Under the motto “Big plans for inclusion! Living self-determined lives – without barriers”, the European Protest Day for the Equality of People with Disabilities will take place again on 5 May 2024. On this day, associations and activists send a signal for the equality of people with disabilities. Because even 15 years after Germany ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), the realisation of all human rights for people with disabilities has not yet been achieved. People continue to be systematically disadvantaged by ableist structures and thought patterns. Numerous barriers and a system of segregated structures often prevent inclusive, self-determined participation and violate the human rights of people with disabilities. In 2023, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities criticised Germany for its deficient inclusion policy and issued numerous recommendations for better implementation of the UN CRPD.
There is a significant need for improvement, among other things, in the area of protection against violence. In addition to structural violence, people with disabilities are also affected to a greater extent by direct forms of violence such as sexual abuse, physical and psychological violence, or unlawful deprivation of liberty. According to estimates, people with disabilities are affected by violence two to four times as often as the population average. A study published by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in 2013 concluded that women with disabilities experience violence two to three times as often as women in the population average.[1] The violence often takes place in the immediate social environment of partnerships and families. Yet despite the increased risk of violence for people with disabilities in general and women/girls with disabilities in particular, very few violence protection measures are barrier-free. Affected persons are therefore often excluded from existing protection and support services and left defenceless against violence.[2] Violence against people with disabilities by other residents and staff also occurs in segregated facilities for people with disabilities. Although facilities have been obliged to develop violence protection concepts since 2021, there are no nationwide protection concepts based on uniform standards. Hierarchical structures and unequal power relations promote violence. [3]
Article 16 of the UN CRPD states that States Parties shall take all measures to protect persons with disabilities, both within and outside the home, from violence, including its gender-based aspects. Germany has not yet sufficiently fulfilled this mandate.
Based on the recommendations of the UN Committee, the Federal Association for Perpetrator Work on Domestic Violence (BAG TäHG) calls for the development of a violence protection strategy that is in line with both the UN CRPD and the Istanbul Convention and fully takes into account the specific requirements of the affected groups of people! The support system must be equipped with sufficient funds to be able to offer services without barriers. This also applies to perpetrator work. The BAG TäHG advocates for barrier-free access to perpetrator programmes. Work with perpetrators with impairments is already being addressed professionally within the BAG TäHG. However, sufficient staff and financial resources are needed for practical implementation.
Protecting against violence in the long term means breaking up and changing violent structures. Overcoming ableism and ensuring genuine participation can only succeed if people with disabilities are more strongly involved in decision-making processes and taken seriously: “Big plans for inclusion! Living self-determined lives – without barriers”.
[1] Schröttle, Monika et al. (2013): Lebenssituationen und Belastungen von Frauen mit Behinderungen und Beeinträchtigungen in Deutschland [Life situations and burdens of women with disabilities and impairments in Germany], Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Ed.), Berlin.
[2] Puschke, Martina (2023): Umfassender Schutz vor Gewalt gegen Frauen mit Beeinträchtigungen [Comprehensive protection against violence against women with impairments], in: Katja von Auer, Christiane Micus-Loos, Stella Schäfer, Kathrin Schrader (Eds.), Intersektionalität und Gewalt. Verwundbarkeiten von marginalisierten Personen und Gruppen sichtbar machen, Münster: UNRAST, pp. 161-185.
[3] German Institute for Human Rights (2022): Schutz vor Gewalt in Einrichtungen für Menschen mit Behinderungen – Handlungsempfehlungen für Politik und Praxis [Protection against violence in facilities for people with disabilities – recommendations for action for policy and practice], Berlin.
