The European Committee of Social Rights said in a statement Monday that they found France in violation of the European Social Charter over the country’s failure to implement accessibility regulations to aid citizens with disabilities.
The statement says they found against France:
because of the failure of the authorities to adopt effective measures within a reasonable timeframe with regard to the access to social support services and to financial support, the accessibility of buildings, facilities and public transport, as well as to develop and adopt a coordinated policy for social integration and participation in the life of the community by persons with disabilities.
The Committee says that such regulations are required under Article 15§3 of the Charter.
According to the Committee’s decision, France had also prevented the effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities of the right to benefit from social welfare services (Article 14§1), the right to protection from poverty and social exclusion (Article 30), the right to housing (Article 31§1 and 3) and the right to protection of health (Article 11§1).
The committee said unanimously that there France violated Article 15§3 of the Charter because of its failures to:
- “adopt effective measures within a reasonable timeframe with regard to the access to social support services and to financial support;”
- “adopt effective measures within a reasonable timeframe with regard to the accessibility of buildings and facilities;”
- “adopt effective measures within a reasonable timeframe with regard to the accessibility of public transport;” and to
- “develop and adopt a coordinated policy for social integration and participation in the life of the community by persons with disabilities.”
They further stated unanimously that France violated Article 15§1, Article 11§1 and Article 16 of the Charter on three grounds:
- Authorities failed to address issues of accessibility and inclusion for children and adolescents with disabilities in schools;
- Authorities did not seek to solve accessibility problems in healthcare; and
- Authorities failed to protect families by not addressing “the shortage of support services and the lack of accessibility of buildings and facilities and public transport.”
The decision was only made public on Monday. The committee’s decision on the case’s merits was originally adopted on October 19 2022, and the notification on the merits was issued 2 months later on December 16.
