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ĐORĐEVIĆ v. CROATIA JUDGMENT
They should create, implement and monitor legislation concerning the standards and
regulation of professionals and care settings, in order to make abuse of people with
disabilities less likely through action taken or through failure to act.
4. Legal protection
Member States should ensure access to the criminal justice system and provision of
redress and/or compensation to people with disabilities who have been victims of
abuse at least to the same extent as other citizens. Where necessary additional
assistance should be provided to remove physical and other barriers for people with
disabilities.
People with disabilities are applicants under civil law whose rights should be
safeguarded. Member States should therefore ensure that professionals working within
the criminal justice system treat people with disabilities without discrimination and in
such a way as to guarantee them equality of opportunity in the exercise of their rights
as citizens.
...”
B. Parliamentary Assembly
78. The relevant parts of Resolution 1642 (2009) of the Parliamentary
Assembly on access to rights for people with disabilities and their full and
active participation in society (adopted on 26 January 2009) read as follows.
“1. More than one person in every 10 suffers from some form of disability,
representing a total of 650 million people worldwide, with an even greater ratio of up
to 200 million in Europe alone. There is a correlation between age and disability: as
the population ages and health care improves, the number of people with disabilities
in Europe grows, and it will continue to grow.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls that the Council of Europe’s European
Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5) protects all people, including those with
disabilities, and that Article 15 of the revised European Social Charter (ETS No. 163)
explicitly guarantees people with disabilities the effective exercise of the right to
independence, social integration and participation in the life of the community. A
more recent and eagerly awaited text, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, came into force with effect from 3 May 2008. The
Assembly welcomes this text, which gives a detailed description of the rights of
people, including children, with disabilities, and will certainly contribute to the
change of perception needed to improve the situation of people with physical or
mental disabilities.
3. The Assembly notes that, in practice, the access of people with physical or
mental disabilities to their rights on an equal basis with those of people without
disabilities frequently remains wishful thinking and proves inadequate. It therefore
welcomes the preparation by the Council of Europe of the Disability Action Plan to
promote the rights and participation of people with disabilities in society for 20062015 (Recommendation Rec(2006)5 of the Committee of Ministers), which
endeavours to find practical responses to the most serious and most common problems