Statement by Ms. Louise Arbour UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of the 8th Session of the Human Rights Council - Celebration of the entry into force of the Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol

Geneva, 6 June 2008


Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be with you as we celebrate the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. I had the honour to participate in the final stages of the negotiation of these instruments and to welcome their opening for signature last year. The speedy entry into force of both instruments attests to their centrality in the fullest possible reach of human rights protection. As a major gap has now been closed, it is imperative that these obligations take real effect in the lives of all persons with disabilities.

Many of my co-panelists today played significant roles in the negotiation and adoption of the Convention. The concerted engagement of experts from civil society, particularly organizations of persons with disabilities, was crucial to ensuring the final success of this process.

Such participation is a key feature of the Convention, which seeks to redress the lack of say and visibility endured by persons with disabilities, and thus counter their traditional exclusion from society. We must all join in the effort to transform into reality the principles and obligations that the Convention sets forth. And this, of course, requires much more than mere rhetorical pledges. We must strive to work with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, and to include persons with sensory, psychosocial, intellectual and physical disabilities in all matters that concern them.

Let me underscore that this Convention is about change, as it requires us to move away from charity-oriented or medical-based approaches to a human rights-based approach to disabilities. These traditional approaches and attitudes, no matter how well-intentioned they might have been, regarded persons with disabilities either as passive recipients of good will or deeds or as problems to be fixed, or both.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The celebration of diversity and the empowerment of the individual are essential human rights messages. The Convention embodies and clearly conveys these messages by envisaging a fully active role in society for persons with disabilities. It asserts that they are free to live independently in their community, to make their own choices, and to contribute to society so that we can all learn and benefit from their diverse experiences and knowledge.

Just one example of this change from a passive charity model to a rights-based model is the Convention’s affirmation that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others. Even today, persons with disabilities are often deprived of their capacity to buy and sell property, to make decisions on inheritance, to choose medical treatment or to refuse to enter institutions. The supported decision-making model required by the Convention affirms the legal capacity to act of persons

with disabilities and ensures that they themselves are always at the centre of the decisions affecting their lives, even if, in some cases, they might need support to make decisions or make their decisions heard.

Mr. President,

The Human Rights Council has an important role to play in the future of this Convention. As the principal UN body dealing specifically with human rights, the Council is perfectly positioned, and indeed expected, to advance the Convention’s goals among States and within the UN system. I believe that the Council needs to fully embrace its responsibility to provide leadership in promoting the goals of the Convention and its vision of affirmative change.

You have already sought ways to expand your work in this field. At your request, my Office is currently preparing a report for your 10th session on legal measures concerning ratification and implementation of the Convention. A Panel discussion at that session will debate that report. My Office has also been supporting the work of Special Procedures to include the rights of persons with disabilities in their thematic and monitoring activities. The new Universal Periodic Review provides grounds for the Council to promote the principles and rights of the Convention.

Your key contribution could be to use your authority to foster universal ratification of the Convention which, I believe, is an achievable goal. Every society, every community includes persons with disabilities. Estimates suggest that ten percent of our populations have disabilities. And yet, persons with disabilities everywhere suffer some of the most egregious violations of their human rights. The Convention and Optional Protocol provide a road-map for all of us to correct this unacceptable situation. Universal ratification will help achieve that vision everywhere. I urge you to exercise leadership to make this goal a reality.

Thank you.