New United Nations
Human Rights Convention
by Katherine Guernsey
Over the course of the last
five years, some very important meetings affecting people with disabilities
have been quietly taking place at the Headquarters of the United
Nations (UN) in New York. During this time, UN Member States and
disabled people’s organizations have been
meeting to negotiate a new human rights convention (also called a “treaty”)
that would elaborate the human rights of people with disabilities. The next meeting
for negotiations will take place August 14-25, and it is hoped that this will
be the final negotiating session—meaning that the world will soon welcome
the first ever UN convention devoted entirely to the human rights of people with
disabilities!
The drafting process
began in December of 2001, when Mexico sponsored a General Assembly
resolution to establish an “Ad Hoc Committee” to
consider proposals for a new human rights convention for people with
disabilities. The negotiations process has been ongoing since the
Ad Hoc Committee first met in July/August 2002. To date there have
been seven sessions (of two or three weeks each) of the Ad Hoc Committee,
and one two-week session of the Ad Hoc Committee’s temporary
Working Group, which put together the first draft text for the Ad
Hoc Committee to use as the basis for its discussions.
Why do we need a convention? First, although people with disabilities
have the same human rights as everyone else, many people with disabilities
are frequently denied the opportunity to enjoy those rights, and
many suffer terrible human rights abuses. The existing human rights
conventions are seldom applied to people with disabilities, largely
because those conventions do not really address disability issues,
and those applying the conventions (such as governments and treaty
monitoring bodies) often do not understand disability issues. In
the past, other groups (such as women, children, refugees, etc.)
faced similar problems and found that drafting thematic human rights
conventions addressing their issues could be helpful. It is hoped
that this new convention will help governments better understand
their human rights obligations to people with disabilities, and in
turn work to respect and ensure those rights. Second, international
conventions are legally binding documents, and governments that choose
to become Parties to them are legally obliged to implement them.
Until now, disability-specific instruments, such as the UN Standard
Rules, have not been legally binding, meaning that governments could
ignore them. Such disregard for people with disabilities will not
be permitted for governments that become Parties to the new convention.
A unique feature of
the process has been the extensive participation of people with
disabilities and their representative organizations. Traditionally,
the UN’s General Assembly has not been very
open to the participation of civil society, restricting access to
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with “ECOSOC consultative
status,” which is a formal ccreditation that groups can get
with the UN. However, things have been very different in the disability
convention negotiations, with non-ECOSOC groups being able to apply
for accreditation to attend the meetings, and all accredited NGOs
being able to speak and directly address government delegates. The
Working Group was even more participatory, with the membership of
that group including government delegates, national human rights
institutions and disability representatives —all with equal
rights of participation. Many government delegates have noted that
they have never before experienced such negotiations at the UN, and
that the process has greatly benefited from the unique perspective
and voice of people with disabilities.
It should be stressed
that the new convention will not create new rights for people with
disabilities, but it will elaborate the full range of existing
human rights (including civil and political, as well as economic,
social and cultural rights) using a disability perspective. Nobody
is suggesting that this convention will solve all the problems
faced by people with disabilities overnight, but it is a useful
tool that we can all use in our work to advocate for people with
disabilities. Although the current U.S. administration has said
that it will not become a Party to the convention once it is completed,
there is no reason we should not encourage our government to join,
and at the same time use the convention to help inform and support
our work. If you are interested in learning more about the draft
convention, or even attending or contributing to the meetings in
New York before the negotiations are concluded, the resources listed
below will help you find out more information. It is never
too late to say “nothing about us without us,” and
take your part in promoting the full enjoyment of all human rights
by all people with disabilities!
Further Resources
UN Department of Economic
and Social Affairs homepage: www.un.org/
Current draft of the
convention as of February, 2006, known as the “Working
Text”: www.un.org/
Information note for NGOs
wanting to participate in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee: www.un.org/
List of NGOs accredited to
the Ad Hoc Committee (this does not include many of the major disability
organizations that already have ECOSOC accreditation): www.un.org/
Convention-related resources
from Disabled Peoples' International (stay tuned for a ratification
toolkit to be released soon!): http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/
Update on the most recent
Ad Hoc Committee session from the U.S. National Council on Disability
(NCD) (Note – there are many other
useful convention-related resources on the NCD website): www.ncd.gov/
