Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities First session, 23 to 27 February 2009, Opening remarks by Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Monday 23 February 2009, 10 a.m.
Palais des Nations (Conference Room VII)

Members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Colleagues and friends,
Let me first welcome you warmly to Palais des Nations, and to Geneva. I also extend to you the High Commissioner’s welcome and good wishes. She had greatly looked forward to opening this session herself, but had to go on mission to New York this week. I can assure you, however, she will follow your work closely and meet with you during one of your future sessions. I congratulate you on your election to the Committee and assure you of my commitment, and that of my staff, to provide you with the highest quality substantive and technical support to assist you in your important task. Staff of the Division for Social Policy within the Department of Economic and Social Affairs also provide support to your work. I am very happy to welcome members of the Division today, in particular Ms. Akiko Ito.
Your Committee is the 9th and newest at UN human rights treaty body system and is part of a comprehensive framework created by the United Nations to promote and protect human rights. You join eight existing human rights treaty bodies whose task is to monitor implementation by governments of substantive human rights obligations they have taken on by becoming parties to human rights treaties. A tenth human rights treaty body, the Committee on Enforced Disappearance will begin its work as soon as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance enters into force. The work of the treaty bodies, including this Committee, is complemented and reinforced by the Human Rights Council, the principal intergovernmental on human rights, its special procedures and working groups, as well as its Universal Periodic Review mechanism through which all Member States of the United Nations are reviewed every four years for their track record on human rights.
As all in this room would agree, disability is an evolving concept, which emerges from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. It is well known that there are over half a billion persons with disabilities in the world today, amounting to nearly 10% of the global population. The issue of disability is at the intersection of human rights and development - 80% of persons with disabilities live in developing countries and many in conditions of extreme poverty. We know also that only two per cent of children with disabilities in the developing world receive any formal education. In many countries of the world, there persist beliefs, attitudes, practices and laws which directly or indirectly deprive those with disabilities from their entitlement to achieve their fullest personal development and contribute like others to their societies.
Indeed, in all countries of the world, persons with disabilities have faced, and continue to face, profound discrimination and violations of their human rights on a daily basis. Even though the protection offered by the web of human rights treaties grounded on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is meant to apply to all, including those with disabilities, persons with disabilities remained ‘invisible’ in human rights discourse and rarely benefited from the existing human rights treaties. However, the very swift process of elaboration and adoption of the Convention and its Optional Protocol, as well as their rapid entry into force, attests to the international community’s commitment to close this glaring gap, and transform human rights into a legal framework which is truly inclusive and universal. It is now imperative that we work together to encourage universal acceptance of these instruments and ensure that the obligations that States parties have voluntarily undertaken under these instruments have a concrete effect on the lives of women, men, girls and boys with disabilities. Your task, as the Committee, is to make sure this happens through the process of consideration of reports which States parties are obliged to submit on a periodic basis, petitions from, or on behalf of, individuals or groups of individuals and inquiries. The Convention also provides you with the basis to encourage United Nations and other competent bodies to provide technical advice or assistance to accelerate implementation, as well as international cooperation towards the same end.
Building on earlier international guidances related to the rights of persons with disabilities, including the principles and policy guidelines contained in the World Programme of Action on Disabled Persons and Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for People with Disabilities, the Convention provides minimum standards of protection for the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of persons with disabilities, on the basis of non-discrimination. But the Convention goes beyond these instruments by including provisions that make clear that persons with disabilities are entitled to live independently in their community, make their own choices and play an active role in society. By confirming persons with disabilities as full and active members of society, with rights and entitlements, rather than being dependent on good will or charity or to be approached from a medical perspective, the Convention is about change, and, as all in this room will know, embodies a ‘paradigm shift.’ While it does not create new rights, it explains key concepts, such as discrimination on the basis of disability, reasonable accommodation and universal design. Importantly also, by recognizing the specific experience of women and children with disabilities, the Convention acknowledges that discrimination on the grounds of disability can be compounded by other factors. This is of profound significance, and is especially relevant as we review the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action this year.
Distinguished Committee members,
During this week you will consider draft rules of procedure and start discussions on your methods of work. In this regard, as I pointed out earlier, I would like to emphasize that the Convention, the Optional Protocol and your Committee are part of a broader human rights framework. On 10 December 2008, as we celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this framework was further strengthened by the adoption of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. When it enters into force, the Protocol will enable the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to consider individual and inter-State petitions alleging violations of rights enshrined in the Covenant, and to conduct inquiries. It is likely that this framework will be further expanded in the future, particularly as discussions have begun on the possible elaboration of a similar petitions Protocol for the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

As you start your work within this growing framework, I would also like to bring your attention to the work of the annual meeting of chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies, and the twice annual Inter-Committee Meeting, which aim at streamlining and simplification of the procedures and practices of the treaty bodies so that the treaty body system as a whole is more visible and accessible to all. Perhaps the most important achievement of these meetings so far, has been the formulation and adoption of harmonized guidelines for State Party reporting to human rights treaty bodies, which consist of guidelines for a common core document to be submitted to all treaty bodies and targeted treaty specific reports. I encourage you to consider these guidelines, as well as the various recommendations of these meetings as you develop your own working methods. Indeed, article 38 (b) of the Convention requires the Committee to consult with other relevant international human rights treaties with a view to ensuring the consistency of their respective reporting guidelines, suggestions and general recommendations, and avoiding duplication and overlap in the performance of their functions. I also encourage you to consider your work closely with the Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission on Social Development, who, as you know, is mandated to monitor the implementation of the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities.
Distinguished Committee Members
As you commence your work, the hope of all persons with disabilities around the world takes a huge leap forward. This beginning of the practical application of the Convention in the lives of persons with disabilities is a historic milestone in the journey towards achieving all human rights for all. For the United Nations system, especially for our Office, this session is also of profound significance. You will see that there is much to be done before the United Nations system fully complies with the spirit of the Convention, but we are committed to change. I wish you well for the busy session that lies ahead of you. I look forward to interacting with you during this week and the sessions ahead, and welcome suggestions that you may have on ways that we can better assist you.
I thank you.