10.  Rights of Persons with Disabilities

25 March 2024

Welcome to the tenth session of the course on International Human Rights. Today we are going to look at how the rights of persons with disabilities are set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are formally addressed, by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It has 18 members each serving a four-year term. It meets three times a year and its first session of 2018 from 19 February to 9 March has already taken place.

The Convention is the most recent of the main human rights conventions. It was adopted in December 2006 abd entered into force on 3 May 2008 (so its tenth anniversary will happen before the class ends). The Convention discussion started as an initiative of the government of Mexico, which was pressured by its national disability NGO to deal with it. There were several years of negotiations, led by the then-ambassador of Ecuador. NGOs were heavily involved in the process, often as parts of national delegations. For example, one of the members of the very active Swedish delegation was the President of the World Blind Union.

As stated on its website, The Committee is composed of 18 independent experts.

The current membership of the Committee is:

Name	State	Term expires 31 December
Mr. Muhannad Salah AL-AZZEH	Jordan	2026
Ms. Rosa Idalia ALDANA SALGUERO English | Español	Guatemala	2024
Ms. Rehab Mohammed BORESLI	Kuwait	2026
Mr. Abdelmajid MAKNI*	Morocco	2024
Ms. Gerel DONDOVDORJ	Mongolia	2024
Ms. Vivian FERNÁNDEZ DE TORRIJOS	Panamá	2024
Ms. Odelia FITOUSSI - Rapporteur	Israel	2024
Ms. Amalia GAMIO RIOS - Vice Chair	Mexico	2026
Ms. Laverne JACOBS English | Français	Canada	2026
Mr. Samuel Njuguna KABUE	Kenya	2024
Ms. Rosemary Kayess - Chairperson العربية  | English | Français | Español	Australia	2026
Ms. Miyeon KIM - Vice Chair	Republic of Korea	2026
Mr. Alfred Kouadio KOUASSI English | Français	Ivory Coast	2026
Mr Robert George MARTIN	New Zealand	2024
Mr. Floyd MORRIS	Jamaica	2024
Ms. Gertrude OFORIWA FEFOAME English | Français | Español	Ghana	2026
Mr. Markus SCHEFER English | Français | Español	Switzerland	2026
Ms. Saowalak THONGKUAY	Thailand	2024

 

 

In geographical distribution terms this means:

1. African States: 4 experts
2. Asia-Pacific States: 5 experts
3. Latin American and Caribbean States: 3 experts
4. Western European and other States: 5 experts
5. Eastern European States: 0 experts.

The Secretariat for the Committee is now with the OHCHR in Geneva, but the origins of the convention rest with the Division for Social Policy and Development in New York, which has a responsibility for groups (including youth, indigenous people, persons with disability, aging persons). The Division still manages the conference of parties to the Convention.

 

Like other Committees, CRC makes provision for information from NGOs. The list of those who have participated is shown in the website and includes:

Disability Council International

International Disability Alliance

World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry

World Blind Union

In addition, an organization named Disabled Peoples' International has been active at the United Nations.