Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol Thereto : Participation

A/RES/76/154View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 74aImplementation of human rights instruments, published in 2021.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Accessibility Anti-Discrimination Measures Human Rights Human Rights Advancement Persons with Disabilities Political Participation Popular Participation

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

2 reports of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2022–2023.

2023A/78/331Status of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto : protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies and easy-to-understand communication as an accessibility resource and tool for persons with disabilities report of the Secretary-General
2022A/77/344Disability inclusion in the United Nations System report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

43 operative paragraphs

Calls upon those States that have not yet done so to consider signing and ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto as a matter of priority;

Encourages States that have ratified the Convention and submitted one or more reservations to it to review regularly the effect and continued relevance of such reservations and to consider the possibility of withdrawing them;

Requests United Nations agencies and organizations, and invites intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to continue to strengthen efforts undertaken to disseminate accessible and easy-to-understand information on the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto, including to children and young people to promote their understanding, and to assist States parties in implementing their obligations under those instruments;

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in decision-making processes and the status of the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto, and the report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the rights of persons with disabilities;

Also takes note of the policy brief of the Secretary-General on disability-inclusive COVID-19 response and recovery, published in May 2020;

Calls upon Member States and other stakeholders to include persons with disabilities in all stages of policymaking and decision-making related to COVID-19 response and recovery, as well to eliminate barriers and discrimination against persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls and those in vulnerable situations, in access to support and health-care services on an equal basis with others, and to prevent, monitor and address the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on persons with disabilities, including the lack of accessible communications, support and services, as well as the unique challenges and barriers that they will face following the end of the pandemic;

Calls upon those States that have not yet done so to consider signing and ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled;

Emphasizes the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant sustainable development strategies, and encourages States to apply a human rights-based and gender-responsive approach and to intensify their efforts to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, consistent with their international obligations;

Encourages States to review and repeal any law or policy that restricts the full and effective participation in political and public life of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others or discriminates against persons with disabilities, including with regard to accessing a service or facility open to the public, and to establish accessible and effective channels of redress for discrimination on the basis of disability;

Urges States to take steps to eliminate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against all women and girls with disabilities through repealing discriminatory laws, policies and practices, to take all effective measures to remove any other barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities in accessing, inter alia, the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, transportation, health and education, information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public and to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all rights stipulated in the Convention, including to effectively and fully participate in public life and in the conduct of public affairs;

Calls upon all States to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, on an equal basis with other children, in recognition that discrimination against any child on the basis of a disability is a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the child, to enhance inclusion and address barriers faced by children with disabilities, including addressing discriminatory, attitudinal and environmental barriers to their participation and inclusion in society and in the community, to develop gender- and age-sensitive policies and capacities to ensure the rights and address the particular needs of children with disabilities, including children in vulnerable situations, including migrant children, children without parental care, children in street situations and child victims of trafficking, and those affected by climate change, and to prevent and respond to all forms of violence, including cases of sexual and gender-based violence;

Also calls upon all States to take steps to ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in public life on an equal basis with others, including the right of and opportunity for persons with disabilities to vote and be elected and to participate in the conduct of public affairs, and provide reasonable accommodation and eliminate barriers that prevent or limit effective and full participation in public life, including physical and communication barriers, such as inaccessible polling stations or the lack of election information or materials in accessible formats;

Encourages States to adopt inclusive strategies that address the barriers to the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations at all levels of decision-making processes, and to adopt a framework for equality, non-discrimination and the full and effective participation of persons with disabilities;

Urges States to facilitate an enabling environment for persons with disabilities in public life, including through awareness and outreach campaigns, partnerships with media, accessible information and accessible public offices, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others;

Calls upon States to ensure the full and effective participation of and consultation with persons with disabilities, including through their representative organizations, in the development and implementation of policies and programmes for the implementation of the Convention, as well as in other relevant issues at the national and local levels, including through the inclusion of persons with disabilities in boards, organs and institutions and integrating consultative processes in such policies and programmes as appropriate;

Encourages States to invest in and develop educational tools and programmes to support all persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities, such as strengthening their capacities to apply for public office, and to ensure that the prerequisites to political participation are addressed, namely, poverty reduction, employment, education and information and communications technologies, and health-care services;

Calls for national COVID-19 vaccination plans to include persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, as important to respecting the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, without discrimination on the basis of disability;

Calls upon States to promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information, to provide information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities using accessible formats and technologies useful for persons with different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost, and to expand the availability and improve the affordability of information and communications technologies, as well as to facilitate cooperation in research and access to scientific and technical knowledge to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities;

Urges Member States, in collaboration with other stakeholders, to close the digital divides and promote the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities, addressing the challenges associated with accessibility, affordability, digital literacy and digital skills, and awareness;

Calls upon States to ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement and that persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;

Also calls upon States to promote and facilitate access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies, especially new and emerging ones, including information and communications systems, mobility aids, assistive devices and other assistive technologies, by persons with disabilities, and to promote research and development in this regard, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimal cost and at an early stage;

Urges States to consider laws, policies and procedures relating to public procurement to ensure that persons with disabilities can access any service or facility open to the public on an equal basis with others;

Calls upon States to ensure that polling stations, information on how to run for office and public buildings are accessible for persons with disabilities, take appropriate measures to ensure that alternative methods of voting are available to accommodate the various needs of voters with disabilities, including during lockdowns, quarantines and other measures in response to public health measures, and ensure that election officials are trained on accessible elections and that polling station officials are trained on accessibility;

Encourages States to disseminate information to and work with the private sector, including employers and other relevant stakeholders, to implement accessibility measures for any facilities or services that are open or provided to the public that take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;

Urges States to take all appropriate measures to eliminate violence and discrimination against persons with disabilities, including women and girls, in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters, and ensure that their specific needs are addressed, such as access to basic services, including health-care services, rehabilitation assistance, psychosocial support and educational programmes, as well as transportation and information and communications technologies and systems on an equal basis with others;

Calls upon States to strengthen efforts to empower all persons with disabilities and enhance their participation and promote their leadership in society through taking measures to address and remove all barriers that prevent or restrict their access and full inclusion and participation in the community on an equal basis with others, including in the government and public sector, the private sector, civil society and all branches and bodies of the national monitoring system of the Convention, and to work to ensure that persons with disabilities are closely consulted and actively involved, through their representative organizations, in the design, implementation and monitoring of all legislation, policies and programmes which have an impact on their lives;

Encourages States to provide support to existing organizations and promote the creation of organizations, including civil society organizations and networks of persons with disabilities, as appropriate, and to promote and support persons with disabilities in taking leadership roles in public decision-making bodies at all levels, recognizing the importance for States of having an open, inclusive and transparent engagement with civil society in the implementation of measures on persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States to collect and analyse data disaggregated by income, sex, race, age, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographical location and other characteristics relevant to national contexts to assist, inter alia, with the identification and eradication of barriers and all forms of discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, that prevent persons with disabilities from enjoying all the rights stipulated in the Convention, to guide inclusive policy planning and to be used on an ongoing basis to assess and advance participation, and also calls upon States to improve data-collection systems for adequate monitoring and evaluation frameworks on the implementation of the Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals for all persons with disabilities;

Also calls upon States to take specific measures to support the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in decision-making at all levels, in the public and private sectors, including for appointed and elected positions;

Urges States and other relevant stakeholders, including national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles, where they exist, to continue to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by, inter alia, supporting the disaggregation of data by disability, sex and age for specific indicators, using appropriate measurement tools, including, as appropriate, the United Nations Children’s Fund Module on Child Functioning and the Washington Group short set of questions on disability and other data-collection methodologies, to assist States in measuring the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets and programming policies in the context of the Goals;

Encourages States, United Nations entities and relevant international organizations, inter alia:

To ensure that international cooperation is gender-responsive and disability-inclusive, including through the implementation of disability markers to monitor the implementation of programmes and the collection of data and statistics on persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, targets and indicators, as well as other international frameworks;

To support, promote and strengthen international cooperation and assistance, and enhance partnerships and coordination, including South-South cooperation, among themselves and with the active participation of persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, as well as other relevant civil society organizations and stakeholders, in strengthening the means of implementation of the Convention and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including through the mobilization of financial resources, technical cooperation and facilitation of access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies on mutually agreed terms;

Encourages the United Nations system, international financial and development institutions, and other international and regional organizations:

To increase assistance to support Member States, upon their request, in substantially enhancing the participation of persons with disabilities, including through their organizations, in decision-making, including through building capacity, training and supporting persons with disabilities in participating in public life, and sharing experiences and best practices;

To provide sustained, long-term support to national partners, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and civil society organizations, in their efforts to become more disability-inclusive and promote the participation of persons with disabilities;

Recalls its decision on accessible seating for representatives with disabilities in resolution 73/341 of 12 September 2019 on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly, and in this regard welcomes the note by the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management of the Secretariat implementing the decision;

Invites the Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities to address and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly annually, under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”, as a way to enhance communication between the Assembly and the Committee;

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the system-wide implementation of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, and calls upon the United Nations system, including its agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue to work collaboratively to accelerate the full and effective mainstreaming of disability inclusion into the United Nations system, including by implementing and reporting on the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy across its programmes and operations;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session a progress report on steps taken by the United Nations system towards mainstreaming disability inclusion, including implementation of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, within existing resources;

Calls upon Member States, the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders to take part in implementing the recommendations endorsed by the Steering Committee on Accessibility in June 2019;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session a report on the rights of persons with disabilities with a focus on ensuring the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, as outlined in article 11 of the Convention, including good practices and challenges in the implementation of the Convention in that regard, in consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, relevant United Nations entities, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Children’s Fund, taking into account the views of relevant stakeholders and using existing available materials, and to include a segment on the status of the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to maintain the levels of resources required by the relevant offices in the United Nations system for the fulfilment of their tasks with respect to their work on the rights of and inclusive development for persons with disabilities.

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