The UN and Persons with Disabilities
Following the conclusion of the UN Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), the UN General Assembly proclaimed 3 December as the International Day of Disabled Persons (A/RES/47/3). The day was renamed International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December 2007 (A/RES/62/127). Every year’s commemoration has a particular theme. The theme for 2009 is Realizing the MDGs for All: Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities and Their Communities around the World. For more information, please see http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1484).
This year – 2009 – marks the third anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, adopted on 13 December 2006 (A/RES/61/106). This first human rights treaty of the 21st Century was negotiated with the active and constructive participation of NGOs. As the title already indicates, the convention speaks throughout of “persons with disabilities” instead of “disabled persons,” thus emphasizing that persons with disabilities are first of all “persons,” people who have the characteristic of having a disability. The Convention entered into force on 3 May 2008. More than 70 states have ratified the treaty. For more information, see www.un.org/disabilities.
Commemorating this special day is a chance to raise greater awareness of the human rights (social, cultural, economic, civil and political rights) of persons with disabilities; to organize events focusing on disability issues; and to take practical action to further implement international norms and standards concerning persons with disabilities.
November 2009