Australia lagging on disability rights

Alastair McEwin, the Disability Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, has declared that Australia is progressing too slowly on disability rights. McEwin criticised the current guardianship laws in particular, which allow an appointee to legally make decisions on behalf of a person under guardianship – rather than support the individual to make their own decision – which is at odds with the rights-based approach enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. According to McEwin, the current laws are “butchering a number of human rights”. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is due to report on Australia’s progress later this year.

Leave a comment