UN Human Rights Treaties

United Nations A/RES/57/229
General Assembly Distr.: General
27 February 2003
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 109 (b)
02 55431
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/57/556/Add.2 and Corr.1-3)]
57/229. Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral
International Convention on Protection and Promotion
of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, by which it established
the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention
on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities,
as well as Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/61 of 25 April 2002 on the
human rights of persons with disabilities1 and Economic and Social Council
resolution 2002/7 of 24 July 2002 on a comprehensive and integral international
convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities
and Council resolution 2002/26 of 24 July 2002 on the further promotion of
equalization of opportunities by, for and with persons with disabilities and
protection of their human rights,
Stressing the importance of the active participation of non-governmental
organizations in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and the important contribution
of non-governmental organizations to the promotion of human rights and
fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities,
Underlining the fact that the consideration of proposals for a convention
should complement concrete efforts to mainstream further the disability perspective
into the implementation of international obligations and into the monitoring
mechanisms of the six core United Nations human rights conventions, as well as
into the process of implementing and strengthening the Standard Rules on the
Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities,2
Welcoming the work of national, regional and international meetings of
Governments, experts, and non-governmental organizations that contributed to the
work of the Ad Hoc Committee,
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1 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2002, Supplement No. 3 (E/2002/23), chap. II,
sect. A.
2 Resolution 48/96, annex.

A/RES/57/229
Reaffirming the need to promote and protect the equal and effective enjoyment
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, aware of
the contribution that a convention could make in this regard and thus convinced of
the need to continue to consider proposals,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on a
Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion
of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on its first session;3
2. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the Ad Hoc
Committee to the Commission on Social Development at its forty-first session and
to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session;
3. Decides that the Ad Hoc Committee should hold, within existing
resources, at least one meeting in 2003 of a duration of ten working days, prior to
the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly;
4. Encourages States to hold meetings or seminars to contribute to the work
of the Ad Hoc Committee, in cooperation with, as appropriate, the Division for
Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs
of the Secretariat, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social
Development, and non-governmental organizations;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States,
observer States, relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system,
including relevant human rights treaty bodies and the Special Rapporteur, on
proposals for a convention including, inter alia, questions relating to its nature and
structure and the elements to be considered, including the work done in the field of
social development, human rights and non-discrimination, as well as issues of
follow-up and monitoring and the complementarity between a new instrument and
existing instruments;
6. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Ad Hoc Committee
at its second session a comprehensive report on the views submitted, to be issued at
least six weeks before the commencement of the second session;
7. Invites the regional commissions and intergovernmental organizations,
within their respective mandates, as well as non-governmental organizations,
national disability and human rights institutions and independent experts with an
interest in the matter, to make available to the Ad Hoc Committee suggestions and
possible elements to be considered in proposals for a convention;
8. Welcomes the contributions of the Special Rapporteur and the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the work of the Ad
Hoc Committee, and invites them to continue to collaborate with the Ad Hoc
Committee and with each other in this regard;
9. Urges that further efforts be made to ensure the active participation of
non-governmental organizations in the Ad Hoc Committee in accordance with
General Assembly resolution 56/510 of 23 July 2002 and with the decision of the Ad
Hoc Committee on the modalities for the participation of non-governmental
organizations in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;4
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3 See A/57/357.
4 Ibid., para.10.

A/RES/57/229
10. Also urges that efforts be made to ensure that accessibility, with
reasonable accommodation as regards facilities and documentation, is improved for
all persons with disabilities, in accordance with General Assembly decision 56/474
of 23 July 2002;
11. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Ad Hoc
Committee with the facilities necessary for the performance of its work and, in this
context, invites the Secretary-General to reallocate resources in order to allow the
United Nations Programme on Disability to provide the necessary support to the Ad
Hoc Committee;
12. Encourages Member States to involve persons with disabilities,
representatives of disability organizations and experts in the preparatory processes
contributing to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
13. Also encourages Member States to include persons with disabilities
and/or other experts in the field in their delegations to the meetings of the Ad Hoc
Committee;
14. Decides to establish a voluntary fund to support the participation of
non-governmental organizations and experts from developing countries, in
particular from the least developed countries, and invites Governments, civil society
and the private sector to contribute to the voluntary fund;
15. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit a comprehensive report of the
Ad Hoc Committee to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session.
77th plenary meeting
18 December 2002