Conclusion and Recommendations

The study aimed at developing indicators that reveal the conformity of national legal frameworks  with the Convention

The development of these conformity indicators was facilitated by the fact that the Convention contains detailed and specific provisions that aim to guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities. In the sectors selected for this study, the Convention specifies the type of measures and steps required to be taken by States in order to guarantee the right to education, employment and accessibility for persons with disabilities. It was therefore possible to formulate conformance indicators that can adjust to the diverse national legal frameworks examined in this study, without necessarily moving away from the wording of the Convention. 

Nonetheless, difficulties arose from the need to have a limited number of indicators, which therefore could not take into consideration some of the key aspects of the CRPD requirements that would require a large number of conformity indicators to be formulated. As a result, several of the proposed indicators provided isolated conclusions and did not allow for a general analysis of the legal frameworks conformity with the CRPD requirements for each sector, such as guaranteeing the right of persons with disabilities to quality education, to just and favourable conditions of work and to access to information and communications.

Another main difficulty was the selection of indicators that measure conformity with the CRPD requirements that would be expected to be included in a country’s legal framework. The exercise required distinguishing practical measures that are likely to be included in administrative instructions from more overreaching obligations that are likely to be included in laws and regulations. Formulating indicators of conformity with an obligation to take practical measures will likely result in negative findings raising doubts as to whether the legal framework fell short of conformity with the CRPD or whether these measures may in fact be respected despite the lack of legal intervention. This was for instance revealed in the application of indicators measuring conformity with the CRPD obligations to provide persons with disabilities with support in education and forms of live assistance in facilities and serviced open or provided to the public. The application of these two indicators revealed that all or most of the national legal frameworks were not in conformity with the CRPD requirements. In the case of the Education Indicator measuring conformity with the provision of support in education, the negative result was undermined by the inclusion of such a requirement in relevant national policy documents. In the case of the Accessibility Indicator measuring conformity with the requirement to provide persons with disabilities with forms of live assistance, the negative result most likely indicates that such a requirement should not be expected to be included in a legal framework as it relates to the practical management and organization of facilities and services open or provided to the public. Therefore, such CRPD requirements appear to be better measured through process or outcome indicators rather than through structural indicators that measure legal conformity. 

Despite their limitations, the indicators revealed to be an efficient means to measure conformity with the national legal frameworks with the CRPD. The application of the indicators to the legal frameworks of the selected countries has shown that none of these legal frameworks are in full conformity with the standards and requirements of the CRPD in the selected areas. Despite the fact that many of the requirements of the CRPD may be implemented in practice, the examination of the legal frameworks of the selected countries reflected the complex challenges posed by the Convention. The several legal gaps identified in this study highlight the continued efforts required by State Parties in order to achieve compliance with the CRPD. 

The application of the indicators revealed some difficulties that mainly resulted from the need to interpret relevant national legal clauses in order to conclude whether or not they were in conformity with the Convention. The interpretation of legal texts is generally the responsibility of executing or judicial authorities in each country. It would be reasonable to expect national authorities to interpret national law in conformity with ratified international treaties as is the case of the CRPD in three of the four selected countries. The study therefore refrained from providing extensive interpretation to the examined legal clauses but overcame difficulties related to interpretation by taking into consideration the specific objective pursued by each indicator. 

Indeed, some difficulty arose in situations where the CRPD requirement could be implied from one or more legal clauses but was not clearly or explicitly translated in the national legal framework. In these instances, the objective pursued through the indicator was taken into consideration in order to assign the conformity value rather than the practical impact of the implicit legal clauses. For instance, in applying the indicator measuring conformity with the obligation of accessibility at the workplaces, it was found that most of the legal frameworks did not clearly state that workplaces should be made accessible for persons with disabilities, but that workplaces could practically be covered under the general obligation to make all buildings and facilities accessible. However, as this indicator’s purpose intends to measure whether the accessibility obligation was specifically imposed in workplaces in order to guarantee an accessible work environment for persons with disabilities, the national legal frameworks that did not explicitly include this obligation were found not to be in compliance with the CRPD.

A similar approach was adopted to overcome the difference in legal terminologies. In cases where the relevant legal clauses used a legal terminology that differed from the wording of the CRPD or the indicators, the legal framework was found to be in conformity with the CRPD as long as the objective pursued by the indicator was met. For instance, a legal clause that guaranteed the access of persons with disabilities to all educational establishments without discrimination on the basis of disability was considered to guarantee access to primary, secondary and tertiary education as long as these types of establishments were under the same administrative authority in charge of educational establishments. 

Despite these limitations, the application of the indicators allowed to draw initial conclusions regarding the conformity of the national legal frameworks of the selected countries to the requirements of the Convention in the selected areas. This study remains however an initial experiment to develop indicators and to offer a preliminary assessment of the conformity of the legal frameworks of the selected Arab countries with the CRPD.

Indeed, in this very limited selection of indicators it was found that the legal framework of the United Arab Emirates reached the highest total conformity value while the legal framework of Lebanon reached the lowest value. In the sector of education, the legal frameworks of the United Arab Emirates reached the highest conformity value while the framework of Tunisia obtained the lowest value. In the area of employment and accessibility, the legal framework of Tunisia reached the highest conformity value while the frameworks of Lebanon and the Sudan reached the lowest value.

The legal framework of Lebanon reached a total conformity value of 27 over a maximum of 48. It was found to be mostly in conformity with the CRPD in the areas of education and employment but not in the area of accessibility. In the area of education, the legal framework of Lebanon reached a conformity value of 14 over a maximum of 22. It was found to be generally in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements according to the indicators to guarantee the right to access education for persons with disabilities on equal basis with others, to ensure accessibility in education and to guarantee the right to quality education, but it did not conform with the CRPD requirements related to the respect for the rights of persons with disabilities in education. In the area of work and employment, Lebanon’s legal framework reached a conformity value of 6 over a maximum of 10. According to the indicators, it was found to be generally in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements to guarantee the right of persons with disabilities to access employment without discrimination and to establish positive measures to promote the employment of persons with disabilities in the public and private sector. It did not however conform with the selected CRPD requirements to ensure accessibility and to provide reasonable accommodation in the workplaces. In the area of accessibility, Lebanon’s legal framework reached a conformity value of 7 over a maximum of 16. It is generally in conformance with the selected CRPD requirements related to guaranteeing accessibility to the physical environment and to transport. According to the indicators, the selected CRPD requirements related to ensuring accessibility in information and communications and in facilities and services open or provided to the public were not found to be present in the legal framework. 

The legal framework of Sudan reached a total conformity value of 28 over a maximum of 48. It was found to be generally in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements in the areas of education and work but not in the area of accessibility. In the area of education, the legal framework of the Sudan reached a conformity value of 15 over a maximum of 22. According to the indicators, it was found to be in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements guaranteeing access to education for persons with disabilities without discrimination on the basis of disability and the respect for their rights within education. However, provisions related to the selected CRPD requirements to ensure accessibility in education and to guarantee the right to quality education were not found in the legal framework. Regarding work and employment, the legal framework of the Sudan reached a conformity value of 6 over a maximum of 10. It was found to be generally in conformance with the selected CRPD requirements to guarantee the right of persons with disabilities to access employment without discrimination, to provide reasonable accommodation in the workplaces and to establish positive measures to promote the employment of persons with disabilities. It did not however conform with the selected CRPD requirements to ensure accessibility in the workplace. In the area of accessibility, the Sudan’s legal framework reached a conformity value of 7 over a maximum of 16. It was generally in conformance with the selected CRPD requirements related to ensuring accessibility to the physical environment and to transport. According to the indicators, the selected CRPD requirements related to ensuring accessibility in information and communications and in facilities and services open or provided to the public were not found to be present in the legal framework. 

The legal framework of Tunisia reached a total conformity value of 29 over a maximum of 48. It was found to be generally in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements in the area work and accessibility but not in the area of education. In the area of education, the legal framework of Tunisia reached a conformity value of 9 over a maximum of 22, the lowest in this sector among the four countries. While it was found to be partly in conformity with the selected CRPD requirements related to guaranteeing the right of persons with disabilities to access education and to ensuring accessibility in education, it was not found to be in conformance with the selected CRPD requirements related to guaranteeing the respect for rights in education and to quality education according to the indicators. In the area of work and employment, the legal framework of Tunisia reached a conformance value of 8 over a maximum of 10, the highest in this sector among the four countries. It was found to be generally in conformance with all of the selected CRPD requirements in the employment sector, with the exception of the requirement to provide reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities in the workplace. In the area of accessibility, the legal framework of Tunisia reached a conformance value of 12 over a maximum of 16, the highest in this sector among the four countries.

The legal framework of the United Arab Emirates reached a total conformance value of 35 over a maximum of 48. It is the framework that ranked the highest among the four selected countries. It was found to be generally in conformance with the selected CRPD requirements in all sectors. In the area of education, the legal framework of the United Arab Emirates reached a conformance value of 19 over a maximum of 22, the highest in this sector among the four selected countries. In the area of work and employment, the legal framework of the United Arab Emirates reached a conformance value of 7 over a maximum of 10. It was found to be mostly in conformance with all of the selected CRPD requirements in both sectors, but did not conform with the requirement to ensure accessibility in education and employment. In the area of accessibility, the legal framework of the United Arab Emirates reached a conformance value of 9 over a maximum of 16. It was found to be mostly in conformance with most of the selected CRPD requirements in this sector, except for the selected indicator related to ensuring accessibility in facilities and services open or provided to the public. 

Recommendations

In light of these conclusions, the following recommendations addressed to the selected countries can be formulated:

• Review the national legal frameworks to ensure compliance with the CRPD;
• Adopt necessary legislative and administrative measures to include provisions guaranteeing the standards and requirements of the Convention in the area of education, work and employment and accessibility;
• Ensure conformance with the CRPD in the elaboration and implementation of national strategies and action plans;
• Adopt general anti-discrimination laws that include disability as a protected ground and provide persons with disabilities with a legal remedy in case of violations in order to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee equality for persons with disabilities with others in all areas and aspects of society.