The UN Disability Committee raises NSFT Deaths with the UK Government

On 18th March 2024 the United Nations Disability Committee met in Geneva to hear the UK governments evidence as part of a follow-up to the special inquiry undertaken by the UN Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.

The special inquiry report published in 2016 found the UK guilty of grave and systematic violations of Disabled people’s rights due to austerity and welfare reform measures. The shadow reports by Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations in 2016 and 2023 highlighted the crisis in mental health
in general and the largest deaths scandal in the history of the NHS at NSFT.

The South Korean delegate, Miyeon Kim asked the British government a direct question about the dire situation in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations gave their evidence to the Committee for its follow-up in August 2023 along with equality and human rights commissions from the four nations. The government did not attend, stating it was not ready and would instead appear before the Committee at its following session in March 2024.

The Committee’s scrutiny of the government’s human rights record is a rare opportunity to expose the worsening inequalities and injustice experienced by disabled people in the UK.

It’s really powerful to see that within a room of international human rights delegates, that people are listening and also spreading the word about the terrible failures of NSFT and the government and powers who have let it happen for so long and happily try and keep covering it up. The Government did not answer and therefore would have had to commit an answer in writing within 24 hours. We will hope for that response but considering the government didn’t even feel like showing up previously, we can live in hope. We are just so grateful that the damages NSFT have caused and uncovering the scales of loss are reaching further and wider.

There are more details about the meeting as a whole on the fantastic website Disability News Service. Below is the link to the article about the meeting.