" UK faces UN examination: Government cuts caused ‘human catastrophe’ "
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/uk-faces-un-examination-government-cuts-caused-human-catastrophe/
Whilst I am not really comfortable with the words "human catastrophe", for anybody that can be bothered to look at the evidence the many breaches of the UN Convention by the UK government are pretty clear. Major hardship has undoubtedly been caused to hundreds of thousands of chronically ill and disabled people over the austerity years, as these groups have been hit hardest of all. As mine was one of the lead cases used by Disability Rights UK (re the lack of adapted housing and the discriminatory allocation process) in their submission, I followed this closely.
We are still one of the wealthiest countries in the world but hard fought for disability rights are being eroded. The UK is rightly held to a higher standard than poorer countries. The government, rather than burying their heads in the sand should take on board what the UN Committee have said. They were right to pull up the government for its evasiveness, misuse of statistics and for not seeing things through the eyes of disabled people on the wrong end of their disproportionate cuts.
Just yesterday, we can see yet more clear evidence of how the government are failing disabled people. First, (from Disability Rights UK): "It is truly shocking to learn today from a survey by the National Housing Federation that housing associations are having to cut plans to build housing for older and disabled people by 85% because of Government dithering and inaction." Also, in the Independent, we see that the government are wasting tens of millions of pounds a year trying to stop chronically ill and disabled people getting support that they are entitled to, whilst the success rate for claimants has continued to soar (to 70% for ESA and 65% for PIP for cases heard on appeal).
Of course there will be some people who will simply dismiss the findings of the UN Committee without even bothering to listen to the evidence presented to the UN by various disability organisations or the full findings of the Committee, but they are best ignored, in my opinion. The government should take the Committee's findings on board and take action to abide by the provisions of the UNCRPD. The government's claims of being a world leader is, sadly, not supported by the evidence. Rather than continuing to be pulled up for not abiding by the provisions of a Convention that the UK signed up to, if they are going to continue to not abide by its provisions, the UK government should do the only honest thing left and pull out of the Convention.
