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Right to Work of Persons with Disabilities: The Public-Private Interface

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Inclusive Sustainability

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Abstract

Within the regulatory framework outlined by the International Labour Organisation, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes that the State must take a proactive approach and fulfil the right to work of persons with disabilities (different abilities). This entails interaction between the public and private sector. States have indeed acted by means such as the creation of quotas in favour of the disabled and other initiatives, as shown by the Lutizh Centre in Ukraine. However, although statistics vary from country to country, they demonstrate that the percentage of persons with disabilities with an employment is lower than that of other groups in society in both developed and developing countries. People with disabilities are often stuck in sheltered or supported employment and the situation is worse for vulnerable sub-groups, whereby women are particularly disadvantaged. Within the context of inclusive sustainability, it is therefore necessary that the State intervene comprehensively to improve: (1) access to labour; (2) reasonable accommodation; and (3) workplace accessibility. It remains to be seen, however, how rhetoric is translated into practice: whilst States have a duty to eliminate labour discrimination immediately, they only have an obligation to implement labour rights progressively and to the maximum of their capacity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 271(III)A of 10 December 1948.

  2. 2.

    Opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 and 1057 UNTS 407, entered into force 23 March 1976.

  3. 3.

    ILO, Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Adopted by the International Labour Conference at Its Eighty-sixth Session, Geneva, 18 June 1998 (Annex revised 15 June 2010)

  4. 4.

    Opened for signature 13 December 2006, 2515 UNTS 3, entered into force 3 May 2008.

  5. 5.

    See HRCte, Thematic Study on the Work and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, UN Doc. A/HRC/22/25 (2012) and Gauthier De Beco, Disability in International Human Rights Law (OUP, 2021) at 135.

  6. 6.

    Adopted 22 June 1955.

  7. 7.

    Opened for signature 25 Jun 1958, entered into force 15 June 1960.

  8. 8.

    Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Recommendation, 1958 (No. 111), adopted 25 June 1958.

  9. 9.

    Adopted 23 June 1965.

  10. 10.

    Opened for signature 29 June 1967, entered into force 1 November 1969.

  11. 11.

    Opened for signature 20 Jun 1983, entered into force 20 Jun 1985.

  12. 12.

    Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Recommendation (No. 168), adopted 20 June 1983.

  13. 13.

    Ilias Bantekas, Facundo Pennilas and Stefan Trömelat, ‘Article 27: Work and Employment’, in Ilias Bantekas, Michael Ashley Stein and Dimitris Anastasiou (eds.), The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (OUP, 2018) 764, at 767.

  14. 14.

    CESCR, General Comment No. 5 on Persons with Disabilities (1994) at para. 21.

  15. 15.

    UN General Assembly, Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, A/RES/48/96, 20 December 1993.

  16. 16.

    ILO, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention (No. 159) 20 June 1985. See also Arthur O’Reilly, The Right to Decent Work of Persons with Disabilities (2007) at 67.

  17. 17.

    O’Reilly, The Right (2007) at 71.

  18. 18.

    Kathy Padkapayeva, Andrew Posen, Amin Yazdani, Alexis Buettgen, Quenby Mahood & Emile Tompa, Workplace Accommodations for Persons with Physical Disabilities: Evidence Synthesis of the Peer-reviewed Literature (2017) 39(21) Disability and Rehabilitation 2134, at 2141.

  19. 19.

    The Economic Benefits of Disability Employment, Estimates of the Labour Supply Impacts of the OECD Integration Scenario and the National Disability Insurance Scheme using SDAC 2009, November 2011, at 19.

  20. 20.

    Ibid.

  21. 21.

    Ibid.

  22. 22.

    Adopted on 13 December 2002.

  23. 23.

    O’Reilly, The Right (2007) at 20, paras 4.1.1 and 4.1.2.

  24. 24.

    Trade Unions and Workers with Disabilities: Promoting Decent Work, Combating Discrimination Labour Education, No. 1372004/4, at 20.

  25. 25.

    Diane Lynn Smith, ‘Employment Status of Women with Disabilities from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (1995–2002)’ (2007) 29(2) Work 127.

  26. 26.

    Martha N. Ozawa and Yeong Hun Yeo, ‘Work Status and Work Performance of People with Disabilities’ (2006) 17(3) Journal of Disability Policy Studies 180.

  27. 27.

    O’Reilly, The Right (2007) at 49.

  28. 28.

    Augustina Naami, ‘Breaking the Barrier: Ghanaians Perceptions about the Social Model’ (2014) 25(1) Disability, CBR and Inclusive Development 21, at 25.

  29. 29.

    Natacha David, ‘Women with Disabilities – Dual Discrimination’, in Trade Unions and Workers with Disabilities: Promoting Decent Work, Combating Discrimination, Labour Education, No. 137, 2004/4, at 20.

  30. 30.

    See Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, People with Disability in Australia, Web Report, 2 October 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/disability/people-with-disability-in-australia/contents/employment/unemployment.

  31. 31.

    Augustina Naami, ‘Disability, Gender, and Employment Relationships in Africa: The Case of Ghana’ (2015) 4(1) African Journal of Disability 95.

  32. 32.

    David, Women with Disabilities (2004) at 20.

  33. 33.

    World Conference of the UN Decade for Women, Quality, Development and Peace, Report, A/CONF.94/35 (1980).

  34. 34.

    World Conference of the UN Decade for Women, Report to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women, Equality, Development and Peace (1985).

  35. 35.

    Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 15 September 1995.

  36. 36.

    European Disability Forum, Second Manifesto on the Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in the European Union A Toolkit for Activists and Policymakers (2011) at para. 12.3.

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Opened for signature 20 June 1983, ILO 195, entered into force 20 June 1985.

  39. 39.

    Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons, General Survey on the Reports on the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention (No. 159) and Recommendation (No 168) (1998) at para 114.

  40. 40.

    ILO, People with Intellectual Disabilities: Achieving Full Participation in Training and Employment, Lusaka Declaration (2010).

  41. 41.

    Ibid.

  42. 42.

    ILO, Business as Unusual: Making Workplaces Inclusive of People with Disabilities (2014) at 25.

  43. 43.

    UN GA Resolution 2856 (XXVI), 20 December 1971, emphasis added.

  44. 44.

    Emphasis added.

  45. 45.

    ILO and Irish Aid, People with Intellectual Disabilities – Opening Pathways to Training and Employment in the African Region (2010) at 9.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., at 10.

  47. 47.

    Ariella Meltzer, Shona Bates, Sally Robinson, Rosemary Kayess, Karen R. Fisher and Ilan Katz, What Do People With Intellectual Disability Think about Their Jobs and the Support They Receive at Work? A Comparative Study of Three Employment Support Models (2016) at 33–34.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., at 15.

  49. 49.

    ILO and Irish Aid, People with Intellectual Disabilities (2010) at 14.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., at 17–18.

  51. 51.

    HRCte, Thematic Study (2012) at 3, para. 32.

  52. 52.

    Ibid., at para. 31.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., at para. 32.

  54. 54.

    ILO, Managing Disability in the Workplace (2002) at 20–21.

  55. 55.

    Kathy Padkapayeva, Andrew Posen, Amin Yazdani, Alexis Buettgen, Quenby Mahood & Emile Tompa, ‘Workplace Accommodations for Persons with Physical Disabilities: Evidence Synthesis of the Peer-Reviewed Literature’ (2017) 39(21) Disability and Rehabilitation 2134, at 2137 ff.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., at 2137.

  57. 57.

    ILO, Achieving Equal Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities through Legislation (2014) at 39.

  58. 58.

    Pragashnie Govender et al., ‘Employing People with Disabilities in South Africa’ (2011) 41(1) South African Journal of Occupational Therapy 24.

  59. 59.

    Ibid.

  60. 60.

    Ibid.

  61. 61.

    Ibid.

  62. 62.

    Brian Kwazi Majola and Rubby Dhunapth, ‘The Development of Disability-related Employment Policies in the South African Public Service’ (2016) 14 Problems and Perspectives in Management 150.

  63. 63.

    HRCte, Thematic Study (2012) at 4, para. 32.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., at 8–9, para. 27.

  65. 65.

    Majola and Dhunapth, ‘The Development of Disability-related Employment Policies’ (2016).

  66. 66.

    Janikke Solstad Vedeler and Naomi Schreuer, ‘Policy in Action: Stories on the Workplace Accommodation Process’ (2011) 22(2) Journal of Disability Policy Studies 95, at 96.

  67. 67.

    Ibid., at 102.

  68. 68.

    OHCHR , Analytical Study on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Context of Climate Change, UN Doc A/HRC/44/30 (2020) at para. 62.

  69. 69.

    Section 3.

  70. 70.

    HRCte, Thematic Study (2012) at 10, para. 36.

  71. 71.

    O’Reilly, The Right (2007) at 44–45.

  72. 72.

    ‘I practise inclusion’.

  73. 73.

    Daryoush Vaziri et al., Disabled Entrepreneurship and Self-employment: The Role of Technology and Policy Building, Background Paper for the OECD Project on Inclusive Entrepreneurship (2014).

  74. 74.

    ProBono Australia, People with Disability Turn to Entrepreneurship 2020.

  75. 75.

    Vaziri et al., Disabled Entrepreneurship (2014) at 5.

  76. 76.

    European Commission, Digital Agenda for Europe: Rebooting Europe’s Economy (2014).

  77. 77.

    ILO, Trade Unions and Workers with Disabilities (2004) at 38.

  78. 78.

    Websites accessed 18 January 2022.

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  1. School of Law, University of New England, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Kip Werren & Guy Charlton

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  1. Kip Werren
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  1. Law School, University of New England, Sydney, Australia | Centre for European Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Law Department, European University Institute, Firenze, Italy

    Ottavio Quirico

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Werren, K., Charlton, G. (2022). Right to Work of Persons with Disabilities: The Public-Private Interface. In: Quirico, O. (eds) Inclusive Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0782-1_6

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