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ADHOC COMMITTEE ON
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Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, representatives of non-governmental organizations and colleagues,
The human rights of persons with disabilities became part of the international policy agenda when the General Assembly adopted in 1982 the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons with the goals of "full participation" of disabled persons in social life and development based on equality.
Proposals to elaborate a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which have been advocated for more than a decade by representatives of both governmental and non-governmental communities were initially presented during the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992). Draft texts of such a convention were introduced to the General Assembly at its forty-second and forty-fourth sessions, but at that time views were expressed that more study was required on the question of a convention.
In 1990 the Economic and Social Council authorised the Commission for Social Development to initiate work on the elaboration of non-binding standard rules on equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities. The work on the standard rules drew upon the experiences of countries during the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons and used as a frame of reference both general international human rights instruments and specific instruments related to the rights of persons with disabilities.
This effort resulted in the decision of the General Assembly to adopt in 1993, the "Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities", which further emphasized and translated the human rights dimension of the World Programme of Action into specific policy guidelines with a strong moral and political commitment of States to take action on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In the context of the work of the United Nations to promote the rights of persons in development, the Millennium Declaration, as well as the series of major United Nations conferences and summits of the 1990s have accorded priorities to a number of development goals. These priorities are essential components in the work towards an international convention to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and are deeply rooted in the indivisibility of human rights and social development.
Mr. Chairman,
When it was decided during the 56th session of the General Assembly, through the initiative of Mexico, to establish an Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, the proposal was made in the context of addressing poverty and promoting social integration so as to create just and equitable societies based on participation of all citizens as stakeholders.
Since the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee last year, there have been a great number of activities to identify critical issues to be addressed in the process of elaborating a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
A wide range of contributions to the work of Ad Hoc committee have been made by Governments, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, legal experts, specialists in disability issues, advocates of disability rights, and interested individuals. A number of draft conventions and lists of elements for a convention have been proposed and disability-specific as well as general human rights and development concerns have also been discussed in the context of an "open forum" or "discussion groups", expanding the virtual community on disability with a greater number of participants worldwide through the Division's persons with disabilities homepage at www.un.org/esa/enable. By the way, Mr. Chairman, this web-site is fully accessible and contains all documentations related to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee that have been prepared by or made available to the Division.
Mr. Chairman,
The Committee has before it four substantive documents prepared by the Division for this second session which are to be further discussed under Agenda item 5. Document A/AC.265/2003/1 entitled "Issues and emerging trends to the advancement of persons with disabilities", and document A/AC.265/2003/2 entitled "Overview of issues and trends related to the advancement of persons with disabilities" as well as document A/AC.265/2003/3 entitled " Progress in the equalization of opportunities by, for and with persons with disabilities" are part of the in-depth study conducted for the fourth review and appraisal of the implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons, which will be submitted to the upcoming fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly. This study, composed of these three documents, reviews and assesses twenty years of progress, in which a strategic framework and recommendations for action for the advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities are discussed.
Besides these three reports and in response to operative paragraph 9 of General Assembly resolution 57/229, the following document has also been prepared, namely A/AC.265/2003/4 entitled "Views submitted by Governments, intergovernmental organizations and UN bodies concerning a comprehensive and integral international convention on the protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities" Furthermore, an addendum to this document has been issued to make available the information contained in submissions received by the Division during the past two weeks.
Mr. Chairman,
A series of regional and national consultations have also taken place since the last meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee and they have produced valuable resources for the work of this Committee. In response to operative paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 57/229, five regional seminars and workshops on priority themes identified at the first session of the Ad Hoc Committee have been held with financial assistance of the Development Account of the United Nations through our Division as well as with our substantive support. These meeting include: the Interregional Seminar and Regional Demonstration Workshop on Accessible ICT and Persons with Disabilities held in Manila, the Philippines from 3 to 7 March this year; the Américas regional seminar and workshop on norms and standards related to the rights of persons with disabilities and development held in Quito, Ecuador, from 9 to11 April 2003; the African Regional Consultative Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 1 to 6 May 2003; the Western Asia regional seminar and workshop on norms and standards related to development and the rights of persons with disabilities held in Beirut, Lebanon, from 27 to 29 May 2003 under the auspices of The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia; and the Expert Group Meeting and Seminar on an International Convention to Protect and Promote the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 2 to 4 June 2003 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific
The outcome documents from these regional conferences are available to this Committee as conference room papers.
Mr. Chairman,
To further contribute to the technical and knowledge base of the Ad Hoc Committee, a number of panels have been organized during the course of the deliberations of the Committee. In this regard the following three panels will take place: Panel I on "Typology of International Conventions", to be held this afternoon at 3:00 pm.; Panel II on "The Principle of Non-Discrimination and Equality from a Disability Perspective: Critical issues concerning Special Measures and Disability", to be held tomorrow morning at 10:00 am; and Panel III on "New and Emerging Approaches to Definitions of Disability: Conceptual Frameworks, varying contexts of definition, and implications for promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities" to be held next week Monday, 23 June at 3:00pm. Furthermore, tomorrow from 1:15-3:00pm, a public forum will be organized by the Division for Social Policy and Development to share and discuss the findings and analyses of the panels to further discourse on the rights of persons with disabilities with the intention of involving the international community at large.
Mr. Chairman,
At the 40th Session of the Commission for Social Development in 2002, the, then, Special Rapporteur on Disability, Mr. Bengt Lindqvist, raised a number of fundamental questions as to the scope and purpose of the convention. As you are about to begin your discussions, I believe it may be worth repeating those questions he posed: "What areas should a future convention cover? What relation should it have to existing general conventions? Should it be expressed as a set of principles, general in nature but possible to apply in a variety of national situations around the world? Should the main perspective of the future convention be based on the needs in developing countries? Should this future convention replace the Standard Rules, or should the Standard Rules and the convention complement each other?"
Mr. Chairman, undoubtedly these questions as well as many others will figure prominently during the forthcoming deliberations of this Committee. I wish you and your colleagues much wisdom in their answering. The disabled will follow our work closely. We should not disappoint them.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
16 June 2003