Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concludes sixth session

Committee on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities

23 September 2011
ROUNDUP

Adopts Concluding Observations on Initial Report of Spain

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today closed its one-week sixth session after reviewing the initial report of Spain on how that country implements the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Spain’s report was the second to be considered by the Committee since the Convention went into force and the Committee’s concluding observations on the report will be available on the Committee’s web site on Monday, 23 September.

In closing remarks, Ron Mccallum, the Committee Chairperson, said that this year the Committee had emerged as a real Committee whose central purpose was to conduct constructive dialogues with States parties and to be assisted by national human rights agencies and civil society in this work. The Committee had adopted concluding observations which would be communicated to the Kingdom of Spain and later published on the Committee’s website. Mr. McCallum also said it was important for organizations for persons with disabilities to assist complainants by first publicizing the Optional Protocol and then by assisting complainants to make complaints which were appropriate and valid.

At the opening of its session the Committee heard an address by Wan-Hea Lee, Chief of the Groups in Focus Section of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said that it would be another session in which Committee members would make important contributions toward helping to ensure that all persons with disabilities were able to enjoy their rights.

The Committee Secretary said that decisions taken by the Committee during its sixth session included, among others, adopting the concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Spain, and adopting a list of issues in relation to Peru.
During the sixth session the Committee held several closed meetings in which members examined the harmonization and collaboration with treaty bodies, organizational matters and workload, as well as discussed several internal issues to strengthen the functioning of the Committee.

The next session of the Committee will take place from 10 to 27 April 2012, during which it is expected to review the initial report of Peru and adopt lists of issues related to China, Argentina, Hungary and Paraguay.

Members of the Committee

The current membership of the Committee is as follows: Ms. Amna Ali Al-Suwaidi (Qatar); Mr. Mohammed Al-Tarawneh (Jordan); Mr. Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury (Bangladesh); Ms. María Soledad Cisteras Reyes (Chile); Ms. Theresia Degener (Germany); Mr. Gábor Gombos (Hungary); Ms. Fatiha Hadj-Salah (Algeria); Mr. Hyung Shik Kim (Republic of Korea); Mr. Lotfi Ben Lallahom (Tunisia); Mr. Stig Langvad (Denmark); Ms. Edah Wangechi Maina (Kenya); Mr. Ronald McCallum(Australia); Ms. Ana Peláez Narváez (Spain); Ms. Silvia Judith Quang-Chang (Guatemala); Mr. Carlos Rios Espinosa (Mexico); Mr. Damjan Tatic (Serbia); Mr. Germán Xavier Torres Correa (Ecuador); Ms. Jia Yang (China).

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For use of the information media; not an official record