The Disability Society has today said it’s pleased to hear that the Government is on track in its mission to extend the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Gibraltar.

A spokesperson said:

“The Disability Society has for many years publicly called for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be extended to Gibraltar. In fact we have worked on this issue with not only this Government but the previous Government. Our last press release in October 2021 recognised that the extension of the UN Convention to Gibraltar is more complex because Gibraltar is not a sovereign state or a member state of the United Nations. For these reasons the extension of the UN Convention to Gibraltar can only be done by the Government of the United Kingdom as a member state of the UN. The necessary framework must be in place in Gibraltar’s national law for the extension to take place to prevent Gibraltar from becoming immediately in breach of the Convention when it becomes active. The Disability Society has always been aware of this fact and, for this reason, worked hard with this Government to bring about the Disability Act 2017 also known as “Agnes Law” after our late chairwoman Mrs Agnes Valarino. Our last press release on this subject also stated that what is not acceptable is the failure of Government to provide a date of commencement of Sections 13 & 14 of the Disability Act 2017.

“The Disability Society was therefore very pleased to hear the words of the Chief Minister in Parliament last week. He stated that the Government was on target for extension of the UN Convention to be completed within the lifetime of this Parliament. He can be assured that the Disability Society will continue to lobby Government until the rights under the UN Convention are achieved for those with disabilities in Gibraltar.”