AD HOC COMMITTEE NEGOTIATING CONVENTION ON RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES CONCLUDES TWO-WEEK SESSION

Ad Hoc Committee on Convention                             

 on Persons with Disabilities                              

18^th Meeting* (PM)

ad hoc committee negotiating convention on rights of persons

with disabilities concludes two-week session

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities today adopted the draft report of its third session (A/AC.265/2004/L.2), concluding a two-week meeting during which negotiations continued on the draft convention.

During its two-week meeting, the Committee conducted a first reading of articles 1 to 24 of the draft text of the convention as contained in the report of the Working Group (document A/AC.265/2004/WG.1).  The Committee will complete the first reading of the Working Group report during its fourth session, to be held from 23 August to 3 September.

The proposed draft convention addresses the concerns of disabled persons on issues such as non-discrimination and equal recognition before the law, personal mobility and accessibility, the right to work, and the promotion of positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities.

Current instruments that address the rights of disabled persons are legally non-binding.  This treaty would create a legally binding framework for protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and move beyond the traditional concept of access to the physical environment to include broader issues, including equal access to education, employment, health, and political participation.  Governments that ratify the treaty would be legally bound to treat disabled persons as subjects of law with enforceable rights.

The drafting of such a treaty was proposed by Mexico to the General Assembly in 2001, in the face of growing international recognition of disability rights as human rights.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Committee Chairman Luis Gallegos (Ecuador) said he hoped to have the convention ready for signature in September 2005.

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*     The 2^nd to 17^th Meetings were closed.