This week ENIL adopted joint amendments together with EDF, Mental Health Europe, Inclusion Europe, Age Platform and EUCAP.
These amendments are part of our advocacy campaign to defend the right of legal capacity. Our organisations want to ensure that governments do not receive additional instruments to enforce guardianship. No disabled person must be deprived of the right to their property, or their decision where to live. Authorities must treat sensitive data on disabled citizens with the same respect as with the rest of the population.
These rights are called into question through the proposed regulation on the protection of adults which is being done to implement the 2000 Hague Convention in the EU. The Hague Convention and the regulation aim to install procedures for the cross-border recognition of guardianship or placements in institutions. No national laws would have to be changed but the deprivation of legal capacity would acquire additional legitimacy.
The proposed regulation also foresees the introduction and interconnection of central registers where all people affected by guardianship or regimes or similar injustices would have to be entered into, EU wide. All authorities designated by the national governments, could access a wealth of private information of disabled citizens with one click.
ENIL is opposing those changes. Already in January ENIL published our own amendments. With the new joint amendments we are sending a much stronger statement.
Our amendments come at a crucial moment. On Monday the rapporteur in the European Parliament, MEP Yana Toom, will publish her report. The shadow rapporteurs will follow suit.
Our joint amendments
In our joint amendments our organisations make it clear that the provisions of the Hague Convention need to be adopted to the EU legal context which has been shaped by the UN CRPD. We are asking for all elements that entail a deprivation of legal capacity to be removed from the legislation. We do not want procedures for the cross-border recognition of guardianship or placements in institutions. Also, we are asking for the removal of the central registers.
Communication with the European Parliament
In the past weeks we are able to talk to the teams of rapporteur MEP Toom and the shadow rapporteur of the Socialists & Democrats for the file, MEP Krystof Smiszek. The team of MEP Smiszek seemed to be receptive to our proposals. The team of MEP Toom acknowledged the importance of the UN CRPD but did not commit to a complete removal of all elements of legal capacity or of the central registers.
Since last Thursdays we have sent our joint amendments to the rapporteur, the shadow rapporteurs and all members of the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs. We hope that the combined voice of our organisations will provide additional motivations to MEPs to take our proposals into consideration.
Developments in the EU Council
Already last year we started reaching out to national governments. We had opportunities to meet with representatives of the governments of Belgium and Germany. During our meeting with the Polish Council Presidency we also raised the issue of the regulation on the protection of adults. During the past weeks we were able to meet additional representatives of national governments.
According to our information, a group of countries has formed that is advocating for a stronger role of supported decision-making in the regulation to bring it in line with the UN CRPD. A second group led by Germany is asking for the removal of the central registers. This group is unfortunately not primarily motivated by human rights concerns.
Our joint amendments have been distributed widely among national governments. We hope to provide an encouragement for human rights concerns to play a stronger role.
ENIL and our partner organisations will continue to speak to all actors involved, to transport information and to present our proposals. We will keep you informed on further developments.
You can download the full amendments here: Word format, pdf format
