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Update on UN Ad Hoc Committee Negotiations on the International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities

National delegations and NGOs gathered at the United Nations from May 24 to June 4 to continue negotiations on the International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Using the draft document developed by an earlier working group — online at United Nations Enable, Draft Convention (Link will open in new window) — this Ad Hoc Committee discussed and debated issues such as the right to privacy and family; freedom from torture and inhumane treatment; freedom from forced medical interventions; the right to work; the right to cultural participation; and the right to an adequate standard of living. Detailed daily summaries of the Ad Hoc Committee's deliberations are posted online at United Nations Enable, Daily Summary of Discussions (Link will open in new window)

They are also available in Spanish translation at Organización Mundial de Personas con Discapacidad, Boletines diarios de Negociaciones sobre Discapacidad (el acoplamiento se abrirá en página nueva)

UN Ad Hoc Committee:  Interview with Kicki Nordström

Interviewed by FIRE at the World Conference on the Information Society (WSIS) in December, 2003 about disability issues at WSIS, and also about her participation in the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
Click to listen to Kicki Nordström interviewed by Margaret Thompson of FIRE  (Real Audio)
Click to listen to Kicki Nordström interviewed by Margaret Thompson of FIRE  (mp3)


(Except where noted, audio files are formatted for RealPlayer - Click to get RealPlayer for free)

ARTICLES

Process Underway to Establish a U.N. International Convention on Disability Rights

The process to establish a U.N. Convention on Disability Rights designed to protect the human rights of over 600 million persons with disabilities worldwide is well underway as a result of approval by a U.N. Ad Hoc Committee to establish a Working Group to prepare a text draft of the convention.   

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities voted June 27, 2003 to establish a Working Group of 27 governmental representatives from around the world, as well as 12 representatives of NGOs (non-governmental organizations), especially from organizations of persons with disabilities.  Approval of the Working Group was the result of a long lobbying process by governments and NGOs, including international and national disability and human rights institutions and organizations.  The group met in January, 2004, and put together a draft of the text of the convention, which will form the basis of negotiations over the upcoming year.  The draft covers non-discrimination in all areas, including equality before the law and the right to work

Negotiations of a draft text of the convention are expected to take about two years, according to the Ad Hoc Committee President, Luis Gallegos of Ecuador.  Many disability activists advocate that the convention focus on all types of disabilities.  This would include disabilities that are the result of war and armed conflict, in which human rights were not respected, so the convention could used as an enforceable right not to be discriminated against.

Read more about the U.N. Disabilities Rights Convention:

• Click to go to "UN Working Group Drafts Text of International Disability Convention" U.N. News Centre Press Release
• For full reports and regular updates, click to go to: U.N. Enabled (United Nations Persons With Disabilities website)

Too Many Human Rights

By Marta Russell

The Bush administration continues to set itself apart from world opinion, this time by not actively supporting a U.N. effort to create a disability-sensitive human rights treaty. Fortunately, more than 100 other nations do not share the U.S.'s position.

The administration's views became known at "The Second Ad Hoc Committee Meeting of the United Nations on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities," held in New York on June 16 to 27. The General Assembly charged the panel with deciding whether the United Nations should develop a disability-themed human rights treaty.
"Too Many Human Rights" continued...