Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities

Purpose of the mandate

Persons with disabilities face barriers in their participation as equal members of society. This mandate was created to

• Strengthen efforts to recognize, promote, implement and monitor the rights of persons with disabilities from a human rights-based approach, in line with the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the broader human rights framework
• Recall the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of all human rights and the need for persons with disabilities to be guaranteed the full enjoyment of these rights without discrimination.

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About the mandate

The Human Rights Council first established the mandate on the rights of persons with disabilities in 2014. The mandate was most recently renewed in 2023, through resolution A/HRC/RES/53/14.

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Current mandate holder

Ms. Heba Hagrass (Egypt) was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities from 1 November 2023. A sociologist by training, she is an advocate, an international disability consultant, and a researcher on the rights of persons with disabilities with an extensive experience in Egypt, the Arab Region, and worldwide. She was notably a representative of women with disabilities that participated in the drafting of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In Egypt, Ms. Hagrass promoted the rights of persons with disabilities in legislative reforms as Member of Parliament between 2015 and 2020 and served as the Secretary General of the National Council for Disability Affairs. She is a founding member of the Arab Organization of Disabled People where she was active between 1998 and 2008, including as the head of its Women’s Affairs Committee.

Read Mrs. Hagrass's full biography