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ISSUE N°18
JULY 2005
 
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white cube Editorial
white cube The challenge of the Second Conference of Speakers of Parliaments
white cube Human rights
white cube Women in parliament
white cube Cooperation with the UN
white cube WTO Public Symposium
white cube IPU & UNITAR
white cube Parliamentary developments
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The World of Parliaments
Cooperation with the UN

A NEW HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENTION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
THE CRITICAL ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS
by Luis Gallegos

Mr. Kofi Annan and Mr. Luis Gallegos.
Mr. Kofi Annan and Mr. Luis Gallegos.
As many will by now be aware, the United Nations is currently negotiating a new human rights convention: an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. This will be the first such international convention specifically addressing the rights of the more than 600 million persons with disabilities worldwide. Once it is adopted, IPU Members will have a critical role to play in translating this ground-breaking convention into national law.The current effort began in 2001, when the Government of Mexico put forward a proposal before the United Nations General Assembly, resulting in the adoption of a resolution on 28 November 2001.

The resolution called for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee mandated to elaborate "a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, based on the holistic approach in the work done in the field of social development, human rights and non-discrimination." The early stages of the process centred on building the case for a convention specifically addressing the rights of people with disabilities. It soon became clear that the laws of many countries addressed disability issues in an outdated manner, either ignoring them altogether, or often starting from the paternalistic and false assumption that people with disabilities are objects of charity, consigned to dependence on family or society. Moreover, it was also quite clear that existing human rights documents did not adequately address the multiple barriers that disabled people faced in accessing their human rights. Most legally binding human rights treaties fail to address the issue of disability at all, and those that include some reference to it do so in a fragmented and often paternalistic manner. There are no disability-specific legally binding treaties at the international level, and only one such treaty at the regional level. A convention will once and for all establish a positive, rights-based framework in which to view and include people with disabilities.

At the outset of the second session of the Ad Hoc Committee (June 2003), the case was won for proceeding with the development of a new convention, and attention centred on the process by which the convention would be negotiated. Subsequent sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee and its Working Group (January 2004) initiated the actual process of formulating a convention text.

The process is remarkable for its active engagement of people with disabilities themselves. Disability advocates from every corner of the globe have worked tirelessly, side-by-side with governments and United Nations agencies, offering innovative solutions to address the barriers that the convention is trying to confront. This participation by people with disabilities serving both in government delegations and as members of grass-roots disabled peoples' organizations, has significantly informed the process. There can be no doubt that the convention that emerges from this interactive process will be fundamentally shaped by their involvement.

As a result of consultations at national, regional and international levels since the Ad Hoc Committee was established, new networks and communities of disabilitysensitized policy makers, programme specialists, academics and advocates have emerged. Together, they are contributing to a process of promoting and developing universal norms, and thereby contributing to the implementation of human rights for all.

Parliamentarians with disabilities are already playing a unique and important role in this process. For example, the Honourable James Mwandha, a member of the Ugandan National Assembly, has been a key member of his country’s delegations. In March 2004, members of the Human Rights Caucus of the United States Congress convened a briefing on the convention process along with several disabled members of Congress. In July 2002, the Peruvian Congress hosted a panel presentation on the convention, in conjunction with a regional meeting of advocates representing Disabled Peoples International. Once the convention has been adopted, the role of parliamentarians will only increase in importance. Not only will parliaments be responsible for ratifying the convention and ensuring that it enters into force; they will also have primary responsibility for amending or introducing implementing legislation and finding creative practical solutions to give life to the principles and provisions of the convention. In all of these activities, consultation and collaboration with disabled people and their representative organizations will be an essential ingredient.

The ongoing international discourse on disability rights demonstrates a common goal of humankind - to establish an integrated community of all people based upon the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms. As we strive to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities through work on this new convention, we are embarking upon a significant endeavour in translating into reality the notion of the dignity and worth of every human being. Those in the Ad Hoc Committee and the thousands of disability advocates will rely on the expertise of parliamentarians around the world to work with us to support this important effort to take concrete action towards building just and equitable societies for all.

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