Bristande tillgänglighet på universitetet ur ett internationellt perspektiv - Samspelet mellan diskrimineringslagen och FN:s konvention om rättigheter för personer

Sammanfattning: Author: Josefine Svahn Title: Lack of Accessibility in the University from an International Perspective Supervisor: Niklas Selberg Introduction On the 14th of January 2009 Sweden committed to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a convention that seek to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Article 24 of the CRPD, which concerns the right to inclusive education, states that all students with disabilities should be able to participate in the general education system without being discriminated. The second paragraph of the article clarifies the State Parties obligations in order to realize the right, while the third point stipulates that the State Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided. Since the Swedish legal system builds on dualism, international law must be translated into national law to become legally binding in Sweden. Regarding the right to inclusive education in article 24 of the CRPD, the corresponding right can be found in the 2nd chapter 5th paragraph of the Swedish Discrimination Law which concerns the ban against discrimination in the education system. The ban states that no one that can be classified as an educational organiser is allowed to discriminate any child, pupil, student or undergraduate that participates in or seeks to participate in the education. The ban applies to all forms and all grounds of discrimination. The focus for this Bachelor Thesis is discrimination on the ground of disability in the form of lack of accessibility in the education system. Lack of accessibility means that reasonable accommodation has not been provided for the individual student with a disability to enable them to access education on an equal basis with others. Problem Statement This Bachelor Thesis will discuss the discrimination ban in the field of education in the 2nd chapter 5th paragraph of the Swedish Discrimination Law in relation to Sweden’s obligations according to the right to inclusive education in article 24 of the CRPD. Results Concerning the relation between the Swedish native prohibition against discrimination in the field of education and Sweden’s obligations according to CRPD, the thesis has come to the conclusion that an assessment of equity is unproblematic since the regulation in CRPD itself consists of an assessment of equity. However, in the next step the thesis examined how the assessment of equity is made. The results show that the assessment of equity in the native Swedish regulation (2nd chapter 5th paragraph Discrimination Law) emphasizes the costs as an important element in the assessment of equity, while CRPD states that economic consequences is recognized in the assessment. In the assessment made according to the convention, the focus should instead be on the well-being and success of all students with disabilities. Therefore, the conclusion drawn is that the assessment of equity itself in the Discrimination Law is unproblematic viewed from a perspective of the rights in CRPD. However, the course of action with the assessment of equity concerning reasonable accommodation should be made different since Sweden signed up to the convention. The right to education must be emphasised instead of economic consequences if Sweden shall be deemed to live up to its international obligations.