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Standard Rules
on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, forty-eighth session, resolution
48/96, annex, of 20 December 1993
Preamble
States,
Mindful of the pledge made, under the Charter of the United Nations, to take
joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization to promote higher
standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social
progress and development,
Reaffirming the commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms, social
justice and the dignity and worth of the human person proclaimed in the Charter,
Recalling in particular the international standards on human rights, which have
been laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 7/ the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 8/ and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, 8/
Underlining that those instruments proclaim that the rights recognized therein
should be ensured equally to all individuals without discrimination,
Recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 9/ which prohibits discrimination
on the basis of disability and requires special measures to ensure the rights
of children with disabilities, and the International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 12/ which
provides for some protective measures against disability,
Recalling also the provisions in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women 10/ to ensure the rights of girls and women
with disabilities,
Having regard to the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, 13/ the
Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons, 14/ the Declaration
on Social Progress and Development, 15/ the Principles for the Protection of
Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care 16/
and other relevant instruments adopted by the General Assembly,
Also having regard to the relevant conventions and recommendations adopted by
the International Labour Organisation, with particular reference to participation
in employment without discrimination for persons with disabilities,
Mindful of the relevant recommendations and work of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, in particular the World Declaration on
Education for All, 17/ the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's
Fund and other concerned organizations,
Having regard to the commitment made by States concerning the protection of
the environment,
Mindful of the devastation caused by armed conflict and deploring the use of
scarce resources in the production of weapons,
Recognizing that the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and
the definition therein of equalization of opportunities represent earnest ambitions
on the part of the international community to render those various international
instruments and recommendations of practical and concrete significance,
Acknowledging that the objective of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons
(1983-1992) to implement the World Programme of Action is still valid and requires
urgent and continued action,
Recalling that the World Programme of Action is based on concepts that are equally
valid in developing and industrialized countries,
Convinced that intensified efforts are needed to achieve the full and equal
enjoyment of human rights and participation in society by persons with disabilities,
Re-emphasizing that persons with disabilities, and their parents, guardians,
advocates and organizations, must be active partners with States in the planning
and implementation of all measures affecting their civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights,
In pursuance of Economic and Social Council resolution 1990/26, and basing themselves
on the specific measures required for the attainment by persons with disabilities
of equality with others, enumerated in detail in the World Programme of Action,
Have adopted the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons
with Disabilities outlined below, in order:
• To stress that all action in the field of disability presupposes adequate
knowledge and experience of the conditions and special needs of persons with
disabilities;
• To emphasize that the process through which every aspect of societal organization
is made accessible to all is a basic objective of socio-economic development;
• To outline crucial aspects of social policies in the field of disability,
including, as appropriate, the active encouragement of technical and economic
cooperation;
• To provide models for the political decision-making process required for the
attainment of equal opportunities, bearing in mind the widely differing technical
and economic levels, the fact that the process must reflect keen understanding
of the cultural context within
which it takes place and the crucial role of persons with disabilities in it;
• To propose national mechanisms for close collaboration among States, the organs
of the United Nations system, other intergovernmental bodies and organizations
of persons with disabilities;
• To propose an effective machinery for monitoring the process by which States
seek to attain the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.