A three-letter preposition, and all the weight it carries. Attiva-Mente takes its cue from a recent United Nations publication on inclusive development “for and with” people with disabilities to raise a concern that directly touches San Marino.
That “with”, writes the association’s Board of Directors, marks the difference between two distinct roles: being the recipient of a measure and taking part in shaping it. It concerns not only what is ultimately delivered, but how problems are identified, priorities set and responses built.
This is not a matter of style. The UN Convention turns it into a precise obligation: Article 4, paragraph 3 requires close consultation with, and the active involvement of, people with disabilities, through their representative organisations, in developing and implementing legislation that affects them.
Attiva-Mente stresses a distinction it considers crucial: being informed, being heard and being involved are not the same thing. Being informed means knowing that a decision has been made; being heard means having the chance to voice an opinion; being involved means being able to contribute while the options are still open. This does not mean every proposal must be accepted, nor does it remove the responsibilities of decision-makers: the difference lies in the ability to influence the process, not merely to learn of its outcome.
And here comes the part that stings. “In San Marino, our experience as an association leads us to observe that this ‘with’ has not yet become a shared cultural value, nor a standard working practice we can rely on,” the document states. “We continue to have to push for involvement and explain why it matters, rather than finding it built in from the outset.”
The criticism then becomes explicit: in recent times, the association reports, “we have faced a whole series of measures affecting the lives of people with disabilities, without, as far as we are aware, either the people concerned or their representative organisations being involved in drafting them.” The issue, it clarifies, is not how much space is given to an organisation, “but how a right recognised for individuals is actually put into practice.”
The call extends to oversight bodies too
The second part of the argument widens the target. Attiva-Mente cites Article 33, paragraph 3 of the Convention, which calls for the involvement and full participation of civil society in the monitoring process. It adds that this call also applies to the bodies responsible for implementing and monitoring the CRPD: participation, it writes, “concerns how they carry out their own mandate, not only the activities they are tasked with overseeing.”
The document was released on the same day the San Marino Commission for the Implementation of the UN Convention published a review of its mandate, in which it claims to have made the motto “Nothing about us without us” a working method.
The matter, Attiva-Mente nonetheless clarifies, “is not limited to the actions of a single body”: it concerns the entire San Marino system — institutions, administrations and services. The closing line, quoting Giorgio Gaber, expresses regret: “Freedom is participation.” The principle contained in that “with” has been enshrined in the Convention for twenty years, and “having to remind everyone of its existence, time and again, deeply saddens us.”
