The United Nations is set to launch an inquiry into whether the UK government’s welfare cuts led to rights abuses and death of more than 2,000 disabled Britons.
UN officials will visit the UK in the next few months to investigate whether Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms have led to “grave or systematic violations” of disabled people’s human rights, the Sunday Herald has revealed.
This comes after the Department of Work and Pensions revealed last week that 2,380 people have died within six weeks of being declared ‘fit to work’ by the government between 2011 and 2014.
A formal inquiry has already been launched by the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Herald added.
UN investigations are conducted confidentially, but a leading Scottish disability charity group has told the Sunday Herald it has been advised a visit by the Special Rapporteur and members of the committee on the rights of persons with disabilities is expected in the “near future.”