From 14 to 16 June, a joint delegation from the EP’s EU monitoring UNCRPD Framework will join the 15th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP15) that will take place at the United Nations Headquarters.

MEP Alex Agius Saliba was nominated by his political group, the Socialists and Democrats, as one of seven MEPs from three Parliamentary Committees that will take part in the Conference of States Parties to the UNCRPD in New York, i.e. the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and the Committee on Petitions.

At the beginning of his parliamentary term, Labour MEP Agius Saliba was nominated as PETI representative of the EU monitoring UNCRPD Framework. The EU Framework collects data and information to check that EU law and its application are coherent with the CRPD. The European Parliament monitors the application of EU law through implementation reports, human rights reports, oral questions, studies and implementation assessments.

As a representative of the EU monitoring UNCRPD Framework at the European Parliament, MEP Alex Agius Saliba will have the opportunity to discuss with different NGOs, UN entities, National Human Rights Institutions and United Nations system entities building disability-inclusive and participatory societies in the COVID context and beyond.

MEP Agius Saliba worked as the rapporteur on the report on the protection of persons with disabilities, calling on the European Commission and the Member States to implement a number of initiatives aimed at ensuring that the Member States are in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights for Persons with Disabilities and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Currently, MEP Agius Saliba, the S&D spokesperson in the Committee on Petitions, is working on the file “Towards equal rights for people with disabilities”.

“This Mission to the UN Headquarters is crucial since persons with disabilities still face barriers in various fields in their daily life, such as access to public transport, built environment, use of sign languages, equal pay and equal job opportunities, financing or equal access to education and vocational training. The European Union has a duty to respond to its citizen’s concerns and to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in a barrier-free Europe. This is fundamental to achieve social and economic inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in society, free from discrimination and in full respect of their rights on an equal basis with others,” said MEP Agius Saliba.