*CRPD adopts the List of Issues on Australia, Austria and El Salvador (April 2013) and schedules the constructive dialogue with these States for the upcoming 10th session (September 2013)
*CRPD schedules adoption of List of Issues on Azerbaijan, Costa Rica and Sweden for the upcoming 10th session (September 2013)
During this session the Conference of States parties elected 9 new members of the CRPD Committee and held two roundtables on "children and disabilities" and on "accessibility and technology". Click here to see the full agenda of the session.
Briefly on the mandate and work of the CSP
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides under
article 40 that States parties shall meet regularly in a Conference
of States parties in order to consider any matter with regard to the
implementation of the Convention. The meetings may be convened any time
upon the decision of the Conference of States parties.
The Conference has been holding its sessions on an annual basis. At
the first inaugural session that took place in September 2008, the
Conference of States parties elected the first twelve members of the
Committee and
its bureau. At the second session held in September 2009, the Conference
held an interactive discussion on best practices in the implementation
of the Convention, including with regard to article 12.
At the third session held in September 2010, the States parties
elected 12 new members of the Committee and held an interactive
discussion on important aspects of the implementation of the Convention
on the rights of persons with disabilities.
The practice of the sessions of the Conference of States parties
shows that the States parties are using the sessions as a forum for
exchange of views among them and civil society organizations on best
practices for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities.
Disability Council International engages with the Conference
of States parties by providing an overview of best practices of States
parties, looking for it that Committee members elected meet the requirements of membership to the Committee, and participating actively in the organization of interactive
discussions at side-events.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Disability is a procedure established under
the UN Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons
with Disabilities adopted in 1993 with the exclusive objective of monitoring the
implementation of these Rules alone. The Special Rapporteur on
Disability is not a procedure of the UN Human Rights Council. The
Rapporteur submits yearly reports to the UN Commission for Social
Development - a subsidiary organ of the Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations on the implementation of the Rules alone.
Methods of work
The methods of work of this procedure are accordingly slightly
different from the methods of the UN Special procedures of the Human
Rights Council. The Special Rapporteur on Disability does not work
through urgent appeals, for example, or investigation visits to the Un
Member States concerned. The Special Rapporteur usually seeks views and
comments of the UN Member States, NGOs and experts with regard to the
information that he/she intends to include in the annual reports. Based
on this information, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of how
the Rules are being implemented by the UN Member States.
Legal nature of the Rules
The Rules themselves belong to the so-called “soft law” norms of
international law, as they do not impose binding obligations upon UN
Member States. They are more a system of ideas, strategies and
guidelines of a programmatic character for measures that can be taken by
UN Member States to change societies and make them more inclusive for
persons with disabilities. They represent though a very strong moral and
political commitment for change.
The Rules were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993 as one of the
main outcomes of the Decade of Disabled Persons, together with the
program of action.
The Standard Rules contain 22 rules divided in four areas:
(Pre-conditions); (Target areas), (Implementation measures) and
(Monitoring). The Special Rapporteur is one of the procedures available
for monitoring the implementation of the Rules.
Relevancy of the Rules in light of the adoption of a binding
international treaty on disability issues
The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities became the next step in the development of the norms for
protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities. However,
both texts complement each other and are not mutually excluding, in the
sense that the implementation of the guidelines contained in the Rules
assist States in the implementation of their binding obligations under
the Convention. The Convention itself is a direct result of the
recommendations to strengthen the legal framework for the implementation
of the Rules. In addition, while the Rules apply to all UN Members
States, the Convention terms apply only to those who have ratified
it.
The Special Rapporteurs
Mr. Shuaib Chalklen of South Africa the present Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for Social
Development was appointed in 2009. He replaced in this position
Ms. Sheikha Hissa Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani from Qatar, who was
appointed in 2003 and served until June 2009. Mr. Bengt Lindqvist from
Sweden was the first Special Rapporteur. He was appointed in 1994 and
his mandate lasted until 2002. DisabCouncil works with the Special
Rapporteur with the aim of assisting in the implementation of the Rules,
and through this to raise awareness about the Convention and the need
for its universal ratification and implementation.
For more information on the work of the Special Rapporteurs on Disability, follow the links below:
The Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities (1993)
Global Survey on the Implementation of
the
Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities (Special Rapporteurs' reports, 2006 and 2011)
Mainstreaming Disability in the Development Agenda (Note by the Secretariat to the Forty-sixth session of the Commission for
Social Development to the, 6-15 February 2008 (E/CN.5/2008/6))
Website of the UN Commission of Social Development
The Human Rights Treaty Bodies mechanism is a vast system of
Committees of experts (presently comprising 10 treaty bodies), to
monitor the implementation of the relevant human rights treaties.
While the main focus of the work of the Disability Council
International remains providing substantive assistance to the Committee
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it also assists other
Committees, when the assistance proves relevant for the work of
implementing and monitoring the implementing of the provisions of the
Convention.
In particular it participates in discussions with regard
to new
general comments that affect the situation of persons with disabilities.
In this context, assistance is given to the following Committees:
The UN Special procedures are yet another UN Charter-based mechanism for
monitoring the human rights situation in a given country or thematic
issues that may concern all countries of the world. Special procedures
are either individual experts (called "Special Rapporteur", "Special
Representative of the Secretary-General" or "Independent Expert") acting
in their personal capacity, or a working group of independent experts
(usually 5 members representing each one region) appointed by the Human
Rights Council with a mandate to work on the relevant issues.
At present there are 35 thematic and 10 country mandates.
The
Special procedures usually work on the basis of specific information
received alleging violations of human rights in a certain country or
theme under their relevant mandate.
They react to the information by sending an urgent appeal or
a
letter of allegations to the relevant government asking for
clarification. They also carry country visits to investigate the
situation of human rights in a specific country. Their activity is often
limited since they need an invitation from
the country in question before they are able to visit it. At the end of
their visit they issue a mission report containing findings and
recommendations.
There is no special procedure on the rights of persons with
disabilities presently, however, the mechanism, if/when created, has a
potential for being used by human rights defenders working in the field
of protection of the rights of persons with disabilities specially when
urgent action is required to save the life of a person or in cases of
mass violations of the rights of persons with disabilities in States
which are not a party to Convention on the rights of persons with
disabilities.
DisabCouncil works with the Special procedures by alerting
them of situations requiring urgent action.
DisabCouncil also works with the Human Rights Council
towards
the goal of having a Special procedure on the rights of persons with
disabilities.
For more information, please follow the links below:
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new Charter-based universal
mechanism to monitor UN Member States’ compliance with their fundamental
human rights obligations stemming from their adherence to the UN
Charter. It was created through the UN General Assembly resolution
60/251 of 16 March 2006, as one of the main working mechanisms of the
new Human Rights Council.
Contrary to the UN treaty based mechanism (which depends on
whether a
State is a party to a specific human rights treaty), the UPR virtually
applies to all States of the world, and with regard to all fundamental
human rights.
One of the fundamental features of this new system is that
it is a
State-driven process, which provides an opportunity for every State to
share with all other States its successes and failures in the work to
respect, protect and promote human rights. The process is reciprocal, as
it gives an opportunity to states to participate in the review,
appreciation and validation of the human rights records of each
other.
The review is conducted once every four years for each UN
Member State.
The UPR review process is based on information provided from three
different sources: a) the report of the State party itself, b) the OHCHR
compilation of information on the State party concerned, and c) a OHCHR
summary of information submitted by NGOs and other civil society
organizations.
The review itself is conducted by the 47 Members of the
Human Rights
Council acting as a working group on UPR. This working group meets
three times a year for two weeks. At each of these meetings, they review 14 to 16 States. For each of the States in review the HRC designates a
“troika” of its Member States (three states) that will lead the review
process. Both Members States of the Council and non- Members as
observers can participate in the interactive dialogue with the State in
review.
The Working group on UPR adopts then an outcome report for
each
State considered which includes recommendations by any State that
attended the meetings. The State in review is given a right to decide
which recommendations it accepts or not. The outcome report is presented
to the following regular session of the HRC for final adoption, at
which time interventions are again allowed to HRC Member States, non-
Member States, NGOs and other civil society organizations.
In October 2011, the UPR concluded the first review cycle
with 12
sessions, having reviewed the human rights performance of all 193 UN
Member States.
Disability Council International will engage with the UPR
process by
providing substantive disability related information concerning the
relevant States in review.
For more information about the UPR, please follow the links
below:
The United Nations System comprises a number of Agencies whose work is directly or indirectly relevant to the issue of promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Apart from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights which acts as the secretariat to the various human rights monitoring mechanisms, a number of other UN Offices can play an important role in supporting efforts by States parties to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Among them are: UNICEF, ITU, WHO, ILO, UNESCO, World Bank, HCR, WIPO and WTO.
Disability Council International is a partner of all relevant UN Agencies and mechanisms working in their respective mandated areas to support States efforts to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
1. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is the leading organization among the agencies and organs of the UN system working for the promotion of the human rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Office performs the role of the Secretariat of Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities servicing its sessions and work. The office also supports the annual interactive debates of the Human Rights Council with thematic studies on a number of topical issues relevant for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and engages in a number of other awareness raising work.
The thematic studies of the Office are prepared in consultation with governments and civil society organizations.
So far the Office has prepared the following thematic studies :
1) OHCHR Study on key legal measures for the ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Doc. A/HRC/10/48, 26 January 2009)
2) OHCHR Study on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Doc. A/HRC/13/29, 22 December 2009)
3) OHCHR Study on international cooperation to suport national efforts for the realization of the purposes and objectives of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Doc. A/HRC/16/38, 20 December 2010)
4) OHCHR Study on participation in political and public life by persons with disabilities (UN Doc. A/HRC/19/36, 21 December 2011)
(The contributions of relevant stakeholders to this thematic study can be found by clicking this link)
5) OHCHR Study on the issue of violence against women and girls and disability (UN Doc. A/HCR/20/5, 30 March 2012)
Future Thematic Studies ("work and employment of persons with disabilities" (HRC, 22nd session, 25 Feb-22 Mar 2013)
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has launched a consultation process to gather relevant information from all relevant stakeholders (including NGOs) to serve as a basis for preparing the 2013 thematic study on the topic of "work and employment of persons with disabilities". The study will be reviewed at the 6th annual interactive debate of the Human Rights Council, during its 22nd session to be held in Geneva from 25 February to 22 March 2013.
DisabCouncil has prepared a contribution to this thematic study on thesubject of the "Right of Persons with Disabilities to serve in the Armed Forces".
Download the text
All the contributions to this consultation process may be accessed by clicking here.
2. UN Secretariat for the Rules of Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and the CRPD
Within the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations in New York (Division of Social Policy and Development) a Secretariat has been set up to support the work of the Special Rapporteur on Disability and the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
This DESA Secretariat also acts as the main focal point on work to advance the Rights of Persons with Disabilities through the realization of the commitments in the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons adopted in 1982.
More information about the DESA Secretariat may be found by clicking this link.
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