Mr. Markus Schefer:

I have been asked to give a brief reply to a question. When the committee decides on cases under the optional protocol, it contributes not only to deciding individual cases but also the development of a body of law. That is true for any court. We have not been able to do this in the committee to a very large extent because we have only existed for a couple of years.

Even during this short period we have created a body of law on the principle of non-refoulementin the area of disabilities rights. Migration authorities may have decided an asylum seeker from another country may need to be removed from the country and repatriated to the country of origin. What would be the legal requirements under the convention? We have spelled this out in several cases and they come to us quite often. Quite frequently we are required to take interim measures. It is not each individual case that is being decided on its own and we are creating a body of law that pertains to the problem of removing persons with disabilities from a country and repatriating to a country of origin, where he or she might face death within a couple of months or persecution by family and society as a whole and so on.

The Senator mentioned a definition of disability under the convention.

Our case law under the optional protocol clarified that albinism is also an impairment that transforms or may transform into a disability depending on the society. Participating in the individual reporting of the optional protocol allows a country to also give the input necessary through its cases to contribute to the body of law that we develop in the committee.

In addition, our cases are structured in a way that give recommendations in the individual case and the general recommendations on what laws to change. That is certainly also important for other countries to look at, when one looks at the concluding observations. For example, if one looks at the first case against Spain in which we decided on the right to education, that is a case that will also set the tone for other countries.

It is an integral part of what the UNCRPD means. The UNCRPD is law and under the European Convention on Human Rights we are all used to the fact that the European Court of Human Rights creates a body of law and the same applies under the UNCRPD.