postings, acquaintances and officials said.
A video posted on the YouTube website showed several pictures of Breivik, including one of him in a scuba diving outfit pointing an automatic weapon.
"Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural marxism," said a caption under the video called "Knights Templar 2083" on the YouTube website, which took down the video on Saturday.
A Norwegian website provided a link to a 1,500 page electronic manifesto which says Breivik was the author. It was not possible to verify who posted the video or wrote the book.
"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," the book said.
Norway has traditionally been open to immigration, which has been criticised by the populist Progress Party, of which Breivik was a former member. The Labour Party, whose youth camp Breivik attacked, has long backed multi-culturalism to accommodate Norway's different ethnic communities.
About 100 people stood solemnly early today at a makeshift vigil near Oslo's main church, laying flowers and lighting candles. Soldiers with guns and wearing bullet-proof vests blocked streets leading to the government district
Norway suspect 'admits' twin gun and bomb attacks
Anders Behring Breivik: Lawyer says he believed his actions 'were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary'
Related
Up to 20 now feared dead in Oslo bomb and gun attacks | 22/07/2011
Profile of 32-year-old suspect | 23/07/2011
Norway mourns as toll from twin attacks reaches 92 | 23/07/2011
Witnesses tell of island horror | 23/07/2011
Profile of 32-year-old suspect | 23/07/2011
World reacts to attacks in Norway | 23/07/2011
McAleese sends message of sympathy | 23/07/2011
Norway Attacks slideshow
Norway Attacks
The man suspected of carrying out Friday's bomb and gun attacks in Norway that killed 93 people has admitted responsibility, his lawyer has said.
The death toll rose to 93 after one of theinjured died in hospital this morning.
In his first comment via a lawyer since he was arrested, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik expressed willingness to explain himself in court at a hearing likely to be held tomorrow.
"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," lawyer Geir Lippestad told independent TV2 news, adding that his client admitted to both the shootings and the bombing.
Police said Breivik gave himself up to armed officers when they arrived on the small island of Utoeya in a lake about 42km northwest of Oslo where at least 85 people were gunned down. Most were teenagers and young adults attending a summer camp of the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party.
While some on the island reported that there was a second assailant and police said they were looking into that, Mr Lippestad said his client claims to have acted alone.
About 650 people were on the island when the gunman, wearing a police uniform according to witnesses, opened fire. Police said it took them one hour to stop the massacre from when they first received information about the shootings, the worst by a single gunman in modern times.
Authorities are investigating whether a possible second gunman took part in the shooting massacre and bomb attack.
Memorial services are being held across Norway including one at Oslo's Lutheran cathedral.
King Harald, his wife Queen Sonja and the prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, attended the Oslo memorial along with grieving relatives of those killed and wounded in the twin attacks.
Meanwhile, Norwegian police have detained several people in Oslo this morning in a raid linked to their investigatino into Friday's shootings and bomb attack.
Police defended the speed of their response to the second stage of the attack when the gunman was able to shoot unchallenged for a prolonged period on an island outside Oslo, shortly after the huge bomb went off in the capital.
"The response time from when we got the message was quick. There were problems with transport out to the island," police chief Sveinung Sponheim said, defending the delay.
Witnesses said the gunman picked off his victims at will, forcing youngsters to scatter in panic or to jump into the lake to swim for the mainland.
Breivik was also arrested for the bombing in Oslo's government district that killed seven people hours earlier. Norway's toughest sentence is 21 years in jail. Police believe Breivik drove to Utoeya after the explosion in the capital.
Survivors, relatives of those killed and supporters planned a procession to mourn the dead at Sundvollen today, near the island where the massacre took place.
King Harald is due to attend a service in Oslo cathedral, a few hundred metres from where a bomb devastated government buildings including the offices of Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
Police said they were seeking several missing people and the toll could rise to 98, in the worst case.
Mr Lippestad, speaking late yesterday, did not give more details of possible motives by Breivik.
Breivik hated "cultural marxists," wanted a "crusade" against the spread of Islam and liked guns and weightlifting, web postings, acquaintances and officials said.
A video posted on the YouTube website showed several pictures of Breivik, including one of him in a scuba diving outfit pointing an automatic weapon.
"Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural marxism," said a caption under the video called "Knights Templar 2083" on the YouTube website, which took down the video on Saturday.
A Norwegian website provided a link to a 1,500 page electronic manifesto which says Breivik was the author. It was not possible to verify who posted the video or wrote the book.
"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," the book said.
Norway has traditionally been open to immigration, which has been criticised by the populist Progress Party, of which Breivik was a former member. The Labour Party, whose youth camp Breivik attacked, has long backed multi-culturalism to accommodate Norway's different ethnic communities.
About 100 people stood solemnly early today at a makeshift vigil near Oslo's main church, laying flowers and lighting candles. Soldiers with guns and wearing bullet-proof vests blocked streets leading to the government district
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
UK ticket wins £161m Euromillions lottery jackpot
13 July 2011 Last updated at 08:45 GMT Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
3,211ShareFacebookTwitter.UK ticket wins £161m Euromillions lottery jackpot The jackpot had been capped at 185 million euros after a series of rollovers Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
£113m Euromillions prize claimed
A single UK ticket has won Europe's biggest-ever lottery prize, the £161m Euromillions jackpot.
The winner matched all five main numbers and both the Lucky Stars to scoop the jackpot, which had been capped after a series of rollovers.
It is not known whether the ticket belongs to an individual or syndicate, or where they come from in the UK.
The winning Euromillions numbers were 17, 19, 38, 42 and 45, and the Lucky Stars were 9 and 10.
The exact amount to be claimed is £161,653,000.
'Champagne on ice'
A National Lottery spokesman said: "This is amazing news - we are absolutely delighted that a UK ticket holder has scooped the entire 185 million euro jackpot, which at the current exchange rate is a massive £161m.
"This is the biggest winner this country and Europe has ever seen and follows hot on the heels of the anonymous ticket-holder who last October scooped £113m.
"In addition, two UK ticket holders in the next prize level down won £1.7m for matching five main numbers and one Lucky Star.
"We've got the champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the ticket holders into the National Lottery millionaires' club."
Winners have to apply through a phone line that reopened at 0900 BST after closing overnight, but as yet no-one has come forward.
No details have ever been revealed about last October's Euromillions winner and it is not known whether the winning ticket was held by an individual or a syndicate.
3,211ShareFacebookTwitter.UK ticket wins £161m Euromillions lottery jackpot The jackpot had been capped at 185 million euros after a series of rollovers Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
£113m Euromillions prize claimed
A single UK ticket has won Europe's biggest-ever lottery prize, the £161m Euromillions jackpot.
The winner matched all five main numbers and both the Lucky Stars to scoop the jackpot, which had been capped after a series of rollovers.
It is not known whether the ticket belongs to an individual or syndicate, or where they come from in the UK.
The winning Euromillions numbers were 17, 19, 38, 42 and 45, and the Lucky Stars were 9 and 10.
The exact amount to be claimed is £161,653,000.
'Champagne on ice'
A National Lottery spokesman said: "This is amazing news - we are absolutely delighted that a UK ticket holder has scooped the entire 185 million euro jackpot, which at the current exchange rate is a massive £161m.
"This is the biggest winner this country and Europe has ever seen and follows hot on the heels of the anonymous ticket-holder who last October scooped £113m.
"In addition, two UK ticket holders in the next prize level down won £1.7m for matching five main numbers and one Lucky Star.
"We've got the champagne on ice and look forward to welcoming the ticket holders into the National Lottery millionaires' club."
Winners have to apply through a phone line that reopened at 0900 BST after closing overnight, but as yet no-one has come forward.
No details have ever been revealed about last October's Euromillions winner and it is not known whether the winning ticket was held by an individual or a syndicate.
California woman cuts off husband's penis Catherine Kieu
Advertisement
12 July 2011 Last updated at 20:59 GMT Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
7,748ShareFacebookTwitter.California woman cuts off husband's penis Catherine Kieu Becker allegedly laced her husband's dinner with a drug
A US woman drugged her estranged husband, tied him to a bed and cut off his penis, police in California say.
The woman then threw the penis into the waste disposal and told police who attended the incident in Garden Grove, near Los Angeles: "He deserved it."
Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, has been charged with poisoning and assault with a deadly weapon.
The 51-year-old victim, who has not been named, is in a serious condition following surgery.
Lt Jeff Nightengale, of Garden Grove police, said the two are going through a divorce.
He said the woman had drugged the man's dinner on Monday night.
"He believed something was wrong with his food," he said.
"The victim went to lie down and he woke up tied to the bed with his wife tugging his clothes off.
"The female cut off his penis with a knife... tossed the penis in the garbage disposal and turned the disposal to the 'on' position.
"The suspect called 911 and told responding officers that he 'deserved it'."
He added: "Officers arrived and located a male victim tied to the bed and bleeding from his groin area."
Ms Becker was arrested on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse.
She is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
12 July 2011 Last updated at 20:59 GMT Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
7,748ShareFacebookTwitter.California woman cuts off husband's penis Catherine Kieu Becker allegedly laced her husband's dinner with a drug
A US woman drugged her estranged husband, tied him to a bed and cut off his penis, police in California say.
The woman then threw the penis into the waste disposal and told police who attended the incident in Garden Grove, near Los Angeles: "He deserved it."
Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, has been charged with poisoning and assault with a deadly weapon.
The 51-year-old victim, who has not been named, is in a serious condition following surgery.
Lt Jeff Nightengale, of Garden Grove police, said the two are going through a divorce.
He said the woman had drugged the man's dinner on Monday night.
"He believed something was wrong with his food," he said.
"The victim went to lie down and he woke up tied to the bed with his wife tugging his clothes off.
"The female cut off his penis with a knife... tossed the penis in the garbage disposal and turned the disposal to the 'on' position.
"The suspect called 911 and told responding officers that he 'deserved it'."
He added: "Officers arrived and located a male victim tied to the bed and bleeding from his groin area."
Ms Becker was arrested on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse.
She is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Damages for disabled man over sewage in council flat shower
The Irish Times - Friday, July 8, 2011
Damages for disabled man over sewage in council flat shower
In this section »
Phone linked to suspect in use on night of friend's killing
Court to rule on documents in alleged corruption case
Police diary entry queried at Harte murder hearing
Men within their rights to have church building demolished
Arrested man's inquest adjourned
Man who denies murder had said 'family is in jeopardy', court told
RAY MANAGH
A BURNS victim who needs to shower several times a day because of his injuries was left by Dublin City Council to live in conditions unfit for human habitation at Dolphin House flats, a judge said yesterday.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery said Anthony Gannon (54) had complained for years about sewage welling up in his shower tray and spilling over into his bathroom before anything was done about it.
The judge awarded Mr Gannon, who is registered as disabled, €15,000 damages against the local authority. The case was seen by lawyers as a test case and could apply to hundreds of the other flat dwellers.
“The evidence leads me inevitably to conclude that his apartment at Dolphin House was unfit for human habitation and in breach of the council’s contractual duty of care under the Housing Act,” Mr Justice Deery said.
Barrister Peter Maguire said it was hard to imagine circumstances which could be more degrading than being forced to live amid the foul sewage from other people’s apartments.
Mr Gannon, who was severely burned as a child of seven when he fell on to a white-hot electric cooker, told the court he had lived at Dolphin House for 25 years until he was eventually rehoused at Blackditch, Ballyfermot, Dublin, only a month ago.
He said he had complained for years when sewage started backing up into his bath. The bath had been replaced and a shower, with full safety attachments for a disabled person, had been installed.The problem returned, however, with raw sewage filling up his shower tray and spilling over on to the bathroom floor. From time to time the problem had been inspected, but little or nothing was done.
Mr Gannon said shortly after his solicitor Thomas Loomes had threatened to sue the council in 2010, some works had been carried out, and he had told Deborah Ryan, the council’s senior liability and risk control officer, he was “happy” with the situation.
Ms Ryan told John P Kehoe, for the council, there had been problems with the shower, but they had been rectified. When shown pictures of sewage in the shower, she said it was unacceptable.
Mr Justice Deery said civil engineer Ronald Bergin had taken the pictures during an unscheduled visit to Mr Gannon’s apartment and had identified the waste in the shower tray as sewage.
“If it looks like it and smells like it, then . . .” Judge Deery said.
Mr Bergin told the court Mr Gannon’s apartment was otherwise spotlessly clean, and he was certain what he had seen was raw human effluent in the shower.The bottom of the shower curtain had been stained from overspills.
He said the 436-flat complex had been due for redevelopment, but the plans had fallen through due to the banking crisis.
Mr Justice Deery said he accepted Mr Gannon had complained of the problem over a long period, and that he had been distressed by the conditions because of his personal and health issues
Damages for disabled man over sewage in council flat shower
In this section »
Phone linked to suspect in use on night of friend's killing
Court to rule on documents in alleged corruption case
Police diary entry queried at Harte murder hearing
Men within their rights to have church building demolished
Arrested man's inquest adjourned
Man who denies murder had said 'family is in jeopardy', court told
RAY MANAGH
A BURNS victim who needs to shower several times a day because of his injuries was left by Dublin City Council to live in conditions unfit for human habitation at Dolphin House flats, a judge said yesterday.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery said Anthony Gannon (54) had complained for years about sewage welling up in his shower tray and spilling over into his bathroom before anything was done about it.
The judge awarded Mr Gannon, who is registered as disabled, €15,000 damages against the local authority. The case was seen by lawyers as a test case and could apply to hundreds of the other flat dwellers.
“The evidence leads me inevitably to conclude that his apartment at Dolphin House was unfit for human habitation and in breach of the council’s contractual duty of care under the Housing Act,” Mr Justice Deery said.
Barrister Peter Maguire said it was hard to imagine circumstances which could be more degrading than being forced to live amid the foul sewage from other people’s apartments.
Mr Gannon, who was severely burned as a child of seven when he fell on to a white-hot electric cooker, told the court he had lived at Dolphin House for 25 years until he was eventually rehoused at Blackditch, Ballyfermot, Dublin, only a month ago.
He said he had complained for years when sewage started backing up into his bath. The bath had been replaced and a shower, with full safety attachments for a disabled person, had been installed.The problem returned, however, with raw sewage filling up his shower tray and spilling over on to the bathroom floor. From time to time the problem had been inspected, but little or nothing was done.
Mr Gannon said shortly after his solicitor Thomas Loomes had threatened to sue the council in 2010, some works had been carried out, and he had told Deborah Ryan, the council’s senior liability and risk control officer, he was “happy” with the situation.
Ms Ryan told John P Kehoe, for the council, there had been problems with the shower, but they had been rectified. When shown pictures of sewage in the shower, she said it was unacceptable.
Mr Justice Deery said civil engineer Ronald Bergin had taken the pictures during an unscheduled visit to Mr Gannon’s apartment and had identified the waste in the shower tray as sewage.
“If it looks like it and smells like it, then . . .” Judge Deery said.
Mr Bergin told the court Mr Gannon’s apartment was otherwise spotlessly clean, and he was certain what he had seen was raw human effluent in the shower.The bottom of the shower curtain had been stained from overspills.
He said the 436-flat complex had been due for redevelopment, but the plans had fallen through due to the banking crisis.
Mr Justice Deery said he accepted Mr Gannon had complained of the problem over a long period, and that he had been distressed by the conditions because of his personal and health issues
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Ballerina loses right to overnight carer to help her use bathroom
Health News
Ballerina loses right to overnight carer to help her use bathroom
A former prima ballerina left disabled by a stroke lost her Supreme Court battle today for an overnight carer to give her ''dignity and independence''.
Ms McDonald was left with reduced mobility after a stroke in September 1999 Photo: ALAMY
10:20AM BST 06 Jul 2011
Justices at the highest court in the land dismissed an appeal by 67-year-old Elaine McDonald in a majority ruling.
Last October Ms McDonald, who was once a star of Scottish Ballet and received the OBE in 1983, lost her case at the Court of Appeal in London and suffered a further defeat today.
Ms McDonald was left with reduced mobility after a stroke in September 1999 and needs to use a wheelchair outside.
She had argued that the care package she received from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, to cover her assessed needs during the day and night, should include assistance at night to use a commode.
John Wadham, group director (legal) at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "We are disappointed with today's ruling which is a significant setback for people who receive care in their home.
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Care of the elderly: new problems ahead
02 Jul 2011
"Ms McDonald is not incontinent. However, this judgment means she will be treated as such.
"Local authorities will now have greater discretion in deciding how to meet a person's home care needs and will find it easier to justify withdrawing care.
"This means that older people's human rights to privacy, autonomy and dignity will often be put at serious risk.
"The court has missed a significant opportunity to interpret the law to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society.
"The Commission's inquiry into care in the home has already highlighted some of the problems with the current system of home care.
"This judgment will only fuel those problems."
Ms McDonald said she is not incontinent and has a horror of using incontinence pads, which she considered an "affront to her dignity".
Her plea was for help to use a commode at night.
She had challenged the borough's decision to reduce the amount allocated to her weekly care.
Age UK believes Ms McDonald's human rights have been breached and that there could be "extremely adverse and devastating consequences for many thousands of older people if other councils take similar decisions to save money".
After the Supreme Court ruling, Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK said: "Today's decision is shameful.
"Older people have a fundamental right to dignity and forcing someone to sleep in their own urine and faeces could not be more undignified.
"This judgment opens the door to warehousing older people in their own homes without regard to their quality of life.
"Care should not be just about keeping people safe. It must enable them to live dignified and fulfilled lives."
Alex Rook of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, who represented Age UK, said: "The submissions Age UK made to the Supreme Court in this case sought to ensure that local authorities follow the correct assessment procedures to establish an older person's needs and to then put in place a lawful package of care.
"Whilst Age UK is acutely aware of the current difficult economic climate, the right balance must be struck between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community, and Age UK continues to find it difficult to understand how it can be rational or reasonable to expect an older continent person to use incontinence pads rather than to assist them to access a toilet
Ballerina loses right to overnight carer to help her use bathroom
A former prima ballerina left disabled by a stroke lost her Supreme Court battle today for an overnight carer to give her ''dignity and independence''.
Ms McDonald was left with reduced mobility after a stroke in September 1999 Photo: ALAMY
10:20AM BST 06 Jul 2011
Justices at the highest court in the land dismissed an appeal by 67-year-old Elaine McDonald in a majority ruling.
Last October Ms McDonald, who was once a star of Scottish Ballet and received the OBE in 1983, lost her case at the Court of Appeal in London and suffered a further defeat today.
Ms McDonald was left with reduced mobility after a stroke in September 1999 and needs to use a wheelchair outside.
She had argued that the care package she received from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, to cover her assessed needs during the day and night, should include assistance at night to use a commode.
John Wadham, group director (legal) at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "We are disappointed with today's ruling which is a significant setback for people who receive care in their home.
Related Articles
Lansley: care of the elderly is 'key priority'
04 Jul 2011
'Pensioners should pay more tax to fund care'
04 Jul 2011
Elderly care costs should be capped at £35,000, Andrew Dilnot says
04 Jul 2011
Care of the elderly: new problems ahead
02 Jul 2011
"Ms McDonald is not incontinent. However, this judgment means she will be treated as such.
"Local authorities will now have greater discretion in deciding how to meet a person's home care needs and will find it easier to justify withdrawing care.
"This means that older people's human rights to privacy, autonomy and dignity will often be put at serious risk.
"The court has missed a significant opportunity to interpret the law to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society.
"The Commission's inquiry into care in the home has already highlighted some of the problems with the current system of home care.
"This judgment will only fuel those problems."
Ms McDonald said she is not incontinent and has a horror of using incontinence pads, which she considered an "affront to her dignity".
Her plea was for help to use a commode at night.
She had challenged the borough's decision to reduce the amount allocated to her weekly care.
Age UK believes Ms McDonald's human rights have been breached and that there could be "extremely adverse and devastating consequences for many thousands of older people if other councils take similar decisions to save money".
After the Supreme Court ruling, Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK said: "Today's decision is shameful.
"Older people have a fundamental right to dignity and forcing someone to sleep in their own urine and faeces could not be more undignified.
"This judgment opens the door to warehousing older people in their own homes without regard to their quality of life.
"Care should not be just about keeping people safe. It must enable them to live dignified and fulfilled lives."
Alex Rook of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, who represented Age UK, said: "The submissions Age UK made to the Supreme Court in this case sought to ensure that local authorities follow the correct assessment procedures to establish an older person's needs and to then put in place a lawful package of care.
"Whilst Age UK is acutely aware of the current difficult economic climate, the right balance must be struck between the rights of the individual and the interests of the community, and Age UK continues to find it difficult to understand how it can be rational or reasonable to expect an older continent person to use incontinence pads rather than to assist them to access a toilet
UK Government Orders Immediate Enquiry Following the Abuse, Harassment and Violence against People with Challenging Behaviour in Bristol
UK Government Orders Immediate Enquiry Following the Abuse, Harassment and Violence against People with Challenging Behaviour in Bristol
On 30 May the BBC Panorama programme[1] revealed a series of abuse in residential care for people with intellectual disabilities and autism near Bristol, UK. The programme showed residents, labelled as having challenging behaviour, being kicked, violently restrained, drenched in water by the care staff, and treated in ways which arguably amount to torture. Winterbourne Unit, where the programme was secretly filmed, is owned by a private company which receives 3,500 pounds per week from public funding for each person referred to them by the National Health Service. The same company, Castlebeck, runs 56 similar institutions for people with intellectual disabilities in the UK.
Revelations of abuse of disabled people in residential care are by no means new. Not so long ago Europe was shocked by the treatment of a young man in a residential institution in Holland and many will still remember the horrifying images from institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. This most recent case in the UK resulted among other in the suspension of thirteen employees, arrest of four people and a Government ordered enquiry into the abuse at Winterbourne Unit. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which failed to act on information about abuse by a former staff member, apologised for its failure and scheduled a set of unannounced inspection visits of similar units.
The response to this case and similar cases from other European countries has been to call for better monitoring and inspection of residential institutions. However, while adequate monitoring and inspection might have stopped or prevented residents from suffering abuse, they would have done nothing to ensure they receive the quality of life and care they are entitled to. Instead of placing disabled people in residential care, the relevant authorities should provide appropriate support services to the individuals and their families, so they can live as independently as possible in the community. Even though Winterbourne Unit was advertised as an 'assessment hospital' for people with challenging behaviour, the reality is that most residents spent over a year living there. The large amounts of public funding that went to companies like Castlebeck, so they could 'treat' people with challenging behaviour, would have been much better spent on person centred community-based services.
The case of the Bristol-based institution, and the violence suffered by its residents, is all the more alarming given the cuts to independent living services faced by disabled people across Europe. In countries such as the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Hungary, but also Denmark, Sweden and Norway, disabled people and their families are losing the services which enabled them to live independently or with their families, to work and receive education. As a result of cuts to public spending, many disabled people, especially those with higher support needs, will be forced back into residential care. The Winterbourne Unit case should serve as a reminder to Governments across Europe of dangers of relying on the institutional care model. It is about time that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires countries to ensure full inclusion and participation of disabled people in society, stops being just a piece of paper.
For additional comment, please contact Jamie Bolling, ENIL Executive Director, at j.bolling@enil.eu.
[1]BBC Panorama, 'Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed', http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011pwt6.
Contact ENIL
Jamie Bolling
ENIL director
j.bolling@enil.eu
ENIL's Secretariat
Marisol Fojas
ENIL Secretary
secretariat@enil.eu
About ENIL
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) is a Europe-wide network of people with disabilities and organisations that promote and practise Independent Living.
ENIL website: www.enil.eu
Confirm that you like this.
Click the "Like" button.
On 30 May the BBC Panorama programme[1] revealed a series of abuse in residential care for people with intellectual disabilities and autism near Bristol, UK. The programme showed residents, labelled as having challenging behaviour, being kicked, violently restrained, drenched in water by the care staff, and treated in ways which arguably amount to torture. Winterbourne Unit, where the programme was secretly filmed, is owned by a private company which receives 3,500 pounds per week from public funding for each person referred to them by the National Health Service. The same company, Castlebeck, runs 56 similar institutions for people with intellectual disabilities in the UK.
Revelations of abuse of disabled people in residential care are by no means new. Not so long ago Europe was shocked by the treatment of a young man in a residential institution in Holland and many will still remember the horrifying images from institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. This most recent case in the UK resulted among other in the suspension of thirteen employees, arrest of four people and a Government ordered enquiry into the abuse at Winterbourne Unit. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which failed to act on information about abuse by a former staff member, apologised for its failure and scheduled a set of unannounced inspection visits of similar units.
The response to this case and similar cases from other European countries has been to call for better monitoring and inspection of residential institutions. However, while adequate monitoring and inspection might have stopped or prevented residents from suffering abuse, they would have done nothing to ensure they receive the quality of life and care they are entitled to. Instead of placing disabled people in residential care, the relevant authorities should provide appropriate support services to the individuals and their families, so they can live as independently as possible in the community. Even though Winterbourne Unit was advertised as an 'assessment hospital' for people with challenging behaviour, the reality is that most residents spent over a year living there. The large amounts of public funding that went to companies like Castlebeck, so they could 'treat' people with challenging behaviour, would have been much better spent on person centred community-based services.
The case of the Bristol-based institution, and the violence suffered by its residents, is all the more alarming given the cuts to independent living services faced by disabled people across Europe. In countries such as the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Hungary, but also Denmark, Sweden and Norway, disabled people and their families are losing the services which enabled them to live independently or with their families, to work and receive education. As a result of cuts to public spending, many disabled people, especially those with higher support needs, will be forced back into residential care. The Winterbourne Unit case should serve as a reminder to Governments across Europe of dangers of relying on the institutional care model. It is about time that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires countries to ensure full inclusion and participation of disabled people in society, stops being just a piece of paper.
For additional comment, please contact Jamie Bolling, ENIL Executive Director, at j.bolling@enil.eu.
[1]BBC Panorama, 'Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed', http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011pwt6.
Contact ENIL
Jamie Bolling
ENIL director
j.bolling@enil.eu
ENIL's Secretariat
Marisol Fojas
ENIL Secretary
secretariat@enil.eu
About ENIL
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) is a Europe-wide network of people with disabilities and organisations that promote and practise Independent Living.
ENIL website: www.enil.eu
Confirm that you like this.
Click the "Like" button.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Woman injured in Mayo shooting
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
.
Woman injured in Mayo shooting
External
An Garda Siochana
The Irish Times takes no responsibility for the content
or availability of other websites
ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ
A man has been arrested after a middle-aged woman was seriously injured in a shooting in Co Mayo this evening.
The shooting happened in the village of Balla at approximately 6.30pm. Gardaí said the woman was shot by a lone gunman at a shop on Main St.
She was taken by ambulance to Mayo General Hospital.
A man aged in his 40s was later arrested and is currently detained at Castlebar Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939.
The scene has been preserved pending a full technical examination and a shotgun believed to have been used in the incident has been recovered.
Gardaí have called on any witnesses to contact the incident room at Castlebar Garda station
.
Woman injured in Mayo shooting
External
An Garda Siochana
The Irish Times takes no responsibility for the content
or availability of other websites
ÉANNA Ó CAOLLAÍ
A man has been arrested after a middle-aged woman was seriously injured in a shooting in Co Mayo this evening.
The shooting happened in the village of Balla at approximately 6.30pm. Gardaí said the woman was shot by a lone gunman at a shop on Main St.
She was taken by ambulance to Mayo General Hospital.
A man aged in his 40s was later arrested and is currently detained at Castlebar Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939.
The scene has been preserved pending a full technical examination and a shotgun believed to have been used in the incident has been recovered.
Gardaí have called on any witnesses to contact the incident room at Castlebar Garda station
Register shows Minister for Finance owns German bonds
The Irish Times - Saturday, April 9, 2011
Register shows Minister for Finance owns German bonds
In this section »
Noonan calls for cut in bailout rate before banks recapitalised
Ex-NIB chief barred as company director
PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff
MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan is an investor in German government bonds as well as share funds focused on China, India and the US, according to the 2010 register of interests for Dáil deputies published last night.
Mr Noonan, who has opposed “burning” bondholders in the main Irish banks, owns German government bonds paying a modest 1.75 per cent rate of interest and maturing in 2020, according to his entry in the register.
His interests also include popular share funds specialising in Chinese and Indian enterprises and metals and mining companies.
Mr Noonan listed occupational income in the form of a reduced teacher’s pension and his ownership of 20 acres of mixed pasture and woodland at his home in Foynes, Co Limerick.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny had nothing to declare apart from three gifts: honorary membership of the K Club golf course, life membership of Ballinrobe golf course and “captain guest” of Mount Juliet golf course.
He said he received an allowance from Fine Gael as party leader but had surrendered his entitlement to a ministerial pension.
Some 39 TDs made a “nil” declaration of interests, while 10 said they derived additional income from a teaching or lecturing pension, and three more said they were in receipt of other State pensions in addition to their Dáil salary.
Among those who made a “nil” declaration were Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and former ministers Mary Coughlan, Mary Harney, Brian Lenihan, Éamon Ó Cuív, Barry Andrews and Martin Cullen.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore declared joint ownership of a house and 37 acres of land in Caltra, Co Galway, his former family home, which is let.
Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter listed additional income as a solicitor, property owner and author. He owns shares in a builders providers and a sweet company and is listed as the joint-owner of 14 properties in Ireland, the US and England.
Minister for Health James Reilly’s extensive land interests include a commercial building in Lusk, the 86-acre former family farm and a share of a nursing home in Co Tipperary.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern continued his travels around the world last year on various speaking engagements or at conferences in Cambridge, Oxford, Berlin, Budapest, Washington DC, Nigeria, Frankfurt, China, Dubai and Switzerland. Mr Ahern listed additional income from his News of the World column, his membership of the Global Agenda Council on Conflict Resolution of the World Economic Forum and as a speaker for the Washington Speakers’ Bureau.
He also chairs the International Forestry Fund and Scientia Solar, a solar power company.
Former minister Willie O’Dea listed a number of exotic share interests in companies prospecting for diamonds and gold in Africa, and minerals in South America.
Former Independent TD Jackie Healy Rae, who has not ruled out a move to a bigger house in the park and running for the presidency, said in his list of assets that he retained the right to live in a room in a public house in his home town in Kilgarvan, Co Kerry, even though it is derelict
Register shows Minister for Finance owns German bonds
In this section »
Noonan calls for cut in bailout rate before banks recapitalised
Ex-NIB chief barred as company director
PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff
MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan is an investor in German government bonds as well as share funds focused on China, India and the US, according to the 2010 register of interests for Dáil deputies published last night.
Mr Noonan, who has opposed “burning” bondholders in the main Irish banks, owns German government bonds paying a modest 1.75 per cent rate of interest and maturing in 2020, according to his entry in the register.
His interests also include popular share funds specialising in Chinese and Indian enterprises and metals and mining companies.
Mr Noonan listed occupational income in the form of a reduced teacher’s pension and his ownership of 20 acres of mixed pasture and woodland at his home in Foynes, Co Limerick.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny had nothing to declare apart from three gifts: honorary membership of the K Club golf course, life membership of Ballinrobe golf course and “captain guest” of Mount Juliet golf course.
He said he received an allowance from Fine Gael as party leader but had surrendered his entitlement to a ministerial pension.
Some 39 TDs made a “nil” declaration of interests, while 10 said they derived additional income from a teaching or lecturing pension, and three more said they were in receipt of other State pensions in addition to their Dáil salary.
Among those who made a “nil” declaration were Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and former ministers Mary Coughlan, Mary Harney, Brian Lenihan, Éamon Ó Cuív, Barry Andrews and Martin Cullen.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore declared joint ownership of a house and 37 acres of land in Caltra, Co Galway, his former family home, which is let.
Minister for Justice and Defence Alan Shatter listed additional income as a solicitor, property owner and author. He owns shares in a builders providers and a sweet company and is listed as the joint-owner of 14 properties in Ireland, the US and England.
Minister for Health James Reilly’s extensive land interests include a commercial building in Lusk, the 86-acre former family farm and a share of a nursing home in Co Tipperary.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern continued his travels around the world last year on various speaking engagements or at conferences in Cambridge, Oxford, Berlin, Budapest, Washington DC, Nigeria, Frankfurt, China, Dubai and Switzerland. Mr Ahern listed additional income from his News of the World column, his membership of the Global Agenda Council on Conflict Resolution of the World Economic Forum and as a speaker for the Washington Speakers’ Bureau.
He also chairs the International Forestry Fund and Scientia Solar, a solar power company.
Former minister Willie O’Dea listed a number of exotic share interests in companies prospecting for diamonds and gold in Africa, and minerals in South America.
Former Independent TD Jackie Healy Rae, who has not ruled out a move to a bigger house in the park and running for the presidency, said in his list of assets that he retained the right to live in a room in a public house in his home town in Kilgarvan, Co Kerry, even though it is derelict
Monday, May 30, 2011
ONVENTION on the RIGHTS of PERSONS with DISABILITIES
CONVENTION on the RIGHTS of PERSONS with DISABILITIES
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Preamble
The States Parties to the present Convention,
Recalling the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations which recognize the inherent dignity and worth and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Recognizing that the United Nations, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, has proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind,
Reaffirming the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for persons with disabilities to be guaranteed their full enjoyment without discrimination,
Recalling the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,
Recognizing that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others,
Recognizing the importance of the principles and policy guidelines contained in the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and in the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in influencing the promotion, formulation and evaluation of the policies, plans, programmes and actions at the national, regional and international levels to further equalize opportunities for persons with disabilities,
Emphasizing the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development,
Recognizing also that discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person,
Recognizing further the diversity of persons with disabilities,
Recognizing the need to promote and protect the human rights of all persons with disabilities, including those who require more intensive support,
Concerned that, despite these various instruments and undertakings, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers in their participation as equal members of society and violations of their human rights in all parts of the world,
Recognizing the importance of international cooperation for improving the living conditions of persons with disabilities in every country, particularly in developing countries,
Recognizing the valued existing and potential contributions made by persons with disabilities to the overall well-being and diversity of their communities, and that the promotion of the full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of their human rights and fundamental freedoms and of full participation by persons with disabilities will result in their enhanced sense of belonging and in significant advances in the human, social and economic development of society and the eradication of poverty,
Recognizing the importance for persons with disabilities of their individual autonomy and independence, including the freedom to make their own choices,
Considering that persons with disabilities should have the opportunity to be actively involved in decision-making processes about policies and programmes, including those directly concerning them,
Concerned about the difficult conditions faced by persons with disabilities who are subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status,
Recognizing that women and girls with disabilities are often at greater risk, both within and outside the home of violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
Recognizing that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children, and recalling obligations to that end undertaken by States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Emphasizing the need to incorporate a gender perspective in all efforts to promote the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities,
Highlighting the fact that the majority of persons with disabilities live in conditions of poverty, and in this regard recognizing the critical need to address the negative impact of poverty on persons with disabilities,
Bearing in mind that conditions of peace and security based on full respect for the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations and observance of applicable human rights instruments are indispensable for the full protection of persons with disabilities, in particular during armed conflicts and foreign occupation,
Recognizing the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he or she belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the International Bill of Human Rights,
Convinced that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State, and that persons with disabilities and their family members should receive the necessary protection and assistance to enable families to contribute towards the full and equal enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities,
Convinced that a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities will make a significant contribution to redressing the profound social disadvantage of persons with disabilities and promote their participation in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural spheres with equal opportunities, in both developing and developed countries,
Have agreed as follows:
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Article 1 - Purpose
The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.
Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
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Article 2 - Definitions
For the purposes of the present Convention:
"Communication" includes languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia as well as written, audio, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including accessible information and communication technology;
"Language" includes spoken and signed languages and other forms of non spoken languages;
"Discrimination on the basis of disability" means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation;
"Reasonable accommodation" means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
"Universal design" means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. “Universal design” shall not exclude assistive devices for particular groups of persons with disabilities where this is needed.
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Article 3 - General principles
The principles of the present Convention shall be:
Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons;
Non-discrimination;
Full and effective participation and inclusion in society;
Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity;
Equality of opportunity;
Accessibility;
Equality between men and women;
Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
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Article 4 - General obligations
1. States Parties undertake to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. To this end, States Parties undertake:
To adopt all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention;
To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities;
To take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes;
To refrain from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with the present Convention and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with the present Convention;
To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability by any person, organization or private enterprise;
To undertake or promote research and development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, which should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and use, and to promote universal design in the development of standards and guidelines;
To undertake or promote research and development of, and to promote the availability and use of new technologies, including information and communications technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, suitable for persons with disabilities, giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost;
To provide accessible information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, including new technologies, as well as other forms of assistance, support services and facilities;
To promote the training of professionals and staff working with persons with disabilities in the rights recognized in this Convention so as to better provide the assistance and services guaranteed by those rights.
2. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, each State Party undertakes to take measures to the maximum of its available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of these rights, without prejudice to those obligations contained in the present Convention that are immediately applicable according to international law.
3. In the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations.
4. Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities and which may be contained in the law of a State Party or international law in force for that State. There shall be no restriction upon or derogation from any of the human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized or existing in any State Party to the present Convention pursuant to law, conventions, regulation or custom on the pretext that the present Convention does not recognize such rights or freedoms or that it recognizes them to a lesser extent.
5. The provisions of the present Convention shall extend to all parts of federal states without any limitations or exceptions.
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Article 5 - Equality and non-discrimination
1. States Parties recognize that all persons are equal before and under the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law.
2. States Parties shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds.
3. In order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, States Parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided.
4. Specific measures which are necessary to accelerate or achieve de facto equality of persons with disabilities shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of the present Convention.
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Article 6 - Women with disabilities
1. States Parties recognize that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination, and in this regard shall take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by them of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the present Convention.
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Article 7 - Children with disabilities
1. States Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children.
2. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right.
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Article 8 - Awareness-raising
1. States Parties undertake to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures:
To raise awareness throughout society, including at the family level, regarding persons with disabilities, and to foster respect for the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities;
To combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life;
To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.
Measures to this end include:
Initiating and maintaining effective public awareness campaigns designed:
To nurture receptiveness to the rights of persons with disabilities;
To promote positive perceptions and greater social awareness towards persons with disabilities;
To promote recognition of the skills, merits and abilities of persons with disabilities, and of their contributions to the workplace and the labour market;
Fostering at all levels of the education system, including in all children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities;
Encouraging all organs of the media to portray persons with disabilities in a manner consistent with the purpose of the present Convention;
Promoting awareness-training programmes regarding persons with disabilities and the rights of persons with disabilities.
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Article 9 - Accessibility
1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:
Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.
2. States Parties shall also take appropriate measures to:
Develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public;
Ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;
Provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities;
Provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms;
Provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public;
Promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information;
Promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;
Promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.
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Article 10 - Right to life
States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
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Article 11 - Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.
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Article 12 - Equal recognition before the law
1. States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law.
2. States Parties shall recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.
3. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity.
4. States Parties shall ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law. Such safeguards shall ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, are free of conflict of interest and undue influence, are proportional and tailored to the person’s circumstances, apply for the shortest time possible and are subject to regular review by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body. The safeguards shall be proportional to the degree to which such measures affect the person’s rights and interests.
5. Subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property.
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Article 13 - Access to justice
1. States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages.
2. In order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those working in the field of administration of justice, including police and prison staff.
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Article 14 - Liberty and security of the person
1. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others:
Enjoy the right to liberty and security of person;
Are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty is in conformity with the law, and that the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty.
2. States Parties shall ensure that if persons with disabilities are deprived of their liberty through any process, they are, on an equal basis with others, entitled to guarantees in accordance with international human rights law and shall be treated in compliance with the objectives and principles of this Convention, including by provision of reasonable accommodation.
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Article 15 - Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
1. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his or her free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.
2. States Parties shall take all effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, from being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
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Article 16 - Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, including their gender-based aspects.
2. States Parties shall also take all appropriate measures to prevent all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse by ensuring, inter alia, appropriate forms of gender- and age-sensitive assistance and support for persons with disabilities and their families and caregivers, including through the provision of information and education on how to avoid, recognize and report instances of exploitation, violence and abuse. States Parties shall ensure that protection services are age-, gender- and disability-sensitive.
3. In order to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, States Parties shall ensure that all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent authorities.
4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote the physical, cognitive and psychological recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons with disabilities who become victims of any form of exploitation, violence or abuse, including through the provision of protection services. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment that fosters the health, welfare, self-respect, dignity and autonomy of the person and takes into account gender- and age-specific needs.
5. States Parties shall put in place effective legislation and policies, including women- and child-focused legislation and policies, to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.
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Article 17 - Protecting the integrity of the person
Every person with disabilities has a right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity on an equal basis with others.
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Article 18 - Liberty of movement and nationality
1. States Parties shall recognize the rights of persons with disabilities to liberty of movement, to freedom to choose their residence and to a nationality, on an equal basis with others, including by ensuring that persons with disabilities:
Have the right to acquire and change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability;
Are not deprived, on the basis of disability, of their ability to obtain, possess and utilize documentation of their nationality or other documentation of identification, or to utilize relevant processes such as immigration proceedings, that may be needed to facilitate exercise of the right to liberty of movement;
Are free to leave any country, including their own;
Are not deprived, arbitrarily or on the basis of disability, of the right to enter their own country.
2. Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.
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Article 19 - Living independently and being included in the community
States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that:
Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement;
Persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;
Community services and facilities for the general population are available on an equal basis to persons with disabilities and are responsive to their needs.
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Article 20 - Personal mobility
States Parties shall take effective measures to ensure personal mobility with the greatest possible independence for persons with disabilities, including by:
Facilitating the personal mobility of persons with disabilities in the manner and at the time of their choice, and at affordable cost;
Facilitating access by persons with disabilities to quality mobility aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including by making them available at affordable cost;
Providing training in mobility skills to persons with disabilities and to specialist staff working with persons with disabilities;
Encouraging entities that produce mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies to take into account all aspects of mobility for persons with disabilities.
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Article 21 - Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on an equal basis with others and through all forms of communication of their choice, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, including by:
Providing information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost;
Accepting and facilitating the use of sign languages, Braille, augmentative and alternative communication, and all other accessible means, modes and formats of communication of their choice by persons with disabilities in official interactions;
Urging private entities that provide services to the general public, including through the Internet, to provide information and services in accessible and usable formats for persons with disabilities;
Encouraging the mass media, including providers of information through the Internet, to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities;
Recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages.
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Article 22 - Respect for privacy
1. No person with disabilities, regardless of place of residence or living arrangements, shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence or other types of communication or to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation. Persons with disabilities have the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
2. States Parties shall protect the privacy of personal, health and rehabilitation information of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
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Article 23 - Respect for home and the family
1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, on an equal basis with others, so as to ensure that:
The right of all persons with disabilities who are of marriageable age to marry and to found a family on the basis of free and full consent of the intending spouses is recognized;
The rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to age-appropriate information, reproductive and family planning education are recognized, and the means necessary to enable them to exercise these rights are provided;
Persons with disabilities, including children, retain their fertility on an equal basis with others.
2. States Parties shall ensure the rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities, with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship, adoption of children or similar institutions, where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the best interests of the child shall be paramount. States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities.
3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have equal rights with respect to family life. With a view to realizing these rights, and to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of children with disabilities, States Parties shall undertake to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families.
4. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents.
5. States Parties shall, where the immediate family is unable to care for a child with disabilities, undertake every effort to provide alternative care within the wider family, and failing that, within the community in a family setting.
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Article 24 - Education
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and life long learning directed to:
The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;
The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential;
Enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society.
2. In realizing this right, States Parties shall ensure that:
Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;
Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;
Reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided;
Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;
Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.
3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:
Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;
Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;
Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.
4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education. Such training shall incorporate disability awareness and the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.
5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.
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Article 25 - Health
States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. In particular, States Parties shall:
Provide persons with disabilities with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and population-based public health programmes;
Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;
Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;
Require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, inter alia, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of persons with disabilities through training and the promulgation of ethical standards for public and private health care;
Prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the provision of health insurance, and life insurance where such insurance is permitted by national law, which shall be provided in a fair and reasonable manner;
Prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.
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Article 26 - Habilitation and rehabilitation
1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures, including through peer support, to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. To that end, States Parties shall organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes, particularly in the areas of health, employment, education and social services, in such a way that these services and programmes:
Begin at the earliest possible stage, and are based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths;
Support participation and inclusion in the community and all aspects of society, are voluntary, and are available to persons with disabilities as close as possible to their own communities, including in rural areas.
2. States Parties shall promote the development of initial and continuing training for professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation services.
3. States Parties shall promote the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with disabilities, as they relate to habilitation and rehabilitation.
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Article 27 - Work and employment
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to, inter alia:
Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;
Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;
Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;
Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;
Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;
Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives and starting one’s own business;
Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector;
Promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector through appropriate policies and measures, which may include affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures;
Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace;
Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market;
Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.
2. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.
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Article 28 - Adequate standard of living and social protection
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.
2. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:
To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programmes;
To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to retirement benefits and programmes.
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Article 29 - Participation in political and public life
States Parties shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others, and shall undertake to:
Ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected, inter alia, by:
Ensuring that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use;
Protecting the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimidation, and to stand for elections, to effectively hold office and perform all public functions at all levels of government, facilitating the use of assistive and new technologies where appropriate;
Guaranteeing the free expression of the will of persons with disabilities as electors and to this end, where necessary, at their request, allowing assistance in voting by a person of their own choice;
Promote actively an environment in which persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in the conduct of public affairs, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and encourage their participation in public affairs, including:
Participation in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country, and in the activities and administration of political parties;
Forming and joining organizations of persons with disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at international, national, regional and local levels.
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Article 30 - Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities:
Enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats;
Enjoy access to television programmes, films, theatre and other cultural activities, in accessible formats;
Enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance.
2. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit, but also for the enrichment of society.
3. States Parties shall take all appropriate steps, in accordance with international law, to ensure that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials.
4. Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.
5. With a view to enabling persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States Parties shall take appropriate measures:
To encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability-specific sporting and recreational activities and, to this end, encourage the provision, on an equal basis with others, of appropriate instruction, training and resources;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues;
To ensure that children with disabilities have equal access with other children to participation in play, recreation and leisure and sporting activities, including those activities in the school system;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to services from those involved in the organization of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.
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Article 31 - Statistics and data collection
1. States Parties undertake to collect appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the present Convention. The process of collecting and maintaining this information shall:
Comply with legally established safeguards, including legislation on data protection, to ensure confidentiality and respect for the privacy of persons with disabilities;
Comply with internationally accepted norms to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and ethical principles in the collection and use of statistics.
2. The information collected in accordance with this article shall be disaggregated, as appropriate, and used to help assess the implementation of States Parties’ obligations under the present Convention and to identify and address the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in exercising their rights.
3. States Parties shall assume responsibility for the dissemination of these statistics and ensure their accessibility to persons with disabilities and others.
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Article 32 - International cooperation
1. States Parties recognize the importance of international cooperation and its promotion, in support of national efforts for the realization of the purpose and objectives of the present Convention, and will undertake appropriate and effective measures in this regard, between and among States and, as appropriate, in partnership with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities. Such measures could include, inter alia:
Ensuring that international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities;
Facilitating and supporting capacity-building, including through the exchange and sharing of information, experiences, training programmes and best practices;
Facilitating cooperation in research and access to scientific and technical knowledge;
Providing, as appropriate, technical and economic assistance, including by facilitating access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies, and through the transfer of technologies.
2. The provisions of this article are without prejudice to the obligations of each State Party to fulfil its obligations under the present Convention.
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Article 33 - National implementation and monitoring
1. States Parties, in accordance with their system of organization, shall designate one or more focal points within government for matters relating to the implementation of the present Convention, and shall give due consideration to the establishment or designation of a coordination mechanism within government to facilitate related action in different sectors and at different levels.
2. States Parties shall, in accordance with their legal and administrative systems, maintain, strengthen, designate or establish within the State Party, a framework, including one or more independent mechanisms, as appropriate, to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the present Convention. When designating or establishing such a mechanism, States Parties shall take into account the principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of human rights.
3. Civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, shall be involved and participate fully in the monitoring process.
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Article 34 - Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
1. There shall be established a Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter referred to as “the Committee”), which shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided.
2. The Committee shall consist, at the time of entry into force of the present Convention, of twelve experts. After an additional sixty ratifications or accessions to the Convention, the membership of the Committee shall increase by six members, attaining a maximum number of eighteen members.
3. The members of the Committee shall serve in their personal capacity and shall be of high moral standing and recognized competence and experience in the field covered by the present Convention. When nominating their candidates, States Parties are invited to give due consideration to the provision set out in article 4.3 of the present Convention.
4. The members of the Committee shall be elected by States Parties, consideration being given to equitable geographical distribution, representation of the different forms of civilization and of the principal legal systems, balanced gender representation and participation of experts with disabilities.
5. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list of persons nominated by the States Parties from among their nationals at meetings of the Conference of States Parties. At those meetings, for which two thirds of States Parties shall constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.
6. The initial election shall be held no later than six months after the date of entry into force of the present Convention. At least four months before the date of each election, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a letter to the States Parties inviting them to submit the nominations within two months. The Secretary-General shall subsequently prepare a list in alphabetical order of all persons thus nominated, indicating the State Parties which have nominated them, and shall submit it to the States Parties to the present Convention.
7. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. They shall be eligible for re-election once. However, the term of six of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election, the names of these six members shall be chosen by lot by the chairperson of the meeting referred to in paragraph 5 of this article.
8. The election of the six additional members of the Committee shall be held on the occasion of regular elections, in accordance with the relevant provisions of this article.
9. If a member of the Committee dies or resigns or declares that for any other cause she or he can no longer perform her or his duties, the State Party which nominated the member shall appoint another expert possessing the qualifications and meeting the requirements set out in the relevant provisions of this article, to serve for the remainder of the term.
10. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure.
11. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the Committee under the present Convention, and shall convene its initial meeting.
12. With the approval of the General Assembly, the members of the Committee established under the present Convention shall receive emoluments from United Nations resources on such terms and conditions as the Assembly may decide, having regard to the importance of the Committee’s responsibilities.
13. The members of the Committee shall be entitled to the facilities, privileges and immunities of experts on mission for the United Nations as laid down in the relevant sections of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
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Article 35 - Reports by States Parties
1. Each State Party shall submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a comprehensive report on measures taken to give effect to its obligations under the present Convention and on the progress made in that regard, within two years after the entry into force of the present Convention for the State Party concerned.
2. Thereafter, States Parties shall submit subsequent reports at least every four years and further whenever the Committee so requests.
3. The Committee shall decide any guidelines applicable to the content of the reports.
4. A State Party which has submitted a comprehensive initial report to the Committee need not, in its subsequent reports, repeat information previously provided. When preparing reports to the Committee, States Parties are invited to consider doing so in an open and transparent process and to give due consideration to the provision set out in article 4.3 of the present Convention.
5. Reports may indicate factors and difficulties affecting the degree of fulfilment of obligations under the present Convention.
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Article 36 - Consideration of reports
1. Each report shall be considered by the Committee, which shall make such suggestions and general recommendations on the report as it may consider appropriate and shall forward these to the State Party concerned. The State Party may respond with any information it chooses to the Committee. The Committee may request further information from States Parties relevant to the implementation of the present Convention.
2. If a State Party is significantly overdue in the submission of a report, the Committee may notify the State Party concerned of the need to examine the implementation of the present Convention in that State Party, on the basis of reliable information available to the Committee, if the relevant report is not submitted within three months following the notification. The Committee shall invite the State Party concerned to participate in such examination. Should the State Party respond by submitting the relevant report, the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article will apply.
3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall make available the reports to all States Parties.
4. States Parties shall make their reports widely available to the public in their own countries and facilitate access to the suggestions and general recommendations relating to these reports.
5. The Committee shall transmit, as it may consider appropriate, to the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations, and other competent bodies, reports from States Parties in order to address a request or indication of a need for technical advice or assistance contained therein, along with the Committee’s observations and recommendations, if any, on these requests or indications.
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Article 37 - Cooperation between States Parties and the Committee
1. Each State Party shall cooperate with the Committee and assist its members in the fulfilment of their mandate.
2. In its relationship with States Parties, the Committee shall give due consideration to ways and means of enhancing national capacities for the implementation of the present Convention, including through international cooperation.
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Article 38 - Relationship of the Committee with other bodies
In order to foster the effective implementation of the present Convention and to encourage international cooperation in the field covered by the present Convention:
The specialized agencies and other United Nations organs shall be entitled to be represented at the consideration of the implementation of such provisions of the present Convention as fall within the scope of their mandate. The Committee may invite the specialized agencies and other competent bodies as it may consider appropriate to provide expert advice on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their respective mandates. The Committee may invite specialized agencies and other United Nations organs to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities;
The Committee, as it discharges its mandate, shall consult, as appropriate, other relevant bodies instituted by international human rights treaties, with a view to ensuring the consistency of their respective reporting guidelines, suggestions and general recommendations, and avoiding duplication and overlap in the performance of their functions.
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Article 39 - Report of the Committee
The Committee shall report every two years to the General Assembly and to the Economic and Social Council on its activities, and may make suggestions and general recommendations based on the examination of reports and information received from the States Parties. Such suggestions and general recommendations shall be included in the report of the Committee together with comments, if any, from States Parties.
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Article 40 - Conference of States Parties
1. The States Parties shall meet regularly in a Conference of States Parties in order to consider any matter with regard to the implementation of the present Convention.
2. No later than six months after the entry into force of the present Convention, the Conference of the States Parties shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The subsequent meetings shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations biennially or upon the decision of the Conference of States Parties.
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Article 41 - Depositary
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of the present Convention.
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Article 42 - Signature
The present Convention shall be open for signature by all States and by regional integration organizations at United Nations Headquarters in New York as of 30 March 2007.
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Article 43 - Consent to be bound
The present Convention shall be subject to ratification by signatory States and to formal confirmation by signatory regional integration organizations. It shall be open for accession by any State or regional integration organization which has not signed the Convention.
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Article 44 - Regional integration organizations
1. “Regional integration organization” shall mean an organization constituted by sovereign States of a given region, to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments of formal confirmation or accession, the extent of their competence with respect to matters governed by this Convention. Subsequently, they shall inform the depositary of any substantial modification in the extent of their competence.
2. References to “States Parties” in the present Convention shall apply to such organizations within the limits of their competence.
3. For the purposes of article 45, paragraph 1, and article 47, paragraphs 2 and 3, any instrument deposited by a regional integration organization shall not be counted.
4. Regional integration organizations, in matters within their competence, may exercise their right to vote in the Conference of States Parties, with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States that are Parties to this Convention. Such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any of its member States exercises its right, and vice versa.
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Article 45 - Entry into force
1. The present Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State or regional integration organization ratifying, formally confirming or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the twentieth such instrument, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of its own such instrument.
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Article 46 - Reservations
1. Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Convention shall not be permitted.
2. Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.
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Article 47 - Amendments
1. Any State Party may propose an amendment to the present Convention and submit it to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall communicate any proposed amendments to States Parties, with a request to be notified whether they favour a conference of States Parties for the purpose of considering and deciding upon the proposals. In the event that, within four months from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States Parties favour such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of two thirds of the States Parties present and voting shall be submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly for approval and thereafter to all States Parties for acceptance.
2. An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment. Thereafter, the amendment shall enter into force for any State Party on the thirtieth day following the deposit of its own instrument of acceptance. An amendment shall be binding only on those States Parties which have accepted it.
3. If so decided by the Conference of States Parties by consensus, an amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article which relates exclusively to articles 34, 38, 39 and 40 shall enter into force for all States Parties on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment.
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Article 48 - Denunciation
A State Party may denounce the present Convention by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The denunciation shall become effective one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.
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Article 49 - Accessible format
The text of the present Convention shall be made available in accessible formats.
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Article 50 - Authentic texts
The Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts of the present Convention shall be equally authentic.
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In witness thereof the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Preamble
The States Parties to the present Convention,
Recalling the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations which recognize the inherent dignity and worth and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Recognizing that the United Nations, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, has proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind,
Reaffirming the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for persons with disabilities to be guaranteed their full enjoyment without discrimination,
Recalling the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families,
Recognizing that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others,
Recognizing the importance of the principles and policy guidelines contained in the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and in the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in influencing the promotion, formulation and evaluation of the policies, plans, programmes and actions at the national, regional and international levels to further equalize opportunities for persons with disabilities,
Emphasizing the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development,
Recognizing also that discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person,
Recognizing further the diversity of persons with disabilities,
Recognizing the need to promote and protect the human rights of all persons with disabilities, including those who require more intensive support,
Concerned that, despite these various instruments and undertakings, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers in their participation as equal members of society and violations of their human rights in all parts of the world,
Recognizing the importance of international cooperation for improving the living conditions of persons with disabilities in every country, particularly in developing countries,
Recognizing the valued existing and potential contributions made by persons with disabilities to the overall well-being and diversity of their communities, and that the promotion of the full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of their human rights and fundamental freedoms and of full participation by persons with disabilities will result in their enhanced sense of belonging and in significant advances in the human, social and economic development of society and the eradication of poverty,
Recognizing the importance for persons with disabilities of their individual autonomy and independence, including the freedom to make their own choices,
Considering that persons with disabilities should have the opportunity to be actively involved in decision-making processes about policies and programmes, including those directly concerning them,
Concerned about the difficult conditions faced by persons with disabilities who are subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status,
Recognizing that women and girls with disabilities are often at greater risk, both within and outside the home of violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation,
Recognizing that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children, and recalling obligations to that end undertaken by States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Emphasizing the need to incorporate a gender perspective in all efforts to promote the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities,
Highlighting the fact that the majority of persons with disabilities live in conditions of poverty, and in this regard recognizing the critical need to address the negative impact of poverty on persons with disabilities,
Bearing in mind that conditions of peace and security based on full respect for the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations and observance of applicable human rights instruments are indispensable for the full protection of persons with disabilities, in particular during armed conflicts and foreign occupation,
Recognizing the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Realizing that the individual, having duties to other individuals and to the community to which he or she belongs, is under a responsibility to strive for the promotion and observance of the rights recognized in the International Bill of Human Rights,
Convinced that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State, and that persons with disabilities and their family members should receive the necessary protection and assistance to enable families to contribute towards the full and equal enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities,
Convinced that a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities will make a significant contribution to redressing the profound social disadvantage of persons with disabilities and promote their participation in the civil, political, economic, social and cultural spheres with equal opportunities, in both developing and developed countries,
Have agreed as follows:
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Article 1 - Purpose
The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.
Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
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Article 2 - Definitions
For the purposes of the present Convention:
"Communication" includes languages, display of text, Braille, tactile communication, large print, accessible multimedia as well as written, audio, plain-language, human-reader and augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, including accessible information and communication technology;
"Language" includes spoken and signed languages and other forms of non spoken languages;
"Discrimination on the basis of disability" means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation;
"Reasonable accommodation" means necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
"Universal design" means the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. “Universal design” shall not exclude assistive devices for particular groups of persons with disabilities where this is needed.
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Article 3 - General principles
The principles of the present Convention shall be:
Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons;
Non-discrimination;
Full and effective participation and inclusion in society;
Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity;
Equality of opportunity;
Accessibility;
Equality between men and women;
Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities.
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Article 4 - General obligations
1. States Parties undertake to ensure and promote the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities without discrimination of any kind on the basis of disability. To this end, States Parties undertake:
To adopt all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention;
To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that constitute discrimination against persons with disabilities;
To take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes;
To refrain from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with the present Convention and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with the present Convention;
To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability by any person, organization or private enterprise;
To undertake or promote research and development of universally designed goods, services, equipment and facilities, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, which should require the minimum possible adaptation and the least cost to meet the specific needs of a person with disabilities, to promote their availability and use, and to promote universal design in the development of standards and guidelines;
To undertake or promote research and development of, and to promote the availability and use of new technologies, including information and communications technologies, mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, suitable for persons with disabilities, giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost;
To provide accessible information to persons with disabilities about mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies, including new technologies, as well as other forms of assistance, support services and facilities;
To promote the training of professionals and staff working with persons with disabilities in the rights recognized in this Convention so as to better provide the assistance and services guaranteed by those rights.
2. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, each State Party undertakes to take measures to the maximum of its available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of these rights, without prejudice to those obligations contained in the present Convention that are immediately applicable according to international law.
3. In the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations.
4. Nothing in the present Convention shall affect any provisions which are more conducive to the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities and which may be contained in the law of a State Party or international law in force for that State. There shall be no restriction upon or derogation from any of the human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized or existing in any State Party to the present Convention pursuant to law, conventions, regulation or custom on the pretext that the present Convention does not recognize such rights or freedoms or that it recognizes them to a lesser extent.
5. The provisions of the present Convention shall extend to all parts of federal states without any limitations or exceptions.
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Article 5 - Equality and non-discrimination
1. States Parties recognize that all persons are equal before and under the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law.
2. States Parties shall prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds.
3. In order to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, States Parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided.
4. Specific measures which are necessary to accelerate or achieve de facto equality of persons with disabilities shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of the present Convention.
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Article 6 - Women with disabilities
1. States Parties recognize that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination, and in this regard shall take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by them of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the present Convention.
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Article 7 - Children with disabilities
1. States Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children.
2. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right.
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Article 8 - Awareness-raising
1. States Parties undertake to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures:
To raise awareness throughout society, including at the family level, regarding persons with disabilities, and to foster respect for the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities;
To combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life;
To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons with disabilities.
Measures to this end include:
Initiating and maintaining effective public awareness campaigns designed:
To nurture receptiveness to the rights of persons with disabilities;
To promote positive perceptions and greater social awareness towards persons with disabilities;
To promote recognition of the skills, merits and abilities of persons with disabilities, and of their contributions to the workplace and the labour market;
Fostering at all levels of the education system, including in all children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities;
Encouraging all organs of the media to portray persons with disabilities in a manner consistent with the purpose of the present Convention;
Promoting awareness-training programmes regarding persons with disabilities and the rights of persons with disabilities.
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Article 9 - Accessibility
1. To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. These measures, which shall include the identification and elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility, shall apply to, inter alia:
Buildings, roads, transportation and other indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces;
Information, communications and other services, including electronic services and emergency services.
2. States Parties shall also take appropriate measures to:
Develop, promulgate and monitor the implementation of minimum standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services open or provided to the public;
Ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;
Provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities;
Provide in buildings and other facilities open to the public signage in Braille and in easy to read and understand forms;
Provide forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters, to facilitate accessibility to buildings and other facilities open to the public;
Promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information;
Promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet;
Promote the design, development, production and distribution of accessible information and communications technologies and systems at an early stage, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost.
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Article 10 - Right to life
States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
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Article 11 - Situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.
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Article 12 - Equal recognition before the law
1. States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law.
2. States Parties shall recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.
3. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity.
4. States Parties shall ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law. Such safeguards shall ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, are free of conflict of interest and undue influence, are proportional and tailored to the person’s circumstances, apply for the shortest time possible and are subject to regular review by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body. The safeguards shall be proportional to the degree to which such measures affect the person’s rights and interests.
5. Subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property.
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Article 13 - Access to justice
1. States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages.
2. In order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those working in the field of administration of justice, including police and prison staff.
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Article 14 - Liberty and security of the person
1. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others:
Enjoy the right to liberty and security of person;
Are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty is in conformity with the law, and that the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty.
2. States Parties shall ensure that if persons with disabilities are deprived of their liberty through any process, they are, on an equal basis with others, entitled to guarantees in accordance with international human rights law and shall be treated in compliance with the objectives and principles of this Convention, including by provision of reasonable accommodation.
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Article 15 - Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
1. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his or her free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.
2. States Parties shall take all effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, from being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
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Article 16 - Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
1. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social, educational and other measures to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, including their gender-based aspects.
2. States Parties shall also take all appropriate measures to prevent all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse by ensuring, inter alia, appropriate forms of gender- and age-sensitive assistance and support for persons with disabilities and their families and caregivers, including through the provision of information and education on how to avoid, recognize and report instances of exploitation, violence and abuse. States Parties shall ensure that protection services are age-, gender- and disability-sensitive.
3. In order to prevent the occurrence of all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse, States Parties shall ensure that all facilities and programmes designed to serve persons with disabilities are effectively monitored by independent authorities.
4. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote the physical, cognitive and psychological recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration of persons with disabilities who become victims of any form of exploitation, violence or abuse, including through the provision of protection services. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment that fosters the health, welfare, self-respect, dignity and autonomy of the person and takes into account gender- and age-specific needs.
5. States Parties shall put in place effective legislation and policies, including women- and child-focused legislation and policies, to ensure that instances of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities are identified, investigated and, where appropriate, prosecuted.
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Article 17 - Protecting the integrity of the person
Every person with disabilities has a right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity on an equal basis with others.
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Article 18 - Liberty of movement and nationality
1. States Parties shall recognize the rights of persons with disabilities to liberty of movement, to freedom to choose their residence and to a nationality, on an equal basis with others, including by ensuring that persons with disabilities:
Have the right to acquire and change a nationality and are not deprived of their nationality arbitrarily or on the basis of disability;
Are not deprived, on the basis of disability, of their ability to obtain, possess and utilize documentation of their nationality or other documentation of identification, or to utilize relevant processes such as immigration proceedings, that may be needed to facilitate exercise of the right to liberty of movement;
Are free to leave any country, including their own;
Are not deprived, arbitrarily or on the basis of disability, of the right to enter their own country.
2. Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.
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Article 19 - Living independently and being included in the community
States Parties to this Convention recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and shall take effective and appropriate measures to facilitate full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of this right and their full inclusion and participation in the community, including by ensuring that:
Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement;
Persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;
Community services and facilities for the general population are available on an equal basis to persons with disabilities and are responsive to their needs.
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Article 20 - Personal mobility
States Parties shall take effective measures to ensure personal mobility with the greatest possible independence for persons with disabilities, including by:
Facilitating the personal mobility of persons with disabilities in the manner and at the time of their choice, and at affordable cost;
Facilitating access by persons with disabilities to quality mobility aids, devices, assistive technologies and forms of live assistance and intermediaries, including by making them available at affordable cost;
Providing training in mobility skills to persons with disabilities and to specialist staff working with persons with disabilities;
Encouraging entities that produce mobility aids, devices and assistive technologies to take into account all aspects of mobility for persons with disabilities.
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Article 21 - Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities can exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on an equal basis with others and through all forms of communication of their choice, as defined in article 2 of the present Convention, including by:
Providing information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities in accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost;
Accepting and facilitating the use of sign languages, Braille, augmentative and alternative communication, and all other accessible means, modes and formats of communication of their choice by persons with disabilities in official interactions;
Urging private entities that provide services to the general public, including through the Internet, to provide information and services in accessible and usable formats for persons with disabilities;
Encouraging the mass media, including providers of information through the Internet, to make their services accessible to persons with disabilities;
Recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages.
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Article 22 - Respect for privacy
1. No person with disabilities, regardless of place of residence or living arrangements, shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence or other types of communication or to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation. Persons with disabilities have the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
2. States Parties shall protect the privacy of personal, health and rehabilitation information of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.
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Article 23 - Respect for home and the family
1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities in all matters relating to marriage, family, parenthood and relationships, on an equal basis with others, so as to ensure that:
The right of all persons with disabilities who are of marriageable age to marry and to found a family on the basis of free and full consent of the intending spouses is recognized;
The rights of persons with disabilities to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to age-appropriate information, reproductive and family planning education are recognized, and the means necessary to enable them to exercise these rights are provided;
Persons with disabilities, including children, retain their fertility on an equal basis with others.
2. States Parties shall ensure the rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities, with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship, adoption of children or similar institutions, where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the best interests of the child shall be paramount. States Parties shall render appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities.
3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have equal rights with respect to family life. With a view to realizing these rights, and to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of children with disabilities, States Parties shall undertake to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families.
4. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In no case shall a child be separated from parents on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents.
5. States Parties shall, where the immediate family is unable to care for a child with disabilities, undertake every effort to provide alternative care within the wider family, and failing that, within the community in a family setting.
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Article 24 - Education
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and life long learning directed to:
The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;
The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential;
Enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society.
2. In realizing this right, States Parties shall ensure that:
Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;
Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;
Reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided;
Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;
Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.
3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:
Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;
Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;
Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.
4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education. Such training shall incorporate disability awareness and the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.
5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.
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Article 25 - Health
States Parties recognize that persons with disabilities have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination on the basis of disability. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with disabilities to health services that are gender-sensitive, including health-related rehabilitation. In particular, States Parties shall:
Provide persons with disabilities with the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programmes as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health and population-based public health programmes;
Provide those health services needed by persons with disabilities specifically because of their disabilities, including early identification and intervention as appropriate, and services designed to minimize and prevent further disabilities, including among children and older persons;
Provide these health services as close as possible to people’s own communities, including in rural areas;
Require health professionals to provide care of the same quality to persons with disabilities as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, inter alia, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of persons with disabilities through training and the promulgation of ethical standards for public and private health care;
Prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the provision of health insurance, and life insurance where such insurance is permitted by national law, which shall be provided in a fair and reasonable manner;
Prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.
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Article 26 - Habilitation and rehabilitation
1. States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures, including through peer support, to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability, and full inclusion and participation in all aspects of life. To that end, States Parties shall organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes, particularly in the areas of health, employment, education and social services, in such a way that these services and programmes:
Begin at the earliest possible stage, and are based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths;
Support participation and inclusion in the community and all aspects of society, are voluntary, and are available to persons with disabilities as close as possible to their own communities, including in rural areas.
2. States Parties shall promote the development of initial and continuing training for professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation services.
3. States Parties shall promote the availability, knowledge and use of assistive devices and technologies, designed for persons with disabilities, as they relate to habilitation and rehabilitation.
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Article 27 - Work and employment
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities. States Parties shall safeguard and promote the realization of the right to work, including for those who acquire a disability during the course of employment, by taking appropriate steps, including through legislation, to, inter alia:
Prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability with regard to all matters concerning all forms of employment, including conditions of recruitment, hiring and employment, continuance of employment, career advancement and safe and healthy working conditions;
Protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work, including equal opportunities and equal remuneration for work of equal value, safe and healthy working conditions, including protection from harassment, and the redress of grievances;
Ensure that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their labour and trade union rights on an equal basis with others;
Enable persons with disabilities to have effective access to general technical and vocational guidance programmes, placement services and vocational and continuing training;
Promote employment opportunities and career advancement for persons with disabilities in the labour market, as well as assistance in finding, obtaining, maintaining and returning to employment;
Promote opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, the development of cooperatives and starting one’s own business;
Employ persons with disabilities in the public sector;
Promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the private sector through appropriate policies and measures, which may include affirmative action programmes, incentives and other measures;
Ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities in the workplace;
Promote the acquisition by persons with disabilities of work experience in the open labour market;
Promote vocational and professional rehabilitation, job retention and return-to-work programmes for persons with disabilities.
2. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not held in slavery or in servitude, and are protected, on an equal basis with others, from forced or compulsory labour.
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Article 28 - Adequate standard of living and social protection
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.
2. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:
To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care;
To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programmes;
To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to retirement benefits and programmes.
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Article 29 - Participation in political and public life
States Parties shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others, and shall undertake to:
Ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others, directly or through freely chosen representatives, including the right and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected, inter alia, by:
Ensuring that voting procedures, facilities and materials are appropriate, accessible and easy to understand and use;
Protecting the right of persons with disabilities to vote by secret ballot in elections and public referendums without intimidation, and to stand for elections, to effectively hold office and perform all public functions at all levels of government, facilitating the use of assistive and new technologies where appropriate;
Guaranteeing the free expression of the will of persons with disabilities as electors and to this end, where necessary, at their request, allowing assistance in voting by a person of their own choice;
Promote actively an environment in which persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in the conduct of public affairs, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and encourage their participation in public affairs, including:
Participation in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country, and in the activities and administration of political parties;
Forming and joining organizations of persons with disabilities to represent persons with disabilities at international, national, regional and local levels.
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Article 30 - Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities:
Enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats;
Enjoy access to television programmes, films, theatre and other cultural activities, in accessible formats;
Enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance.
2. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit, but also for the enrichment of society.
3. States Parties shall take all appropriate steps, in accordance with international law, to ensure that laws protecting intellectual property rights do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials.
4. Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.
5. With a view to enabling persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis with others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States Parties shall take appropriate measures:
To encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organize, develop and participate in disability-specific sporting and recreational activities and, to this end, encourage the provision, on an equal basis with others, of appropriate instruction, training and resources;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting, recreational and tourism venues;
To ensure that children with disabilities have equal access with other children to participation in play, recreation and leisure and sporting activities, including those activities in the school system;
To ensure that persons with disabilities have access to services from those involved in the organization of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.
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Article 31 - Statistics and data collection
1. States Parties undertake to collect appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the present Convention. The process of collecting and maintaining this information shall:
Comply with legally established safeguards, including legislation on data protection, to ensure confidentiality and respect for the privacy of persons with disabilities;
Comply with internationally accepted norms to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms and ethical principles in the collection and use of statistics.
2. The information collected in accordance with this article shall be disaggregated, as appropriate, and used to help assess the implementation of States Parties’ obligations under the present Convention and to identify and address the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in exercising their rights.
3. States Parties shall assume responsibility for the dissemination of these statistics and ensure their accessibility to persons with disabilities and others.
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Article 32 - International cooperation
1. States Parties recognize the importance of international cooperation and its promotion, in support of national efforts for the realization of the purpose and objectives of the present Convention, and will undertake appropriate and effective measures in this regard, between and among States and, as appropriate, in partnership with relevant international and regional organizations and civil society, in particular organizations of persons with disabilities. Such measures could include, inter alia:
Ensuring that international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities;
Facilitating and supporting capacity-building, including through the exchange and sharing of information, experiences, training programmes and best practices;
Facilitating cooperation in research and access to scientific and technical knowledge;
Providing, as appropriate, technical and economic assistance, including by facilitating access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies, and through the transfer of technologies.
2. The provisions of this article are without prejudice to the obligations of each State Party to fulfil its obligations under the present Convention.
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Article 33 - National implementation and monitoring
1. States Parties, in accordance with their system of organization, shall designate one or more focal points within government for matters relating to the implementation of the present Convention, and shall give due consideration to the establishment or designation of a coordination mechanism within government to facilitate related action in different sectors and at different levels.
2. States Parties shall, in accordance with their legal and administrative systems, maintain, strengthen, designate or establish within the State Party, a framework, including one or more independent mechanisms, as appropriate, to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the present Convention. When designating or establishing such a mechanism, States Parties shall take into account the principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for protection and promotion of human rights.
3. Civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, shall be involved and participate fully in the monitoring process.
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Article 34 - Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
1. There shall be established a Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereafter referred to as “the Committee”), which shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided.
2. The Committee shall consist, at the time of entry into force of the present Convention, of twelve experts. After an additional sixty ratifications or accessions to the Convention, the membership of the Committee shall increase by six members, attaining a maximum number of eighteen members.
3. The members of the Committee shall serve in their personal capacity and shall be of high moral standing and recognized competence and experience in the field covered by the present Convention. When nominating their candidates, States Parties are invited to give due consideration to the provision set out in article 4.3 of the present Convention.
4. The members of the Committee shall be elected by States Parties, consideration being given to equitable geographical distribution, representation of the different forms of civilization and of the principal legal systems, balanced gender representation and participation of experts with disabilities.
5. The members of the Committee shall be elected by secret ballot from a list of persons nominated by the States Parties from among their nationals at meetings of the Conference of States Parties. At those meetings, for which two thirds of States Parties shall constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.
6. The initial election shall be held no later than six months after the date of entry into force of the present Convention. At least four months before the date of each election, the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall address a letter to the States Parties inviting them to submit the nominations within two months. The Secretary-General shall subsequently prepare a list in alphabetical order of all persons thus nominated, indicating the State Parties which have nominated them, and shall submit it to the States Parties to the present Convention.
7. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. They shall be eligible for re-election once. However, the term of six of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election, the names of these six members shall be chosen by lot by the chairperson of the meeting referred to in paragraph 5 of this article.
8. The election of the six additional members of the Committee shall be held on the occasion of regular elections, in accordance with the relevant provisions of this article.
9. If a member of the Committee dies or resigns or declares that for any other cause she or he can no longer perform her or his duties, the State Party which nominated the member shall appoint another expert possessing the qualifications and meeting the requirements set out in the relevant provisions of this article, to serve for the remainder of the term.
10. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure.
11. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall provide the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the Committee under the present Convention, and shall convene its initial meeting.
12. With the approval of the General Assembly, the members of the Committee established under the present Convention shall receive emoluments from United Nations resources on such terms and conditions as the Assembly may decide, having regard to the importance of the Committee’s responsibilities.
13. The members of the Committee shall be entitled to the facilities, privileges and immunities of experts on mission for the United Nations as laid down in the relevant sections of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.
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Article 35 - Reports by States Parties
1. Each State Party shall submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a comprehensive report on measures taken to give effect to its obligations under the present Convention and on the progress made in that regard, within two years after the entry into force of the present Convention for the State Party concerned.
2. Thereafter, States Parties shall submit subsequent reports at least every four years and further whenever the Committee so requests.
3. The Committee shall decide any guidelines applicable to the content of the reports.
4. A State Party which has submitted a comprehensive initial report to the Committee need not, in its subsequent reports, repeat information previously provided. When preparing reports to the Committee, States Parties are invited to consider doing so in an open and transparent process and to give due consideration to the provision set out in article 4.3 of the present Convention.
5. Reports may indicate factors and difficulties affecting the degree of fulfilment of obligations under the present Convention.
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Article 36 - Consideration of reports
1. Each report shall be considered by the Committee, which shall make such suggestions and general recommendations on the report as it may consider appropriate and shall forward these to the State Party concerned. The State Party may respond with any information it chooses to the Committee. The Committee may request further information from States Parties relevant to the implementation of the present Convention.
2. If a State Party is significantly overdue in the submission of a report, the Committee may notify the State Party concerned of the need to examine the implementation of the present Convention in that State Party, on the basis of reliable information available to the Committee, if the relevant report is not submitted within three months following the notification. The Committee shall invite the State Party concerned to participate in such examination. Should the State Party respond by submitting the relevant report, the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article will apply.
3. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall make available the reports to all States Parties.
4. States Parties shall make their reports widely available to the public in their own countries and facilitate access to the suggestions and general recommendations relating to these reports.
5. The Committee shall transmit, as it may consider appropriate, to the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations, and other competent bodies, reports from States Parties in order to address a request or indication of a need for technical advice or assistance contained therein, along with the Committee’s observations and recommendations, if any, on these requests or indications.
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Article 37 - Cooperation between States Parties and the Committee
1. Each State Party shall cooperate with the Committee and assist its members in the fulfilment of their mandate.
2. In its relationship with States Parties, the Committee shall give due consideration to ways and means of enhancing national capacities for the implementation of the present Convention, including through international cooperation.
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Article 38 - Relationship of the Committee with other bodies
In order to foster the effective implementation of the present Convention and to encourage international cooperation in the field covered by the present Convention:
The specialized agencies and other United Nations organs shall be entitled to be represented at the consideration of the implementation of such provisions of the present Convention as fall within the scope of their mandate. The Committee may invite the specialized agencies and other competent bodies as it may consider appropriate to provide expert advice on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their respective mandates. The Committee may invite specialized agencies and other United Nations organs to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities;
The Committee, as it discharges its mandate, shall consult, as appropriate, other relevant bodies instituted by international human rights treaties, with a view to ensuring the consistency of their respective reporting guidelines, suggestions and general recommendations, and avoiding duplication and overlap in the performance of their functions.
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Article 39 - Report of the Committee
The Committee shall report every two years to the General Assembly and to the Economic and Social Council on its activities, and may make suggestions and general recommendations based on the examination of reports and information received from the States Parties. Such suggestions and general recommendations shall be included in the report of the Committee together with comments, if any, from States Parties.
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Article 40 - Conference of States Parties
1. The States Parties shall meet regularly in a Conference of States Parties in order to consider any matter with regard to the implementation of the present Convention.
2. No later than six months after the entry into force of the present Convention, the Conference of the States Parties shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The subsequent meetings shall be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations biennially or upon the decision of the Conference of States Parties.
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Article 41 - Depositary
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of the present Convention.
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Article 42 - Signature
The present Convention shall be open for signature by all States and by regional integration organizations at United Nations Headquarters in New York as of 30 March 2007.
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Article 43 - Consent to be bound
The present Convention shall be subject to ratification by signatory States and to formal confirmation by signatory regional integration organizations. It shall be open for accession by any State or regional integration organization which has not signed the Convention.
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Article 44 - Regional integration organizations
1. “Regional integration organization” shall mean an organization constituted by sovereign States of a given region, to which its member States have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by this Convention. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments of formal confirmation or accession, the extent of their competence with respect to matters governed by this Convention. Subsequently, they shall inform the depositary of any substantial modification in the extent of their competence.
2. References to “States Parties” in the present Convention shall apply to such organizations within the limits of their competence.
3. For the purposes of article 45, paragraph 1, and article 47, paragraphs 2 and 3, any instrument deposited by a regional integration organization shall not be counted.
4. Regional integration organizations, in matters within their competence, may exercise their right to vote in the Conference of States Parties, with a number of votes equal to the number of their member States that are Parties to this Convention. Such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any of its member States exercises its right, and vice versa.
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Article 45 - Entry into force
1. The present Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State or regional integration organization ratifying, formally confirming or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the twentieth such instrument, the Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of its own such instrument.
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Article 46 - Reservations
1. Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Convention shall not be permitted.
2. Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.
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Article 47 - Amendments
1. Any State Party may propose an amendment to the present Convention and submit it to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall communicate any proposed amendments to States Parties, with a request to be notified whether they favour a conference of States Parties for the purpose of considering and deciding upon the proposals. In the event that, within four months from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States Parties favour such a conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the conference under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of two thirds of the States Parties present and voting shall be submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly for approval and thereafter to all States Parties for acceptance.
2. An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment. Thereafter, the amendment shall enter into force for any State Party on the thirtieth day following the deposit of its own instrument of acceptance. An amendment shall be binding only on those States Parties which have accepted it.
3. If so decided by the Conference of States Parties by consensus, an amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article which relates exclusively to articles 34, 38, 39 and 40 shall enter into force for all States Parties on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment.
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Article 48 - Denunciation
A State Party may denounce the present Convention by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The denunciation shall become effective one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.
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Article 49 - Accessible format
The text of the present Convention shall be made available in accessible formats.
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Article 50 - Authentic texts
The Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts of the present Convention shall be equally authentic.
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In witness thereof the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Convention
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