notification rights upon arrest and specific provisions concerning breaches
of migration law, the destruction of identity documents and the prohibition
of collective expulsion. In addition, the Convention mentions the right to
property, originally protected in the Declaration although not contained in
the Covenant.
The Convention defines the economic, social and cultural rights of migrant
workers in the light of their particular situation. For example, at a minimum,
urgent medical care must be provided, as it would be provided to a national, and the children of migrant workers have the basic right of access to
education, irrespective of their legal status. Additional rights exist for workers
who are properly documented and to particular classes of migrant workers,
such as frontier, seasonal, itinerant and project-tied workers.
The Convention, in part VII, requires all State parties to report periodically
to the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of their Families, established to review its application. Articles 76 and 77 also provide for a right of complaint by a State party against another State party or by individuals, provided the State party
concerned accepts the Committee’s competence in this regard.
H. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(2006)
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force
in 2008. Its purpose 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.
The Convention does not define persons with disabilities. It instead identifies
that “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”. It therefore views disability as the result of an interaction
between an individual’s condition and an inaccessible society. The barriers
confronting persons with disabilities are many—for example, they might be
environmental such as a staircase, or attitudinal such as a belief that persons
with disabilities cannot learn. Such barriers can obstruct the enjoyment of
rights. The Convention therefore identifies these barriers as discriminatory and
requires their removal. In adopting a rights-based approach to disability, the
Convention moves away from viewing disability as a sickness inherent in the
individual requiring either a medical intervention (medical approach) to fix
the person, or a charitable intervention (charity approach) based on voluntary
assistance rather than individual right.
15
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