Disability Negotiations at the United Nations

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities convened its first session at the UN Secretariat. These meetings are expected to last 2 weeks.

Morning Session

Opening Remarks were made by Mr. Nitin Desai, Under Secretary General of Economic and Social Affairs who spoke on behalf of the Secretariat and the Office of the Secretary-General.

Mr. Desai said that the programme on disabilities is "a test case" of the commitment of the UN, as expressed in the Charter, the Universal Declaration Human Rights, and the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic and Social Rights. He elaborated on the evolving contributions made by the UN in this area noting that every decade has seen a step forward. 1982 saw the passing of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. In 1990, the Economic and Social Council authorized the Commission on Social Development to initiate the work that culminated in 1993 in the non-binding Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The work of the Special Rapporteur on Disability, Mr. Bengt Lindqvist, was also acknowledged with appreciation. During the UN Decade for Disabled Persons from 1983 -1993 draft treaty texts were introduced in the 44th and 46th sessions of the GA, but the general feeling was that more study was required. Now with the decade long advocacy of many governments and non governmental groups behind it, Mr. Desai suggested that some of the concepts developed through the 1982 World Programme and the 1993 UN Standard Rules may perhaps need to be reflected in an International Convention.

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