UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled people

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The International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

The UN General Assembly adopted the new treaty on the 13th December 2006.

Extract from Article 1 of the Convention:
The fact that disability will be taken into account by governments will “ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity”.

“This is the first convention on such a scale for this century. The message that we want to get across is that everyone has a right to a dignified life and that all human beings are equals.” (Jan Elliasson, President of the General Assembly of the United Nations)

It is estimated that people with disabilities represent around 10% of the population worldwide, with 70 to 80 % of them living in developing countries. But above all, disabled people have to face discrimination, which has an influence on all aspects of life. They often have less access to education, employment, information or to essentials goods, and are often part of the most disadvantaged groups of society.

After five years of negotiations, the text of the Convention will be officially adopted mid-December by the United Nations in New York. Under the motto “Nothing about us without us”, more than 70 disabled people’s organisations have taken part in the creation of the Convention. Through the pilot committee of the “International Disability Caucus”*, of which Handicap International is a member, they have permitted people with disabilities and their entourage to positively influence the content of the Convention.

The principal aim is a radical change of attitude towards people with disabilities all around the world. In particular, the text states that projects on overseas aid will have to include measures to take into account disabled people. This represents humanitarian actions and reconstruction (e.g.: emergency help and infrastructure accessible to all) as well as development programmes (e.g.: access to education for disabled children).

Handicap International was the advocate for this particular measure and is very satisfied with the result. Indeed Handicap International works alongside disabled people in around 60 countries worldwide.

Handicap International strongly supports the consideration of inclusive development in the different articles of the UN Convention. Inclusive development is about respecting the full set of human rights of every individual, acknowledging diversity, eradicating poverty and ensuring that all people are fully included and can actively participate in development policies and practices.

Handicap International supports the following activities in connection with the UN Convention:

• Support Disabled Peoples Organisation (DPOs) from low and middle income countries to contribute to and comment on the draft text
• Provide a CD-ROM with full text documents for the UN Convention together with Source and IDDC
• Have a stand for DPOs and disability NGOs during the Ad Hoc meeting in New York.

Fifth session of the Ad Hoc Committee (24 January - 4 February 2005)

• Monday 24 January 2005 (99 KB)
• Tuesday 25 January 2005 (125 KB)
• Wednesday 26 January 2005 (110 KB)
• Thursday 27 January 2005 (92 KB)
• Friday 28 January 2005 (117 KB)
• Monday 31 January 2005 (159 KB)
• Tuesday 1 February 2005 (145 KB)
• Wednesday 2 February 2005 (112 KB)
• Thursday 3 February 2005 (112 KB)
• Friday 4 February 2005 (96 KB)

Sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee (1 - 12 August 2005)

• Monday 1 August 2005 (113 KB)
• Tuesday 2 August 2005 (131 KB)
• Wednesday 3 August 2005 (129 KB)
• Thursday 4 August 2005 (124 KB)
• Friday 5 August 2005 (123 KB)
• Monday 8 August 2005 (127 KB)
• Tuesday 9 August 2005 (126 KB)
• Wednesday 10 August 2005 (131 KB)
• Thursday 11 August 2005 (127 KB)
• Friday 12 August 2005 (108 KB)

Seventh session of the Ad Hoc Committee (16 January - 3 February 2006)

• Monday 16 January 2006 (90 KB)
• Tuesday 17 January 2006 (138 KB)
• Wednesday 18 January 2006 (118 KB)
• Thursday 19 January 2006 (140KB)
• Wednesday 25 January 2006 (161 KB)
• Thursday 26 January 2006 (163 KB)

Information on this convention can also be found on:

• www.un.org/disabilities
• www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable
• www.rightsforall.org: Excellent document on the legal analysis of the draft convention text.

• http://www.ipu.org/PDF/publications/disabilities-e.pdf: The IPU, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) jointly launched this handbook on the newly adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. Its purpose is to raise awareness of this new legal instrument among parliamentarians.

(*) The International Disability Caucus (IDC) is an informal group representing civil society for the process of the convention. It is mostly comprised of disabled people’s organizations and their partners.