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Article 8 - Raising awareness regarding disability
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Fourth Session

Report of the Coordinator to the Fifth Session

Summary of discussions on draft article 5

11. There was general agreement on a number of points concerning draft article 5 as set out below.

Paragraph 1

12. Subparagraph 1 (a) should reflect the text prepared by the Working Group, but with the addition of “and to foster respect for their rights” at the end of the sentence. Various formulations of this phrase were proposed, and these were referred to the Facilitator’s group on this draft article, led by Ambassador Rowe (Sierra Leone), for refinement.

13. Subparagraph 1 (b) should reflect the text prepared by the Working Group, but with the addition of the words “in all areas of life” at the end of the sentence.

14. Subparagraph 1 (c) should be redrafted to read:

“Promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of all persons with disabilities, and that as members of society they share the same rights and freedoms as all others, and in a manner consistent with the overall purpose of this Convention.”
The meeting recognized that further fine-tuning of the paragraph was needed, and it was referred to the Facilitator’s group for further discussion.

Paragraph 2

15. Paragraph 2 contained much repetition of paragraph 1 and could either be streamlined or deleted. In either case, several delegations considered that the references to public awareness campaigns and the promotion of awareness in all children and the education system were valuable. They considered that they should be retained in either a streamlined paragraph 2 or in paragraph 1. The Coordinator referred this issue to the Facilitator’s group.

16. Should paragraph 2 be deleted, subparagraph 2 (c) should be retained and moved into paragraph 1 to become paragraph 1 (d).

17. The Coordinator also asked the Facilitator’s group to elaborate general language on training, without prejudice to decisions on its inclusion and ultimate placement in the text.