On 14 February 2025, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the European Union of the Deaf (EUD) submitted a joint written contribution to upcoming General Comment number 9 of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) on Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on public and private participation.
As a reminder, General Comments are doctrine and comments on the meaning of specific provisions of the CRPD, guiding State Parties and stakeholders on how to meaningfully implement these provision.
As part of this process of drafting the General Comment, the CRPD Committee will hold a day of general discussion on 20 March 2025 on Article 29. The CRPD Committee launched a call for written submissions to gather inputs and perspectives of various constituencies of persons with disabilities through their representative organisations. In this context, the EUD and the WFD developed a joint written contribution to highlight what the rights of deaf people to participate in political and public life through Article 29 CRPD entitle.
The joint contribution addresses the right of deaf people to have full and equal participation in political and public life through inclusive political and public environments in the national sign languages. This is realised through professional and accredited national sign language interpreters and/or through an environment provided with national sign language users.
This right should be fulfilled by the States parties to the CRPD in the five following areas:
- Political campaigning in national sign language for deaf candidates and deaf voters. This includes not only political advertisements, debates, and public engagements, but also media communication and representation.
- Participation of deaf people in Parliament and public offices in national sign language as both deaf candidates and deaf elected officials. It is achieved through full access to professional and accredited national sign language interpretation throughout the electoral process; the provision of financial resources to cover accessibility costs for individual campaigns; and ensuring that deaf politicians have the necessary support to carry out their mandates effectively. Additionally, political parties must actively promote the inclusion of deaf candidates.
- Information on political participation in national sign language. It should be provided for political broadcasts, election-related websites, the election call centers, and the provision of accessible information on voting rights and procedures.
- Right to vote without structural barriers related to legal capacity and without practical barriers related to the lack of accessibility of electoral environments including polling stations, election materials and procedures in national sign languages.
- Right to public participation in the national sign language through the submission of petitions, the filing of complaints to the ombudsperson and other complaint mechanisms that should be fully accessible for them to express in national sign language and receive responses in this language.
The joint written contribution can be found on the webpage of the CRPD Committee addressing the Day of General Discussion and can be downloaded through this link.
After the Day of the General Discussion on 20 March 2025, the CRPD Committee will analyse all the written contributions and will compile them to issue a draft outline of the General Comment on Article 29 CRPD. As soon as the draft outline is published, the EUD and the WFD will follow up on its content and make sure the perspectives of deaf people are well included and, if needed, will submit a second contribution.
