Court Cases / Seventh GMS Court Case

APPEALS COURT CURACAO

Theme: Autonomy Principle for Disabled Persons.

Disabled persons have more needs than ‘normal’ people. They have more expenses and even when they can work, they usually earn less than ‘normal’ people. On the basis of the General Principle of Autonomy, set out in art. 3 sub letter a) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities CRPD), persons with disabilities (especially those who cannot work to earn a living) should be entitled to a livable government allowance, which will make them autonomous. To maintain their autonomy, such an allowance should be seen as assistance by society to ‘compensate’ the disabled person (so to speak) for his disability. If such a person marries, for instance, he/she would not lose his/her allowance.

In Holland this principle is applied and has been enacted inter alia in a law popularly known as ‘Wajong’. Although the so-called BES-islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba) form an integral part of Holland since 10 October 2010, the Dutch government (which rules these islands) has refused to apply this Autonomy Principle on the islands. This is discriminatory AND a violation of the Autonomy Principle set out in the CRPD, which UN-treaty has been ratified for the BES-islands.

We pick up this Court Case in the Appeal phase.

The Appeals Court rejected the Appeal. Unfortunately this case cannot be submitted to the UN Committee for Human Rights or any other Human Rights Court. We have to resign to the situation as it is.