Article 1 [Purpose]

This chapter focuses on Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on the "Purpose". The proposal to include a stand-alone article on the purpose of the CRPD emerged since the outset of negotiations, together with the idea to add a provision on the main principles underpinning the Convention that would have contributed to achieve the purpose (current Article 3). In the framework of international human rights treaties a stand-alone article on the purpose is an innovation, since the objectives of those treaties are usually deduced from the general obligations. The relevance of Article 1 is twofold: to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others and to describe the holders of the rights established in the CRPD, namely the "persons with disabilities". The CRPD takes into account the most recent approach to disability that focuses on the abilities of the individuals and the respect of human rights. Under Article 1 disability is the results of the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The CRPD enshrines a "human rights model of disability" that goes beyond the "social model" of disability and is considered a tool to implement the Convention in conformity with its purpose. This new approach to disability influenced other international instruments and, following the ratification of the CRPD by the European Union, began to be followed by the European Court of Justice.