Rakennetun ympäristön esteettömyys ja sen laiminlyönti syrjintänä
Avainsanat:
esteettömyys, rakentaminen, syrjintä, vammaiset, yhdenvertaisuusAbstrakti
Accessibility, equality, and the built environment
This article provides a doctrinal analysis of accessibility in the built environment within Finnish law, framed by obligations arising from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Article 9 of the CRPD introduces accessibility as a hybrid right, combining positive obligations with anti-discrimination guarantees. While the CRPD requires states to progressively transform both public and private spaces into accessible environments, Finnish regulation remains fragmented. The Building Act imposes limited requirements, and enforcement is weak due to resource constraints. Accessibility obligations in basic services are scattered across sectoral legislation and conceptually ambiguous, leaving the realization of rights largely contingent on discretionary practices.
In the absence of systematic legislative reform, the substantive content of the right to accessibility has evolved through the interpretation of anti-discrimination law under the Equality Act. The Equality and Non-Discrimination Tribunal has consistently classified failures to ensure accessibility as indirect—and in some cases direct—discrimination, extending obligations beyond accessibility standards and applying them to contexts where no explicit accessibility norms exist. This jurisprudential development reflects the increasing reliance on courts rather than legislation to implement CRPD obligations, raising concerns about legal certainty.
The article recommends consolidating fragmented norms into a comprehensive framework law. It further calls for strengthening enforcement mechanisms and introducing effective sanctions to ensure compliance. Current regulatory approaches fail to meet the CRPD’s requirements for systematic and coordinated progress, resulting in accessibility being treated as an ancillary rather than a core human rights obligation.
