United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) The Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas:
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol on December 13, 2006[1], and opened for signature on March 30, 2007. As of February 1, 2008, there were 123 signatories to the Convention, 69 signatories to the Optional Protocol, 15 ratifications of the Convention, and 9 ratifications of the Optional Protocol. In accordance with the universal human rights principles and relevant norms evolved over six decades, the new Convention is expected to give definitive legal expressions, from the disability perspective to the past experience of the United Nations in promoting the human rights of persons with disabilities in all aspects of social life and economic development. It is also expected that the future implementation of the international convention would provide an entry point for strengthening existing human rights and development frameworks at local, national, regional and international levels. It would be essential to work out strategies for publicizing and implementing the treaty at the local level to ensure its relevance and effectiveness for persons with disabilities and their communities worldwide. The new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is expected to bring to the forefront of international human rights agenda a long-awaited "holistic" human rights practice from the disability perspective at international, national and regional levels. The monitoring and implementation of the Convention need to be considered in a much broader context than merely in the institutional context and approaches to treaty mechanisms and processes or jurisprudential dimensions. It should promote interpretations across a variety of contexts, providing a coherent interpretative tool consisting of principles and concepts for flexible implementation in line with resources, culture, and other environmental factors. The historical antecedents to the new convention on the rights of persons with disabilities have a long trajectory. They begin with the mandate of the United Nations itself, articulated in the Charter’s vision of a just and peaceful world and better standards of life in larger freedoms for all. The rights of persons with disabilities were thus generally addressed in the International Bill of Rights, finalized in 1966, which addressed the panoply of civil, economic, social, political and cultural rights that belong to all persons. It soon became clear, however, that the universalized human rights framework was insufficient to meet the specific and specialized needs of persons with disabilities for realization of their rights. The 1970s thus witnessed the birth of a nascent but growing international policy discourse on the issue of disability, including as an integral part of the development agenda. Indeed, in 1971 and 1975, respectively, the United Nations adopted the Declarations on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons and the Rights of Disabled Persons. In 1976, the General Assembly declared 1982 the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons. That year, the General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons and declared 1983-1992 the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons[2]. Over the years, and especially as a consequence of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992) and the work related to the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, there was an increasing awareness of the need to incorporate disability within the over-all human rights framework.[3] This was reflected during World Conferences, and the first proposal was adopted at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance to invite the United Nations General Assembly to consider elaborating an international convention for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.[4]A major step forward was taken by the General Assembly during its 56th session; the initiative leading directly to the current process was a result of a proposal made in 2001 by President Vicente Fox of Mexico led to establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee to consider proposals for a “comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities”.[5] Like earlier proposals, it was advanced in the context of the international effort to combat poverty and social exclusion, as part of a development agenda, and under the understanding that it must involve the participation of all citizens as stakeholders, including persons with disabilities. Since the beginning of the Ad Hoc Committee, the negotiation process took place with the large-scale support, and very few contrasted positions by Member States to the elaboration of the disability convention. In the treaty-drafting process, from the beginning, disability and civil society organizations played a critical role in the convention’s elaboration. Disability advocates, working side by side with experts in international law and other relevant fields, helped propose a framework for incorporating the disability perspective into existing human rights norms and standards. This was particularly important in disability-specific issues, such as individual autonomy, institutionalization, independent and community living, inclusive education and reasonable accommodation. After eight sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee between 2002-2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol on December 13, 2006[6]. In accordance with the universal human rights principles and relevant international norms evolved over a number of decades in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in development, the new Convention is expected to give definitive legal expressions from the disability perspective to the past experience in implementation of general human rights instruments as well as disability-specific instruments, such as the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons(1982) and the Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993). It is also expected that the future implementation of the international convention would provide an entry point for strengthening existing human rights frameworks at local, national, regional and international levels. It would be essential to work out strategies for publicizing and implementing the treaty at the local level to ensure its relevance and effectiveness for persons with disabilities. Recent Developments; The Way Forward: Future Implementation of the Newly Adopted United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Significance of the New Convention for Promoting the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Development. What then is the significance of the new Convention for promoting the human rights of persons with disabilities in development, that is, while harnessing creativity of stakeholders for the use of the established mainstream human rights and development mechanisms, institutions and processes, how could a policy tool, such as the rights-based and participatory approach to the development process play a complementary role? The significance is two-fold. First, stemming from the notion that national “development” itself is the process of progressively realizing human rights for all persons within a State’s jurisdiction, the critical contribution of the disability rights convention lies in ensuring that the rights of persons with disabilities are addressed within the development process. The treaty-making process for the new international convention on disability was significant in that it brought together the voice of the emerging disability movement and the" lived experience" of persons with disabilities into the treaty making process, giving such authentic perspectives legal expression in policy and programmatic contexts. This is one of the lasting and fundamental contributions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the process of development, which is both inclusive and empowering for traditionally disadvantaged groups of individuals. Second, it is equally clear that the human rights of persons with disabilities would never be adequately ensured unless persons with disabilities are themselves empowered to contribute to the process of framing national human rights policies and programmes, social policies and development priorities and, just as fundamentally, to monitoring their effective implementation. The disability convention provides an essential framework through which persons with disabilities can achieve effective and full participation in public affairs, development planning, cultural life, and in all decision-making processes, especially in issues relating to persons with disabilities. It can also serve to ensure that they are a fundamental part of the monitoring mechanism to assess fulfillment of the obligations by the States parties under the Convention. In this way, the disability convention is, at heart, conceived as a framework for integrating people with disabilities in international development and human rights processes. One could reiterate that human rights and development are two-sides of the same coin, particularly in the area of disability as initially envisaged in the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons 25 years ago. Human rights can bring to development concerns systematic identification of duties and accountability along with legislative tools, mechanisms and institutions. At the same time, development approaches can bring specific value to the concepts of human rights and tools for systematic assessment of the socio-economic context in which the rights can be realized. It is expected that it would also call for the formulation of strategic options for policies and programmes and evaluation measures to promote the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in society and development. What needs to be articulated, in this context, is that human rights are first and foremost a lived experience of individuals, and their rights require consideration of the concrete forms and practices as applied in social life and development[7]. Towards an Integrated Approach to Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Development. There is a distinct need, in this context, for an integrated approach to link the human rights of persons with disabilities and development, especially with a renewed focus on economic, social and cultural rights in practice and jurisprudence.[8] It is also important to examine good practices and challenges encountered in implementation of the group-specific human rights conventions, at both domestic and regional levels, for practical implications for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities in developmental contexts. This would allow identification of practical steps for effective implementation of specific policy directives, drawing on past experience in other human rights spheres that are of particular relevance for the disability community. It is not possible to develop a meaningful approach to address the situation of persons with disabilities without an integrated approach that draws from both development and human rights. A new paradigm, in which the development and human rights communities collaborate closely at international, regional and national levels through partnerships with the disability community would contribute to the strengthening of strategies to promote full inclusion of persons with disabilities. Networking among the disability community and their advocates, the supporting non-governmental community, academic institutions, legal experts and practitioners is essential to forge a sense of an integrated community. The new community in this sense could prioritize the development agenda for protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities. It is precisely here that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities holds out its greatest potential. Akiko Ito Social Affairs Officer Social Integration Branch, Division for Social Policy and Development, DESA Footnotes: 1 G.A. Res. A/61/611 of December 13, 2006. 2 The History of the Work of the United Nations in Disability, available at http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/history.htm. 3 See, e.g., The Secretary-General, Reports of the Special Rapporteur on Disability, E/CN.5/2000/3 (Feb. 8-17, 2000), The Special Rapporteur, Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission for Social Development on monitoring the implementation of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities on his third mandate 2000-2002, E/CN.5/2002/4 (Feb. 12-22 2002), G.A. Res. A/52/56, U.N. Doc. A/52/56 (Dec. 23, 1996), and the Commission on Human Rights Res. 1998/31, (Apr 17, 1998). 4 Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa, August 31– September 8, 2001, A/CONF.189/12, para. 180. 5 G.A. Res. 56/168, U.N. Doc A/56/168 (19 Dec. 19, 2001). 6 G.A. Res. A/61/611, U.N. Doc. A/61/611 (Dec.13, 2006). available at: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ convtexte.htm 7 UNITED NATIONS CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEVELOPMENT THINKING AND PRACTICE 276-98 (Jolly, Richard and Louis Emmerij eds., 2004) 8 U.N. Econ.&Soc. Council, Report of the Second Interagency Workshop on Implementing a Human Rights-based Approach in the Context of UN Reform, 5-7, U.N. Doc. E/2005/65 (May 2003); The Secretary General, Report of the Secretary General: Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform, U.N. Doc. A/51/950. Thus from the late 1990s, the mainstreaming of human rights in all aspects of the United Nations’ international policy and programmatic frameworks were translated into a wide range of policy and programmatic mandates of the United Nations, based on the Vienna Declaration and the Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, June 14-25, 1993)(A/CONF.157/24). |
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