A small item in today’s news has caught the attention of rights campaigners, including Disability Rights UK, concerning the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
The BBC are reporting that there have been changes to the ministerial code of practice which sets out rules and standards for ministerial conduct. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34634533
The previous ministerial code, issued in 2010, stressed an "overarching duty on ministers to comply with the law including international law and treaty obligations (italics added) and to uphold the administration of justice and to protect the integrity of public life".
A new draft simply refers to a duty to comply with "the law and to protect the integrity of public life".
So far much of the criticism of this change has focused on the rationale the government might use to go to war but the change also has implications for the Government meeting its treaty obligations such as upholding the rights of disabled people under the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. The UK Government is currently being investigated by the committee on the UNCRPD for alleged breaches of the Convention.
Writing in the Guardian former legal adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Frank Berman QC said it was "impossible not to feel a sense of disbelief at what must have been the deliberate suppression of the reference to international law" in the new version of the code.
The campaign group Rights Watch UK is challenging the government's claim that the amendment to the code does not reflect a substantive change. Rights Watch director Yasmine Ahmed said:
"For the government to erase from the ministerial code the starting presumption that its ministers will comply with international law is seriously concerning. It evidences a marked shift in the attitude and commitment of the UK government towards its international legal obligations."