THEO VAN BOVEN LECTURE by Prof. Dr. Theresia Degener

Inclusive equality and the human rights model of disability – 10 years jurisprudence of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the coming into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities internationally as well as the 10th anniversary of the Committee of 18 independent experts which monitors the treaty internationally.

The CRPD has been called the most innovative human rights treaty with many firsts. This lecture will highlight the innovations it has brought to the international canon of human rights law and the (inter)national human rights mechanisms. In particular, it will address General Comment No 6 on equality and non-discrimination as enshrined in Art. 5 CRPD, which introduces a new model of equality to human rights law.

BIO

Theresia Degener is professor of Law and Disability Studies at Protestant University of Applied Sciences in Bochum, Germany and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. She is the director of the Bochum Centre for Disability Studies (BODYS) and Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She co-authored the background study of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Quinn / Degener (2002) Human rights and disability: The current use and future potential of United Nations human rights instruments in the context of disability, OHCHR, United Nations and has participated in drafting the CRPD. Her research fields are anti-discrimination law, human rights, disability studies and gender studies.