Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concludes dialogue on its cooperation with Civil Society

26 March 2015

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today completed its meeting on cooperation with other United Nations bodies, specialized agencies, organizations of disabled persons and other competent bodies.

Representatives from the civil society spoke about their advocacy efforts to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Post-2015 Development Agenda and to ensure that existing references to persons with disabilities were maintained and others were included. The adoption of indicators for implementation and accountability of the Post 2015 Development Goals was also discussed.

A representative of International Disability Alliance said the adoption this month of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction had reflected strong inclusion of persons with disabilities in terms of participation, data collection and access to information. The Alliance would continue its advocacy for the Post-2015 Development Agenda to ensure that existing references to persons with disabilities were maintained, and that references to poverty eradication, universal health coverage and the empowerment of women with disabilities were also included. The Alliance was also involved in discussions on the use of indicators to ensure implementation and accountability of the Post 2015 Agenda, and a global indicator framework which would disaggregate data by disability across all goals and targets.

A representative of World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry highlighted several developments relating to the incorporation of standards contained within the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into other human rights mechanisms and instruments that affected people with psychosocial disabilities. Although the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had taken significant steps in the drafting of principles and guidelines on remedies and procedures for court reviews regarding detention, some flaws and inconsistencies needed to be corrected. Significant development in the revision of the standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners had been made, but parts were unfavorable for persons with disabilities.

A representative of Disability Council International briefed the Committees on seminars on the Convention that had been organized in Poland, Belarus and other countries, and said it would continue organizing seminars and workshops. The Council had provided alternative country reports to the Committee, and would continue its close cooperation with partner organizations in developing countries.

A representative of Autistic Minority International referred to the issue of hate speech targeting autistic children and adults, in particular people using English-language search engines. It reported that Google had complied with the Committee’s findings in full. The representative invited Committee members to a side event on World Autism Awareness Day featuring discussions on the issue of stem cell tourism in pursuit of unproven stem cells treatments for autism and many other conditions and disabilities.

A representative of German Institute for Human Rights welcomed the Committee’s dialogue with national human rights institutions and independent monitoring mechanisms. The representative highlighted that the constructive dialogue with Germany, starting today, was a good opportunity for the active participation of the German National Monitoring Body for the Convention. The German Institute was playing an active role and had submitted a parallel report identifying 24 problem areas with respect to the implementation of the Convention in Germany, and suggestions for fostering its implementation.

The following organizations took the floor in the meeting: International Disability Alliance, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, Disability Council International, Autistic Minority International and German Institute for Human Rights.

The Committee will next meet in public at 3 p.m. today to begin its review of the initial report of Germany (CRPD/C/DEU/1).
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