GENEVA (24 August, 2018) – The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will meet in Geneva from 27 August to 21 September 2018 to review the following countries: Algeria, Bulgaria, Malta, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 

The above are among the 177 States that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and so are required to submit regular reports to the Committee, which is composed of 18 international independent experts. 

During the meetings in Geneva, Committee members will hold dialogues with the respective State delegations. They will also hear from organisations of persons with disabilities, NGOs, national human rights institutions, and independent monitoring frameworks. 

The sessions will be held at Room XVII, Palais des Nations in Geneva. A complete schedule of meetings is available here. In addition to its public reviews, the Committee on Thursday 13 September will celebrate the International Day of Sign Languages with a public event from 15:00-16:30. 

The recommended hashtag for the meeting is #CRPD20 and the sessions will be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org. 

The Committee will publish its findings on the respective countries, known officially as concluding observations, here on 24 September, 2018. 

For media accreditation, please see here. 

For more information and media requests please contact Julia Gronnevet +41 (0) 22 917 9310/jgronnevet@ohchr.org  

ENDS 

Background 

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a human rights treaty negotiated by representatives of the international community — including persons with disabilities, government officials, representatives of nongovernmental organizations and others — designed to change the way persons with disabilities are viewed and treated in their societies. 

Rather than considering disability as an issue of medicine, charity or dependency, the Convention challenges people worldwide to understand disability as a human rights issue. The Convention covers many areas where obstacles can arise, such as physical access to buildings, roads and transportation, and access to information through written and electronic communications. The Convention also aims to eliminate stigma and discrimination, which are often reasons why persons with disabilities are excluded from education, employment and health and other services. 

The Committee is the international monitoring body that oversees the implementation of the Convention by those States that have ratified it and has a mandate to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities. 

For more information on the CRPD, please see here. 

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