Article 30 - Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport
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Working Group | References
Draft article 24
131. There was unanimous support for this article and many valuable proposals to strengthen it need to be reflected on further.
132. There was general support to deal with the issues of participation in leisure, sport and recreation, and participation in cultural life separately, but both in the same article.
133. There was general support to include a number of proposals to broaden the scope of the article. These included tourism, and the right of children with disabilities to play.
134. There was a proposal to include a provision on participation in religious life in draft article 24 or elsewhere in the text. The general feeling of the room, however, was not to include such a provision in this article.
Paragraph 1 Chapeau
135. There was general support to include the phrase “on an equal basis with others” within the chapeau of paragraph 1, so that it now reads:
1. States Parties recognise the right of all persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities:
136. There was general support to replace the word “community” with “society” in the paragraph. There was general agreement that this sub paragraph is about enjoyment of a right, rather than being a measure to implement a right. There was general agreement, therefore, to a proposal to make the paragraph 1 bis rather than 1 (a).
137. It now reads:
1bis. States Parties shall also take appropriate measures to enable persons with disabilities to have the opportunity to develop and utilise their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their benefit, but also for the enrichment of society.
Sub-paragraphs (b), (c) and (d)
138. There was general support to shorten these sub paragraphs and to include text related to tourism. They now read:
(b) enjoy access to cultural materials in all accessible formats;
(c) enjoy access to television programmes, films, theatre, and other cultural activities, in all accessible formats;
(d) enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and the tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance;
139. A proposal to replace “intellectual property rights” with “copyright” received strong support, but there was no general agreement.
140. The text now reads:
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that laws protecting [intellectual property rights] [copyright] do not constitute an unreasonable or discriminatory barrier to access by persons with disabilities to cultural materials, while respecting the provisions of international law.
141. There was no agreement on this paragraph, with some delegations proposing to delete it, and others proposing to retain it.
142. A compromise formula was proposed that gained support from those who supported retention of the paragraph. That proposal reads:
3. Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture.
Paragraph 4 chapeau
143. There was general support to amend the chapeau to make it clear that the paragraph does not refer to an existing right to participate in sport and leisure activities. It now reads:
4. With a view to enabling persons with disabilities to participate on an equal basis as others in recreational, leisure and sporting activities, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to:
Sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d)
144. Some delegations proposed to remove the word “mainstream” from sub paragraph (a) so that disability specific activities would not be ruled out. Others thought, however, that because an overall aim of the convention is the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream, the deletion would not be appropriate. An alternative approach was suggested to include a reference to these disability specific activities in sub paragraph (b).
145. There was general support for inclusion of the concept of participation at local or municipal levels.
146. The paragraphs currently read:
(a) Encourage and promote the participation, to the fullest extent possible, of persons with disabilities in mainstream sporting activities at all levels;
(b) ensure that persons with disabilities have an opportunity to organise develop and participate in disability specific sporting and recreational activities and encourage the provision of appropriate instruction, training and resources in support that is available to other participants;
(c) ensure that persons with disabilities have access to sporting and recreational and tourism venues , and that persons with disabilities have equal access to participating in sporting activities within the education system;
(cbis) children with disabilities have equal access to participation in play, recreation, and leisure and sporting activities, including those in the school system
(d) ensure that persons with disabilities have access to services from those involved in the organisation of recreational, tourism, leisure and sporting activities.
147. The draft article was referred to the facilitator (Monthian Buntan, Thailand) for further discussion.