A/HRC/25/29
might be addressed systemically or through a reasonable accommodation measure. A
reasonable accommodation fund should be set up to address the gaps.
43.
Reasonable accommodation is a common concept in certain legal systems.
“Reasonableness” is understood as the result of an objective test that involves an analysis of
the availability of resources, as well as the relevance of the accommodation, and the
expected goal of countering discrimination. Such testing standards are yet to be developed
in jurisprudence by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
44.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued guidance on the
obligation to take steps towards the implementation of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to encompass the maximum availability of
resources,36 including for the right to education. This guidance on the “reasonableness”
standard may be relevant for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities until
such time as the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities develops its own
guidance for specific reasonable accommodation standards under the Convention. It is also
advisable for States to engage in interparliamentary cooperation to progress with legislation
and judicial guidance to directly apply the non-discrimination clause of reasonable
accommodation. Examples of good practices can be found in countries such as: Australia,
Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the
United Kingdom, the United States of America and Zimbabwe, as well as the European
Union.37
E.
Support
45.
The availability of adequate support is an essential feature of inclusive education.
It is expressly referred to in article 24, paragraph (d) and (e), of the Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is mentioned in other articles thereof. Adequate
support is also complementary and connected to accessibility measures.
46.
Support can be articulated in different ways, while always considering individual
needs. Some education systems use the concept of Universal Design Learning in their
inclusive policies to address both structural and individual support. This is the case in New
Brunswick, Canada. However, integration systems can also use individualized plans.
Individualized attention should be considered a central feature of inclusive education. The
Finnish Basic Education Act is a case in point, granting the right to an individualized
learning plan to all pupils who need regular support in learning.
47.
The core element of individualized education plans is the involvement of
professionals, parents and the student.38 These plans aim at enabling each student to live,
study and act autonomously, with adequate support, taking into account individual
capacities. Headmasters in Belgium have called for a “support panel”, when needed, to
36
37
38
12
Statement on an evaluation of the obligation to take steps to the “maximum of available resources”
under an optional protocol to the Covenant, E/2008/22, annex VIII, pp. 146–147. The Committee said
that the compliance with that obligation should be assessed by considering a number of elements,
which may include the deliberate intention to fulfil economic, social and cultural rights by the
measures taken, a non-discrimination approach in taking such measures and the time frame. Resource
constraint should be looked through a careful analysis of the context.
As noted in a background conference document for the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and
Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of
Persons with Disabilities prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs on the concept
of reasonable accommodation in selected national disability legislation.
UNICEF, The Right of Children with Disabilities to Education, p. 70.
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