UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The BBC is reporting that the text of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has been adopted by the UN.
Those countries that sign up to it will have to enact laws and other measures to improve disability rights and also agree to get rid of legislation, customs and practices that discriminate against disabled people.
The US has abstained from the treaty, claiming it has no need to sign up because they already have such legislation.
Greetings from a fellow Melburnian,
As far as I know, the draft Convention has not actually been adopted yet — I would certainly be interested to know if it has. The BBC report you saw was following the negotiations on the text, which was finally agreed at the end of August:
http://blog.rightsbase.org/2006/08/29/a-great-day-for-persons-with-disabilities/
That is, a text was agreed that could be presented to the General Assembly for adoption and then opened for signature by individual countries. The draft Convention was due to go to the September session of the GA, but as far as I can ascertain, it didn’t and I don’t know why.
Hi Olivia, you are quite correct!
There is a UN Press Release dated 20th November that implies they want to try and get it adopted this year:
Could be an optimistic timetable, but then I have no clue when it comes to the UN..
Also this Sunday (3rd December) is the UN “International Day of Disabled Persons” which this year is focusing on “E-Accessibility“.
Hi
UN have confirmed the the Convention will be adopted on December 13th 2006.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/soc4720.doc.htm
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/
Yes, that is correct. The UN officially adopted the Convention on 13Dec2006.
http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/
That’s good news, there is an accompanying UN press release too.
Hello,
I am the service provider throguh our own charity channel entitled DAKSHINYA I.e., ready to accept for the children with disabilities in genral and particualry the one with autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and multiple disabilites. It is situated in the rural part of andhra pradesh in India. It was established in the year 1995 by a father who had two children with mental retardation. It started with 7 children in the year 1995 and at present 846 children are getting the benefit of training & rahbilation with the concept of all the services under a single roof. All these servcies were extended on the need based through various services channels like: Institutional Based Rehabiliation, Home Based Rehabiliation and Community Based Rehabilitation. This process is going on to reach more and more special children with better quality services. Dakshinya is working with the sole aim of making these special children to lead independent life with better sustainability on the basis of equality and dignity in their own community.
In the process of getting the support from all the sectors, recetly organised Round Table Conference inviting all the stakeholders. The result is positve to open the doors of the government and the follow up action is in the process. In continuation, during next month we are going to discuss on the most important event “UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PWDs” in the Regional Meet. India is signatory for this and we the NGOs and Parents Associations are working to get the rights of the PWDs to the extent possible in the given environment. We are happy to convey that the state of Andhra Pradesh in India came out first time with the formation of ofiicial GO-NGO COLLORATION COMMITTEE to work by sharing the common plotform according to the model of DIME (Design, Implementaition, Monitoring and Evaluation).
We are happy to see the details of UN CONVENTION through website and going point by point for better understanding and implementation.
Looking forward to work for the PWDs with strong network
N.Lakshmi Narayana
Hi,
The Convention will not come into force until it has been ratified by 20 countries (Art 45). It has been open for signature since 30 March 2007, but although the Convention has many signatories (92), so far it has only been ratified by Jamaica…
See
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/conventionsign.htm
c.f.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/conventionratif.htm
it is a good thing to have this convention adopted. But for us in Nigeria, though we signed as a nation but the possibility of domesticating it is very bleak. Nigeia government is not interested in issues concerning persons with disabilities. We are sufering so much in our country.
How I wish we could have a way of imposing this on all the country that sign this convention, especially African Nations.
please pray for Persons with disabiities in Nigeria.
thank you
DICKSON VERSHIMA TARNONGO
I just don’t what makes this convention different from the other human right instruments that are applicable on every human being like UDHR, ICCPR,etc or from standrd rules on the equalization of opportunties. Can some body please explain it to me?
Thanks
Hewan
I believe Australia has signed the Convention but not the Optional Protocol,
is the protocol important or of no great significance?
You are right, Australia has signed the Convention. The Optional Protocol is very important, because it would allow individuals or groups to take complaints to the UN. Without Australia’s signature on the Protocol, people will not be able to do this. In other words, they will have no direct way to seek redress at the international level for violations to their rights as they are found in this Convention.
If you want to see the current status of the ratifications & signatures for the convention and the optional protocol you can find them on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Be warned though, currently it is a Microsoft Word document, I’m about to contact them to ask it to be converted into something a bit more accessible, like PDF or HTML.
They have also published a Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, which might be handy for folks wanting to educate politicians.
This is Dr Kishor Bhanushali working with ICFAI Business School., India. I am working on edited book on U.N Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I am looking for people to contribute articels related to various aspects of convention and its impact on persons with disabilities for the same. if you are intersted in enriching the book with your contribution, pls contact at kishorkisu@rediffmail.com. kishor@ibsindia.com