Today was our last day here in Geneva. We observed the final dialogue between the Australian government and the Committee of the CRPD. The Committee made some very pointed comments about Australia’s implementation of the CRPD.
The Committee stated that there has been very little progress made in the six years since the concluding observations of the 2013 review. The Committee restated that the Australian government needs to rescind its interpretive declaration of Articles 12, 17, 18. This was also reiterated by the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Ben Gauntlett in his closing remarks. We live-tweeted the proceedings.
The committee is deeply concerned about the uncertainty of Australia’s long term support for the full implementation of the this includes transparent monitoring and evaluation of the implementation.
— Frances Quan Farrant (@FrancesPWDA)
We have learned so much in our time here in Geneva, and we feel that our strong presence as a civil society delegation made a real impact on the Committee. In fact we were congratulated specifically by Robert Martin for including delegates with intellectual disability.
We have worked hard to ensure that the voices of people with disability in Australia have been heard loud and clear here at the United Nations in Geneva. Thank you to all our dedicated delegates and support team for making our time here so successful. Merci and adieu from Geneva.
