Final report of the Special Rapporteur of the
Commission for Social Development on monitoring the
implementation of the Standard Rules on the Equalization
of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
2 of 9   
II. BACKGROUND AND FRAMEWORK FOR THE ACTIVITY
A. Background
To fully understand the importance of the Standard Rules it is necessary to
go back to the events that began with the proclamation of 1981 as the International Year
of Disabled Persons. Of particular importance in this context was the adoption by the
General Assembly of the theme of the Year - "full participation and equality",
which meant recognition at the highest possible political level of the right to full
participation of disabled people in the societies to which they belong.
During the 15 years that have passed since the International Year, "full
participation and equality" has been widely accepted as the overall goal of all
development efforts in the disability field. The World Programme of Action concerning
Disabled Persons, adopted by the General Assembly in 1982, also made significant
contributions to the clarification and understanding of the policies, programmes and
measures necessary to obtain that goal. One such major contribution is the new chapter on
equalization of opportunities, which brings a third dimension to the field of disability.
During the subsequent decade of disabled persons, 1983-1992, when the policies and
programmes outlined in the World Programme of Action were to be implemented, some
significant developments were made. Generally, however, too little occurred. That was the
major concern of the group of experts who in 1987 evaluated the outcome of the first half
of the decade.
As a result, the international disability community requested that the United Nations
should assume a strong leadership role and give more concrete guidelines for development.
In response to that request, the Standard Rules were elaborated and unanimously adopted by
the General Assembly in its resolution 48/96 of 20 December 1993.
There are mainly three things that distinguish the Standard Rules from the World
Programme of Action: the Rules are more concentrated and concrete in form; they directly
address the issue of Member States' responsibility; and they include an independent and
active monitoring mechanism.
B. The monitoring mechanism
One of the most significant features of the Standard Rules is that their implementation
should be actively monitored. In section IV of the Rules there is a fairly detailed
description of the monitoring mechanism. Its purpose, as set forth in section IV,
paragraph 1, is
"to further the effective implementation of the Rules. It will assist each State
in assessing its level of implementation of the Rules and in measuring its progress. The
monitoring should identify obstacles and suggest suitable measures that would contribute
to the successful implementation of the Rules."
There are three actors involved in the monitoring task. The monitoring should take
place within the framework of the sessions of the Commission for Social Development. A
Special Rapporteur should do the actual monitoring work and report to the Commission.
Finally, the non-governmental organizations in the disability field should be invited to
establish among themselves a panel of experts, to be consulted by the Special Rapporteur.
In March 1994 the Secretary-General appointed Mr. Bengt Lindqvist (Sweden) as Special
Rapporteur. In September 1994 a panel of ten experts, five men and five women, all with
personal experience of various disabilities, from different parts of the world, was
established by the following six international organizations: Disabled Peoples'
International; Inclusion International; Rehabilitation International; World Blind Union;
World Federation of the Deaf; and World Federation of Psychiatric Users.
A precondition for the entire monitoring exercise was that extrabudgetary funding could
be raised for most of the activities. Eleven Governments altogether have contributed
financially to the project. The total amount of those contributions is estimated at
$650,000. A special service agreement between the Secretariat and the Special Rapporteur
was signed in August 1994 for the period 1994-1997. It was agreed that the Special
Rapporteur should carry out his work from a small office in Sweden and that the
Secretariat would assist with advice and administrative services.
C. Meetings of the panel of experts
The panel of experts has held two meetings at United Nations Headquarters in New York,
the first in February 1995 and the second in June 1996. Through correspondence, members of
the panel have continuously been informed and consulted by the Special Rapporteur.
All members of the panel attended the first meeting, in February 1995. The main purpose
of the meeting was to give general advice concerning the monitoring task during the
remaining two years. The panel agreed on a set of concrete recommendations, which have
been very useful for the Special Rapporteur.
Among the recommendations, the following are of a more general importance:
(a) The relationship between existing United Nations documents in the disability field
should be clarified: In the global effort to implement the overall goal of full
participation and equality, the panel of experts considers the implementation of the
Standard Rules to be the most important task during the next few years. The panel
considers that the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons is providing an
important framework for action in the fields of prevention, rehabilitation and
equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. The long-term strategy,
adopted by the General Assembly in 1994, should be regarded as a useful tool in the
implementation of the Standard Rules;
(b) The monitoring of the Standard Rules should be carried out in the spirit of
cooperation and partnership on the international level between the United Nations and the
international non-governmental organizations participating in the panel of experts, and on
the national level between Governments, the national non-governmental organizations and
the United Nations;
(c) Although the overall goal of the monitoring activity is to implement fully all of
the 22 rules, the monitoring efforts should be concentrated on the following six areas:
legislation (Rule 15); coordination of work (Rule 17); organizations of persons with
disabilities (Rule 18); accessibility (Rule 5); education (Rule 6); employment (Rule 7);
(d) Efforts should be made by the Secretariat and the Special Rapporteur to involve the
specialized agencies and the regional commissions in the implementation of the Rules;
(e) Further action should be taken to increase awareness in Governments,
non-governmental organizations and the United Nations system.
The second meeting of the panel was held in June 1996. Nine panel members were present.
During the preceding months the Special Rapporteur had distributed a comprehensive
questionnaire to all Member States and to national non-governmental organizations in the
disability field. One major task for the panel at the second meeting was therefore to
discuss the outcome of that survey. Despite the fact that the final date for submissions
had expired ten weeks earlier, replies were still coming in at the time of the meeting. A
broad analysis of the results had therefore not yet been started.
The panel gave advice on issues of special interest for the analysis and on the
structure of the report. It noted with great satisfaction the high response rate to the
questionnaire, which should provide the United Nations with extensive information in
essential policy areas.
In view of the fact that only one year remained of the monitoring period, the panel
started to discuss what should follow after 1997. Panel members were of the opinion that
three years was a very short time for the worldwide monitoring of the implementation of
such extensive policy guidelines as the Standard Rules. The panel therefore decided to
recommend to its organizations that they should advocate a prolongation of the monitoring
task.
The panel of experts also discussed how the disability component could be integrated
into the implementation of the five-year follow-up plan for the World Summit for Social
Development, recommended by the Commission for Social Development to the Economic and
Social Council. In that context it is urgent to raise the issue of how disability measures
can be included into such programmes. Following the adoption of resolution 34/2 of the
Commission for Social Development, the panel decided to make the following statement:
"The panel noted with some alarm the tendency to disregard the specific needs of
individuals with disabilities within Governments, the United Nations and professional
groups. This signifies the continued low priority status assigned to the individuals with
disabilities on the ladder of progress. It is necessary to build the disability dimension
into the existing models of Government and the United Nations in order to make laws and
policies specific to the needs of individuals with disabilities."
D. Guidelines issued by the Commission for Social Development
At its thirty-fourth session, in April 1995, the Commission for Social Development
received the first report of the Special Rapporteur. In its resolution 34/2 the Commission
expressed its support for the approach to monitoring taken by the Special Rapporteur,
which is to place emphasis on advice and support to States concerning implementation of
the Standard Rules. Moreover, the Commission:
(a) Encouraged the Special Rapporteur to focus his monitoring efforts in the
forthcoming two years on an appropriate number of priority areas, bearing in mind that the
overall goal of the monitoring activity is to implement the Rules in their entirety;
(b) Called upon the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, as
the United Nations focal point on disability issues, the United Nations Development
Programme and other entities of the United Nations system, such as the regional
commissions, the specialized agencies and inter-agency mechanisms, to cooperate with the
Special Rapporteur in the implementation and monitoring of the Rules;
(c) Strongly urged States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to
continue to cooperate closely with the Special Rapporteur and respond to his second
questionnaire on implementation of the Rules;
(d) Called upon States to participate actively in international cooperation efforts
concerning policies for equalization of opportunities and for improvement of living
conditions of persons with disabilities in developing countries.
 Return
to top
|
