LAST week, on the same day that Rishi Sunak announced a new set of vicious attacks against disabled people, claiming that Britain was failing due to “a sick-note culture,” the government received the latest damning report from the UN Disability Committee.

As was the case with the recommendations made in 2016 following the unprecedented inquiry into Britain, which was triggered by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and found there were grave and systematic violations of disabled people’s human rights, we have no doubt that they will also continue to ignore the current recommendations being made.

The report concludes that the British government has made “no significant progress” in addressing the grave and systematic violations of deaf and disabled people’s rights that it highlighted more than seven years ago.
 
Instead, the report notes areas of further regression and numerous issues of “deep concern” and behaviour by the government that appalled the committee members.
 
The report states that: “The committee is appalled by reports of ‘benefit deaths’ referring to fatalities among disabled people in the state party, subsequent to their engagement with the process for determining eligibility for benefits …

“Testimonies have also been received regarding the minimal, unsuitable, and/or abusive responses to individuals’ mental health emergencies that are frequently precipitated by the benefits assessment procedure.”

It recommends that the British government take “comprehensive measures to ensure that persons with disabilities are adequately supported through social security payments, benefits and allowances … ascertain the additional costs of living with disabilities and adjusting benefit amounts accordingly to reflect these costs.”
 
The report was made public less than a week after Sunak announced the next round of cuts to disabled people’s social security payments and amidst political and media rhetoric that directly contravenes the 2016 findings and recommendations by demonising disabled benefit claimants further.
 
The report, based on evidence presented to the UN committee last August and March this year, found there is “a pervasive framework and rhetoric that devalues disabled people and undermines their human dignity. Reforms within social welfare benefits are premised on a notion that disabled people are undeserving and wilfully avoiding employment (‘skiving off’) and defrauding the system. This has resulted in hate speech and hostility towards disabled people.”
 
The report also states that the committee “finds that the state party has failed to take all appropriate measures to address grave and systematic violations of the human rights of persons with disabilities and has failed to eliminate the root causes of inequality and discrimination.”
 
The inquiry focused on three specific areas: equal chances to live and participate in the community; the right to good work; and adequate social protections and standard of living.
 
On publication of the 2016 report the government dismissed its findings and this time they seem to be using it as an excuse to further erode any human rights disabled people have.
 
Andy Greene from the national steering group of DPAC said: “The process of evidence-gathering, taking witness testimony and objective scrutiny of policy and its impact, is one that’s very difficult to ridicule or dismiss. The facts speak for themselves. As such, the inquiry vindicates the experiences of deaf and disabled people whose voices are too often ignored.”
 
John Kelly, musician and campaigner who also sits on the DPAC national steering group said the report is: “damning on the lack of this government listening to our real lived experiences as disabled people and doing anything to support what we really need which is to live and contribute in our community as equal citizens along with our peers.”
 
Deaf and disabled people’s organisations (DDPOs) across Britain, who took part in reporting to the committee, along with DPAC, through the UK DDPO Coalition, have welcomed the report.
 
A spokesperson for DPAC’s steering group said: “The government’s attitude towards the UN special inquiry is evidence that their treatment of deaf and disabled people is wilful and calculated. This is reflected in the damning findings of the report.
 
“The limitations of the inquiry process are that there are just too many deliberate rights violations to include in one report.

“However, the report validates the experiences of deaf and disabled people across Britain and is a much-needed counter to government rhetoric claiming they are ‘protecting the most vulnerable’ when they are doing the exact opposite.”
 
The report highlights numerous areas of government policy that are not only failing deaf and disabled people, but that are causing serious rights violations.
 
Among the many areas where the committee is “deeply concerned” are: the social care recruitment crisis following EU withdrawal; the inadequacies of social care support provision to cover anything more than bare subsistence; incarceration of disabled people “in secure psychiatric facilities due to a lack of community-based support”; “disabled people who are housebound due to inadequate support to access the community”; “abuse, mistreatment and the increasing use of restraints, restrictive practices and … unexpected deaths in the mental health care system.”
 
The report acknowledges the devastating impact of previous welfare “reform” measures. Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice at Inclusion London, said: “This report is a damning verdict on the government’s track record in upholding our human rights … It is also shocking that the government has failed to listen to the UN in the past and has actively dismissed the previous recommendations …”
 
“The report shows that the current system is not fit for purpose and the government cannot carry on punishing disabled people.”

Dermot Devlin, spokesperson for newly formed DPAC Northern Ireland said: “DPAC NI thank the UN committee for their work and due diligence on our behalf and call on the Westminster government to properly implement the recommendations of the 2016 inquiry and the current report.
 
“The absence of government in Northern Ireland has failed disabled people here. With the executive now restored, bringing forward a disability strategy that addresses the committee’s recommendations must be an absolute priority.”
 
The report documents how the British government requested the postponement of the session at which they were due to give evidence to the committee in August.
 
Their request for postponement was just six days before the deadline for written evidence submissions to the inquiry was due and after many cash-strapped DDPOs had already booked their flights and accommodation to attend and give evidence.
 
The result was that the committee, which is made up of deaf and disabled members from around the world, had to split the oral evidence section of the inquiry into two separate sessions.
 
Disability Wales CEO Rhian Davies said: “The British government’s approach to this review has been utterly disrespectful and matches the contempt shown to disabled people for over a decade. We deserve better and we demand better.”
 
Alison Turner, daughter-in-law of Errol Graham who starved to death after his benefits were stopped, said: “I am pleased that the report highlighted the need for proper review and monitoring of the deaths of benefit claimants … It shows that this government has learned nothing and cares not for its direct actions to cause harm.”
 
Kamran Mallick, CEO of Disability Rights UK said: “In just the last week we have seen an onslaught of new policy proposals and legislation which will not only harm us but also lead to avoidable deaths …  
 
“At a time when we’re all struggling to make ends meet and cannot access the healthcare and support that we need, the government are scapegoating disabled people for a failing economy.
 
“We are not at fault for simply existing. The government are at fault for their complete disregard for international treaties and contempt for disabled people’s rights.”
 
John McArdle, spokesperson for the Black Triangle campaign in Scotland, said: “To proceed with the plans announced by Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last Friday will definitely lead to a surge in deaths by suicide and other avoidable harm which falls short of death but is nonetheless catastrophic.
 
“Britain has abrogated the Convention on the Rights of the Disabled. Disabled people’s voices need to be heard and not drowned out and demonised by people who have never experienced the sharp end of the social security system.”

Ellen Clifford is an activist with Disabled People Against Cuts and author of The War on Disabled People (Bloomsbury Publishing).