The Concept of Reasonable Accommodation in the Context of Anti-Discrimination Policy and its Effect on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disability

Abstract

This paper analyses and compares the concept of reasonable accommodation under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the EU Employment Equality Directive including related case-law. It first addresses how equality and anti-discrimination policies in regard to persons with disabilities are dealt with in the wider context of international human rights law and under the relevant UN treaties. After identifying the European approach in addressing disability equality and non-discrimination, the paper considers to what extend the concept of disability and the scope of discrimination under the UN-Convention and the EU legal framework are coherent. Defined as a form of discrimination under the Convention but not in the Directive, the paper evaluates in which aspect the concept of reasonable accommodation under the Directive is compatible with the Convention and it also identifies the areas where compatibility appears to be lacking. The paper also points out the consequences at the European level of an incompletely implemented concept of reasonable accommodation in the meaning of the UN-Convention and proposes approaches to assure that EU-law is in line with the Convention.