19 January 2006 CRINMAIL 747
Special Edition on the 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Drafting of a Disability Convention
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- INTRODUCTION: Status of the Drafting of the Disability Convention
- CHILD PARTICIPATION: Children raise the visibility of disabled children
- SIDE EVENTS ON CHILD RIGHTS: Child participation - inclusive education
- NGO SUBMISSIONS: NGO Comments on the draft text for the 7th meeting
- RESOURCES: Background information, briefings, articles, links, etc.
- EMPLOYMENT: Education and Social Services Consultants
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Your submissions are welcome if you are working in the area of child rights. To contribute, email us at [email protected]. Adobe Acrobat is required for viewing some of the documents, and if required can be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
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INTRODUCTION: Status of the Drafting of the Disability Convention
The Seventh session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities is currently taking place in New York. The session opened on Monday 16th January and will close on Friday 3rd February. The aim of the 7th Ad Hoc Committee meeting is to conclude a draft text of the Convention in order to submit it to the General Assembly for its adoption, hopefully at its 61st session.
Fpr more information on the 7th Committee meeting, and to read background documents, visit the UN website on the Drafting of the Disability Convention.
About the Ad Hoc Committee
The Ad Hoc Committee was established by General Assembly Resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, with the aim of considering proposals for a Convention to protect and promote the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. The Resolution also invited States, relevant UN bodies and concerned NGOs to make contributions to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee.
The Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly held its first session in July 2002. It mainly focused on procedural issues. At the 2nd session, in June 2003, the Committee recommended to the General Assembly that a Convention be elaborated, and established a Working Group to prepare a draft text which would be the basis for negotiation in the next sessions. The Committee started its negotiation on a Draft Convention at its 3rd Session in May 2004, and has been discussing the draft text since. During the 6th Session, in August 2005, Don MacKay, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, said the final text should be ready in a year, hopefully at the 8th session, scheduled to take place in August 2006. 2008 was mentioned as the year when the Convention might go into effect, depending on how many ratifications were obtained.
More information about the Ad Hoc Committee
About the Convention
People with disabilities have argued for many years that disability is a human rights, not a welfare issue. Their arguments were finally accepted when the UN, in 2001, agreed to set up an Ad Hoc Committee to consider proposals for a new human rights convention to address the rights of people with disabilities.
The aim of the Convention is not to create new human rights standards. All the rights embodied in the existing human rights treaties apply equally to people with disabilities. The problem lies in their implementation. People with disabilities, for example, are widely denied equal civil rights, rights to family life, recognition of legal capacity and are disproportionately vulnerable to both physical and sexual violence.
Yet any review of the government reports on implementation of the two international covenants reveals a virtual total absence of any acknowledgement of how the rights of people with disabilities are being realised. Furthermore, those violations are not being challenged by the treaty monitoring bodies. In many ways, people with disabilities are rendered invisible. Accordingly, the aim of the new Convention is to introduce obligations on governments to implement existing human rights for people with disabilities on an equal basis with non-disabled people.
[Gerison Lansdown: Full article]
To know more about the current status of negotiations, and to read the current draft text, as well as its revisions and amendments, visit the UN website on the Disability Convention
About the rights of disabled children
Despite the unique provision in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which explicitly includes disability as a ground for protection from discrimination, children with disabilities continue to face extreme forms of discrimination in most countries around the world. Analysis of government reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child reveals that virtually the only issues ever addressed by governments in respect of children with disabilities relate to education and social welfare. Other rights - to participate, to play, to information, to freedom from violence, to an adequate standard of living, and indeed, the right to life are rarely, if ever, addressed. It is therefore imperative that this new treaty pays attention to children as well as adults with disabilities in imposing obligations on governments to ensure that all people are afforded equal respect for their rights.
To date, the text does not achieve this objective. It contains one article dedicated to children (article 7). However, the wording is largely lifted from Article 23 of the CRC and as such, serves to add very little to strengthen existing rights. Children's rights are not addressed anywhere else in the Convention except in relation to education. Urgent action is needed to ensure that this unique opportunity to introduce significant and positive changes in the lives of one of the most marginalised groups of children on the planet is not to be wasted.
[Gerison Lansdown: Full article]
For general information about disability and the UN, the Ad Hoc Committee's work and the status of the draft text, visit the website of the Division for Social Policy and Development of the United Nations Secretariat
Read CRINMAIL 711 on the 6th session of the Ad Hoc Committee (September 2005)
For regular news updates on disability issues and the drafting of the Convention, visit CRIN's news page on the drafting of the Disability Convention
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CHILD PARTICIPATION: Children raise the visibility of disabled children
Children's statement at the meeting
A group of disabled children from Bangladesh, China and the United Kingdom, representatives of Save the Children, addressed the United Nations on Wednesday, in an attempt at preventing millions of children with disabilities being written out of the future UN Disability Convention.
They met together over the weekend of 14-15 January and prepared a presentation based on their shared experiences of discrimination and exclusion. On Wednesday, they gave the presentation to the full plenary of the Ad Hoc Committee set up to develop the Disability Convention. The Chair gave them 15 minutes and they were extremely well received. They raised issues of the right to inclusion, to participation, to the need for support and education for families. They also prepared a handout setting out what the Convention needs to address to make a difference for children.
Side event on "Raising the voices of Children and Young People with Disabilities"
Save the Children, with Rehabilitation International, held a joint lunchtime meeting on the same day. It was attended by around 75 people - the room was packed and the children again presented their concerns and engaged the participants in an interactive session. They raised a long list of damaging experiences faced by disabled children and asked the audience to identify whether they had ever experienced any of the problems. It was a huge success and everyone left buzzing with interest and enthusiasm. Several government delegations attended - UK, Germany, Kenya, China, Bangladesh. The Council of Europe, DESA (the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) and the World Bank were also there.
There was considerable press interest in the children, and overall, their presence served to raise the visibility of children considerably and will hopefully help in ensuring that governments recognise the need for appropriate amendments to the text of the Convention.
[Gerison Lansdown, Save the Children]
Read the children's statement
Read the UN press release about the children's address
Read the children's own report about their participation
For more information on children's rights issues at stake in the Convention and the key areas being lobbied for by Save the Children, read Gerison Lansdown's article
Visit CRIN's news page on the drafting of the Disability Convention
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SIDE EVENTS ON CHILD RIGHTS: Child participation - inclusive education
Two side events at the 7th meeting were particularly relevant to children's rights:
- Wednesday 18 January
Raising the voices of Children and Young People with Disabilities
Organised by Rehabilitation International and Save the Children
Speakers: Nazma (Bangladesh, age 15), Rubel (Bangladesh, age 16), Nancy (UK, age 19), Lucia (UK, age 21), Yao (China, age 18), Shi (China, age 26), Gerison Lansdown (Save the Children), Helen Schulte (UNICEF), Tomas Lagerwall (RI)
(See report above)
- Friday 27 January
Developing Inclusive Education: Challenging segregation in Education
Organised by: British Council of Disabled People (BCODP), Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE), Disability Equality in Education (DEE) and SCOPE UK
Speakers: Richard Rieser, Linda Shaw, Tara Flood
(See CSIE submission)
Full list of side events
Visit CRIN's news page on the drafting of the Disability Convention
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NGO SUBMISSIONS: NGO Comments on the draft text for the 7th meeting
- Education Article 24: Proposed Amendments to the Chair's Text
Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE)
CSIE will propose amendments to article 24 (education) of the chair's text outlawing segregation in education on the basis of disability.
- Reaction on the Chairman's text
International Disability Caucus (IDC)
IDC is a coalition of over 50 NGOs. In this document, they propose their amendments to the Chairman's Text.
- Letter to the Ad Hoc Committee: proposed amendments
National Society for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities and their Families (RESCARE)
Comment on the right of parental choice of Special Schools for families having children with severe learning disabilities and/or autism.
Complete list of documents, briefings and comments submitted by NGOs on the draft text at the 7th Session
Visit CRIN's news page on the drafting of the Disability Convention
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RESOURCES: Background information, briefings, articles, links, etc.
Articles on children's rights
Article 23 of the Convention on the Right of the Child relating to children with disabilities
Draft article 7 of the Chair's text on Children with Disabilities
Draft article 24 of the Chair's text on Education
Full text of the Draft Convention
General information
Regular news updates, documents and resources are posted on CRIN's news page for the drafting of the Disability Convention
For detailed information about the Ad Hoc Committee's work and the state of negotiations on the Draft text, visit the UN website on the Disability Convention
Useful NGO websites
- CRIN
- Disabled Persons International
- Inclusion International
- Rehabilitation International
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EMPLOYMENT: Education and Social Services Consultants
Save the Children is looking for several experts in education and social services reform in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. Two consultants are required per country (one with expertise in education sector; the other with expertise in social services) to carry out assessments in Tsunami-affected areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India. These assessments will feed into the development of major proposals aimed at addressing the needs of affected populations.
Consultancy terms of reference are currently being developed but will likely involve the following time commitments: 2 weeks in March and 1 week in the second half of April. Experts who are interested in this piece of work and available in the specified time period are invited to submit their CVs to Save the Children. Short-listed candidates will be contacted by the end of January 2006.
For more information:
Email: [email protected]
Visit Save the Children's website
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