Human rights

The United Nations, as the global human rights standard-bearer, must step up efforts to realize the rights of persons with disabilities, both at the national level and in its own work, speakers stressed today, as the fifth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities drew to a close.

Investing in children with disabilities during the early stage of their development was among the many practical measures that Member States should take, United Nations officials and delegates said today, as the fifth Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities continued.

Hundreds of advocates and experts on disability gathered alongside Government delegates today as the fifth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Conference of States Parties — the largest international meeting on disability issues — is held each year to exchange experiences and ideas for the implementation of the Convention, which was adopted on 13 December 2006.

Even as the number of States signing on to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities continued to grow at an “exhilarating” pace, there remained a critical need for the United Nations to act as a “real, practical and daily advocate” for those who had once been all but invisible on the world stage, delegates stressed today.

The Meeting of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights this morning re-elected four members and elected five new members to its monitoring body, the Human Rights Committee.

This year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August) will shine a spotlight on indigenous media — television, radio, film and social media — and their role in helping to preserve indigenous cultures, challenge stereotypes and influence the social and political agenda.

Lamenting the enduring manifestations of the “Doctrine of Discovery” and other morally condemnable, socially unjust and racist policies used for centuries by colonizers as legal justification to disenfranchise indigenous peoples and seize their lands, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today urged the rejection of such “nefarious” dogmas, and encouraged measures that would redefine relations between native and aboriginal peoples and the State based on justice.

Hailing the adoption in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a “landmark” achievement borne of unprecedented cooperation among indigenous civil society groups and Governments, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this morning urged the entire international community to bolster support for native peoples and ensure that their rights, languages and cultural heritage was protected.

The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, in a brief meeting this afternoon, considered the draft agenda for its twelfth session, which, if approved, would be held at Headquarters from 20 to 31 May 2013.

Meeting to consider a range of matters related to its working methods, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today heard its members present the results of several reports that aimed to assist the body in better fulfilling its mandate, including through enhancing implementation of its recommendations and improving data collection on challenges, best practices and emerging issues. .