Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-02-Speech-2-303"
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"en.20030902.11.2-303"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I wish first of all to join with everyone who has already congratulated Mrs Lynne on her excellent and exhaustive work examining the challenges facing people with disabilities and to congratulate Mrs Cerdeira Morterero on the major contribution made by the opinion she has delivered.
As has already been emphasised in this debate, it is estimated that around 600 million people in the world are affected by one form of disability or another. This equates to 10% of the world’s population, and there is a direct link between disability on the one hand and poverty and social exclusion on the other. The problem faced by disabled citizens is the way in which principles of equality and non-discrimination are applied, in other words, the problems in accessing the rights of full citizenship also faced by people who are discriminated against on any other grounds. The most important aspect of overcoming this discrimination, furthermore, is the attitude that we all take in the various decisions we face in our daily lives.
We in the European Parliament’s intergroup for disabled persons – and I wish at this juncture to make a special reference to the group’s chairman, Mr Richard Howitt, who has been tireless in chairing this intergroup - in close collaboration with the European Disability Forum, we have, despite everything that has been achieved, noted some points on both minor and major issues that concern everyone: with regard to disabled access to city buses, to banning obstacles in the built environment and with regard to telecommunications. Much, however, remains to be done.
As our rapporteur said, it is curious that the Commission should consider a new United Nations convention to be needed to promote and protect the rights and dignity of disabled persons alongside other conventions devoted to specific areas of human rights and yet is not of the view that this principle should also apply to European legislation.
We hope that the Commission will pay sufficient attention to the Disabled People's Parliament that will be meeting in our own Parliament buildings in Brussels in November. We also hope that it will then think not only about the legislative initiatives that must be taken at international and Member-State level, but also about those that the Commission itself will be taking."@en1
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