Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Holds Informal Meeting with States Parties

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today held an informal meeting with States parties.

In opening remarks, Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, Committee Chairperson, said the world was currently at a critical juncture in defining the future post-2030.  In the lead-up to the Summit of the Future, Member States would soon adopt the Pact of the Future, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Global Digital Compact.  The Committee had advocated for effective leadership from the United Nations to make strong references to disability rights in these documents.

Ms. Oforiwa Fefoame said 66 reports were pending to be considered by the Committee, the second largest backlog across the treaty bodies.  With current meeting times and resources, the Committee would need five years to address this backlog.  If an eight-year predictable review calendar were to be adopted by the General Assembly, the Committee would be granted a third session, which would help it to fully discharge its work under the Convention.

States parties made statements expressing their support for the Committee and presenting suggestions for improving its work.  Speaking in the discussion were Jamaica, Ghana, Mexico, China, Iran and Panama.

Also providing opening statements were Odelia Fitoussi, Committee Vice-Chair, Amalia Gamio Rios, Committee Vice-Chair, Andrea Ori, Chief, Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Jorge Araya, Secretary of the Committee.

Closing the meeting, Ms. Oforiwa Fefoame said the Committee had taken note of all statements made by States parties.  It did not take for granted the support that they provided.  The Committee would continue to work to improve the lives of all persons with disabilities, she said.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.  The programme of work of the Committee’s thirty-first session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. this afternoon to close its thirty-first session.

Opening Statements

GERTRUDE OFORIWA FEFOAME, Committee Chairperson, said the world was currently at a critical juncture in defining the future post-2030.  In the lead-up to the Summit of the Future, Member States would soon adopt the Pact of the Future, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Global Digital Compact.  The Committee had advocated for effective leadership from the United Nations to engage with persons with disabilities and civil society and make strong references to disability rights in these documents. 

It was welcome that the Pact for the Future referenced persons with disabilities in sections on gender equality, poverty, armed conflict, human rights, and the development of children and youth.  Member States needed to continue to improve the outcome document by making specific references to health and education for children with disabilities and use integrated data to align policies with the needs of individuals. 

The Declaration on Future Generations needed to be implemented with the active involvement of persons with disabilities.  The Committee welcomed that the Global Digital Compact also included provisions on disability.  The Compact needed to reference accessibility requirements and disability issues explicitly.  Digital accessibility could positively impact social and economic inclusion, and was a gateway for progress.

ODELIA FITOUSSI, Committee Vice-Chair, said the Committee had fully endorsed the roadmap established by the annual meeting of Chairpersons of treaty bodies about the establishment of an eight-year predictable review calendar, the alignment of methods of work, and the digital uplift of treaty bodies processes.  The Committee expressed hope that the eight-year predictable review calendar would be adopted by the General Assembly in its biennial resolution on the treaty body system, expected at the end of 2024, and that the resolution would provide for sufficient human and financial resources to implement the calendar.

ANDREA ORI, Chief, Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the Groups in Focus Section had registered interest from States in supporting the functioning of the Committee.  Some States had junior professional officer programmes, and the Committee had one vacant position for a junior professional to support its functioning.  States parties could also make extra-budgetary contributions to the functions of the treaty bodies, which could be earmarked for specific projects.

AMALIA GAMIO RIOS, Committee Vice-Chair, said the support of States parties was essential for the Committee.  To align its methods of work with those of other treaty bodies, in March this year, the Committee had amended its rules of procedure to make the simplified reporting procedure the default procedure for periodic reports.  It could also be applied to pending initial reports.

JORGE ARAYA, Committee Secretary, said that in March this year, the Committee also implemented a task force methodology for constructive dialogues with States parties, which was applied to all nine dialogues with States parties held during this session.  The method had brought about more focused questions and more specific, achievable and relevant recommendations in concluding observations.  The Committee was continuing to discuss improvements to this methodology.  It appreciated the positive feedback it had received from States and was eager to hear additional feedback.

Statements by States Parties

Representatives of States parties said, among other things, that inclusion needed to be at the core of the United Nations’ vision for the future.  The Pact for the Future emphasised that the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in all decision-making processes was essential for ensuring that no persons with disabilities were left behind.  One speaker noted the Chair’s recommendations regarding improvements to the Pact, including inclusive health measures and investment in the inclusion of children with disabilities, and expressed commitment to implementing the Pact.  Some speakers expressed a desire to ensure that disability issues were prioritised at the Summit of the Future.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodation needed to be promoted across all sections of the United Nations system, some speakers said.  The construction of accessible facilities would create a better environment for persons with disabilities.  Some speakers welcomed renovations made to the Palais des Nations to make the facility more accessible.  Members of the Committee needed to give their expert views regarding accessibility of the Palais.  Persons with disabilities needed to be able to participate equally in all United Nations meetings.

Many speakers expressed their support for the work of the Committee, and welcomed the inclusion of the meeting with States parties in the programme of the session.  One speaker congratulated the five outgoing Committee Experts for their work and extended best wishes to them.  Another speaker welcomed the Committee’s move to make the simplified reporting procedure the default procedure.  Some speakers also welcomed the support and recommendations provided to States by the Committee in country dialogues, expressing their commitment to implementing the Convention and its Optional Protocol.

One speaker said some treaty bodies issued recommendations that had emanated from other bodies previously.  Treaty bodies needed to consider previous reviews by other bodies to prevent overlap.  Another speaker said human rights treaty bodies needed to equally support all working languages of the United Nations.  The speaker regretted the impact of the liquidity crisis on the work of the Committee, but called on the Committee to use its available resources to the fullest extent possible.  One speaker addressed the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities in certain countries.  Other treaty bodies had addressed this issue; the Committee also needed to address it, the speaker said.

Some speakers presented domestic efforts to implement the Convention and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, including the establishment of laws on accessibility and setting up rehabilitative education institutions.  One speaker presented a recent event on disability that they had held and invited the Committee to review the outcome document for the event.

Closing Remarks

GERTRUDE OFORIWA FEFOAME, Committee Chairperson, said the treaty bodies were working to address the issue of overlap in concluding observations through the treaty body strengthening process.  The Committee had taken all suggestions made by States parties on board and would consider implementing them.

Ms. Oforiwa Fefoame said 66 reports were pending to be considered by the Committee, the second largest backlog across the treaty bodies.  With current meeting times and resources, the Committee would need five years to address this backlog.  The plenary time allocated to the Committee had not grown since 2014, when the Convention had only around 130 parties.  With the current membership to the Convention of 191 States parties, the Committee would need to hold a third session per year of not less than four weeks to fulfil its work. 

If the eight-year predictable review calendar were to be adopted by the General Assembly, the Committee would be granted this third session.  It was very concerning that currently, it took an average of six years from the submission of an initial report until its public consideration by the Committee, and four years for periodic reports.  The Committee needed to honour the work undertaken by States to submit reports and fully discharge its work under the Convention.

The number of overdue initial reports had not ceased to increase.  Up to 30 June 2024, there were 35 overdue initial reports, and 11 initial reports were overdue for more than 10 years.  With the amendments of the Committee’s rules of procedure adopted in March, the Committee could consider issuing lists of issues prior to reporting regarding long overdue initial reports.  The Committee had decided to adopt a proactive approach to support States parties with long overdue reports.  In this regard, it was working with the Capacity Building Project of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to build capacities for reporting at the national level.  The Committee had initiated a pilot process regarding a country with an initial report overdue for more than 10 years.

The Committee attached importance to the participation of persons with disabilities in its work, particularly during the consideration of reports submitted by States parties.  Decisions had been adopted by the Human Rights Council to ensure online and hybrid formats of participation in its meetings.  States needed to work together to secure and expand the participation of persons with disabilities in the work of all human rights mechanisms, including through fully accessible online and hybrid formats of meetings.

During the seventeenth session of the Conference of States parties, held in June 2024 in New York, the Committee sponsored a side-event on strategic litigation under the Optional Protocol to the Convention.  The Committee requested States parties to the Optional Protocol to increase awareness-raising of the Committee’s individual communications and inquiries procedures.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodation were important components of the treaty body strengthening process.  In a recent report by the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention, he called on States parties to consider allocating resources to support the production of key documents of international processes in easy-read format.  This had yet to be achieved, even by the Committee.  The Committee called on States parties to discuss further ways to enhance the capacity of conference services in Geneva to produce easy-to-understand versions of the Committee’s key documents.

Ms. Oforiwa Fefoame said there were five outgoing Committee Experts: Rosa Idalia Aldana Salguero (Guatemala), Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos (Panama), Odelia Fitoussi (Israel), Samuel Njuguna Kabue (Kenya), and Saowalak Thongkuay (Thailand).  They had all made significant contributions to the Committee, and the support of States parties for the work of these Experts was greatly appreciated.

In closing, Ms. Oforiwa Fefoame said the Committee had taken note of all statements made by States parties.  It did not take for granted the support that they provided.  The Committee would continue to work to improve the lives of all persons with disabilities.

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