UN Human Rights Treaties

United Nations
A/56/263
General Assembly
Distr.: General
2 August 2001
Original: English
Fifty-sixth session
Item 131 (b) of the provisional agenda*
Human rights questions: human rights questions, including
alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms
Human rights of persons with disabilities
Note by the Secretary-General**
I. Introduction
1. The present note is submitted in accordance with
Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/51 of
25 April 2001,1 in which the Commission requested the
Secretary-General to report biennially to the General
Assembly on the progress made as regards efforts to
ensure the full recognition and enjoyment of the human
rights of persons with disabilities. That request was
approved by the Economic and Social Council in its
decision 2000/268 of 28 July 2000.
2. The purpose of the note is to inform the General
Assembly of significant developments in this area.
II. Treaty monitoring bodies
A. Committee on the Rights of the Child
3. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has
systematically raised the issue of disabled children. In
the light of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities2 and the
recommendations that it adopted during its day of
general discussion on the rights of children with
disabilities, held on 6 October 1997 (see CRC/C/69,
para. 338), the Committee has recommended the
development of early identification programmes to
prevent disabilities, implement alternative measures to
the institutionalization of children with disabilities, and
envisage awareness-raising campaigns to reduce
discrimination against disabled children and encourage
their inclusion into society.
4. With regard to the implementation of article 2 of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child,3 the
Committee noted that insufficient measures have been
adopted to ensure the full enjoyment by all children of
the rights recognized by the Convention, in particular
in relation to access to education and health services
regarding vulnerable groups.
5. In light of article 23 of the Convention, which
relates to the rights of mentally or physically disabled
children and which is based on the principle that
children with disabilities are entitled to a full and
decent life in conditions which promote dignity, selfreliance
and facilitate participation within society, the
Committee has stated that States parties should develop
programmes to facilitate the active participation in the
community of children with disabilities. The
Committee has encouraged an inclusive approach by
which disabled children are included in mainstream
. facilities and in their natural environment, while still
* A/56/150
** The footnote requested by the General Assembly in
resolution 54/248 was not included in the submission.
01-49898 (E) 290801
*0149898*
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receiving specialized programmes and facilities as
needed. The Committee has expressed its concern
about the lack of adequate infrastructure and the
limited number of qualified staff and specialized
institutions for such children.
6. The Committee has also recommended the
systematic and comprehensive collection of
disaggregated quantitative and qualitative data for all
areas covered by the Convention in relation to all
groups of children, including disabled children, in
order to monitor and evaluate the progress achieved
and assess the impact of policies adopted with respect
to children.
7. In one of its concluding observations, the
Committee noted that, while the incidence of disability
among the child population was low, disabled children
have been the victims of abandonment and
discrimination. In that regard, the Committee
recommended that States parties to the Convention
undertake further research on measures required to
prevent and combat discrimination on the ground of
disability.
8. The Committee has also expressed concern that,
in certain cases, a large number of births are not
supervised by qualified health-care workers and
expressed alarm at the implications that this might have
as regards an increased likelihood of sickness and
disability arising from preventable problems that occur
during delivery.
B. Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights
9. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights has done important work in interpreting
international legal principles applicable to persons with
disabilities. In its General Comment No. 5 (1994) on
disability, the Committee defined the rights of persons
with disabilities and made explicit reference to their
right to physical and mental health, which implied the
right to have access to, and to benefit from, those
medical and social services that would enable them to
sustain and reach their optimum level of independence
and functioning. In its General Comment No. 14
(2000), the Committee adopted an operational
approach to the right to the highest attainable standard
of health, and reaffirmed the provisions of General
Comment No. 5, in particular as concerns the right to
physical and mental health. The Committee stressed the
need to ensure that not only the public health sector but
also private providers of health services and facilities
comply with the principle of non-discrimination in
relation to persons with disabilities.
10. In a concluding observation, the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, noted that
United Nations declarations in relation to certain
groups of individuals, such as minorities, indigenous
peoples, detainees and disabled persons, had not yet
been fully translated into binding instruments, and that
provisions regarding some of those groups were
contained in international treaties, such as the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
the International Labour Organization (ILO)
Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
in Independent Countries or the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) Convention against Discrimination in
Education (E/C.12/1998/23, para. 117).
11. The Committee has also drawn attention to the
specific situation of persons with mental illness and
disability and the need for legislation to ensure that
their rights under the Covenant are fully protected
(E/C.12/1/Add.10, para. 43).
C. Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women
12. In a number of its concluding observations, the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women has noted that, although it is difficult to
collect data on the incidence of disability and on the
rights of persons with disabilities, one conclusion that
could be drawn easily is that persons with disabilities
often live in substandard conditions. Malnutrition, as
well as the lack of health care, in particular prenatal,
delivery and postnatal care, and the lack of
immunization programmes for women and children are
among the major causes of disability.
III. Mechanisms of the Commission
on Human Rights
13. The Commission on Human Rights has continued
to lay stress on the human rights of persons with
disabilities. Moreover, during the fifty-seventh session
of the Commission in 2001, some thematic rapporteurs
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established the interrelationship between non-respect
for human rights and disability.
14. In his first report to the Commission, its Special
Rapporteur on adequate housing considered the
interrelationship between non-respect for human rights
and disability. With regard to the work of the treaty
monitoring bodies on the issue of adequate housing, the
Special Rapporteur noted various references to the
right to adequate housing in General Comment No. 5
(1994) of the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, concerning persons with disabilities.
In that General Comment, the Committee referred to
the effects of disability-based discrimination on
housing. Quoting rule 4 of the Standard Rules on the
Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities,4 the Committee stated that, in addition to
the need to ensure that persons with disabilities have
access to adequate food, accessible housing and other
basic material needs, it was also necessary to ensure
that support services, including assisting devices were
available for persons with disabilities, so as to assist
them in increasing their level of independence in their
daily life and in exercising their rights. Moreover, in
her report (E/CN.4/2001/53), the Special Rapporteur of
the Commission on the right to food noted an interagency
study5 which reaffirmed that permanent and
serious undernourishment and malnutrition cause early
death and numerous diseases, which almost invariably
entail serious disability, for example,
underdevelopment of brain cells in babies and
blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency. According
to the study, chronic hunger and permanent, serious
malnutrition can also be an hereditary curse: every
year, tens of millions of seriously undernourished
mothers give birth to tens of millions of seriously
affected babies.
15. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on the
situation of human rights in Afghanistan mentioned in
his report (E/CN.4/2001/43 and Add.1) that the impact
of the ongoing conflict added victims each day, both
through physical violence and mental stress, and that it
was estimated that 3 to 4 per cent of the population of
Afghanistan were disabled to the point of needing some
kind of service and assistance.
16. In the report of the Secretary-General on the
protection of human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS
(E/CN.4/2001/80), it was noted that all new legislation
should specifically refer to the prohibition of
discrimination on the grounds of disability.
IV. Activities of the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights
17. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission for
Social Development on disability was appointed in
1994 to follow-up the implementation of the Standard
Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons
with Disabilities. Within the framework of his
mandate, he was requested to report every two years to
the Commission on Human Rights. In accordance with
that request, the Special Rapporteur presented his
reports to the Commission in 1996, 1998 and 2000. By
resolution 2000/51, the Commission invited the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in
cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on disability,
to examine measures to strengthen the protection and
monitoring of the human rights of persons with
disabilities and to solicit input and proposals from
interested parties. By that resolution, the Commission
challenged the Special Rapporteur and the human
rights community to translate into concrete action
international norms and standards which could have an
impact on the work of the Commission and on the
mechanisms that it has established, such as the country
and thematic rapporteurs.
18. In pursuance of the above-mentioned resolution,
the Special Rapporteur organized a seminar to discuss
ways and means of implementing the resolution and of
strengthening the human rights dimension in the debate
on disability. The objective of the seminar, which was
held at Stockholm in November 2000, was the
elaboration of guidelines for identifying and reporting
human rights violations and abuse against persons with
disabilities. The seminar made recommendations to the
human rights community and the disability community.
19. Also in pursuance of the resolution, the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights has decided to strengthen its work for disability.
It has reinforced its support for the work of the Special
Rapporteur and will place increased emphasis on the
issue of disability in two areas: (a) encouraging United
Nations human rights mechanisms, including the
special rapporteurs and treaty bodies, to pay greater
attention to the rights of persons with disabilities; and
(b) encouraging non-governmental organizations
concerned with the question of disability to increase
their interaction with United Nations human rights
mechanisms.
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20. The Cambodia office of the High Commission
has, for example, participated in a non-governmental
working group on disabled persons which reviewed the
preparation of a law on disability that addresses the
rights of the disabled, including issues of nondiscrimination,
health and safety. Within the
framework of a technical cooperation project
undertaken in Uganda by the Office of the High
Commissioner (see E/CN.4/2001/104, annex I),
preparations were completed for the launch of a public
hearing on disability on 23 October 2000.
21. On 17 April 2001, during the fifty-seventh
session of the Commission on Human Rights, the
Office of the High Commissioner organized a
consultative meeting of Governments, intergovernmental
and non-governmental organizations, specialized
agencies and United Nations bodies, as well as national
institutions, including national human rights
commissions, on human rights and disability. The
consultations reaffirmed the human rights dimension of
disability and the need to strengthen the link between
the Special Rapporteur of the Commission for Social
Development and the High Commissioner for Human
Rights and Commission on Human Rights. The
consultations allowed non-governmental organizations
concerned with disability to affirm their intention to
work closely with the international human rights
mechanisms and national human rights institutions and
to reaffirm their commitment to ensuring that, in their
work, appropriate attention is given to the human rights
of persons with disabilities. The consultations
permitted national institutions to share their
experiences as regards good practice in protecting and
promoting the rights of persons with disabilities.
22. The consultative meeting was opened by the High
Commissioner for Human Rights and chaired by the
Special Rapporteur of the Commission for Social
Development on disability. The Special Rapporteur
recalled that he was due to submit his final report to the
Commission for Social Development at its fortieth
session in 2002 and that the coming year would be
decisive in redefining an international policy on
disability. The meeting called upon Governments to be
involved in the promotion and protection of the human
rights of persons with disabilities and to take concrete
steps to that effect. The question of whether or not an
international convention on disability should be drafted
was also discussed. Opinions diverged on that
particular issue, although there was general agreement
on the need to give more prominence to disability
matters at the international level, in particular within a
human rights framework.
23. Pursuant to Commission on Human Rights
resolution 2000/51, in which the Commission called
upon the Special Rapporteur and the High
Commissioner to examine measures to strengthen the
protection and monitoring of the human rights of
persons with disabilities, the Office of the High
Commissioner has designed a project which would,
inter alia, provide a conceptual framework for the
recognition of the human rights dimension of disability
and assist the High Commissioner in raising
international and national commitment to the question
of disability. The first activity of the project should be
the publication of a study on human rights and
disability which would make an inventory of and
evaluate existing standards and institutions in the field
of disability and which would propose options for the
future. The study would also review the way in which
human rights mechanisms, including the treaty
monitoring bodies, are considering the issue of
disability.
Notes
1 See Official Records of the Economic and Social
Council, 2000, Supplement No. 3 and corrigendum
(E/2000/3 and Corr.1), chap. II, sect. A.
2 General Assembly resolution 48/96, annex.
3 General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
4 General Assembly resolution 48/96, annex.
5 Subcommittee on Nutrition of the Administrative
Committee on Coordination in collaboration with the
International Food Policy Research Institute, Fourth
Report on the World Nutrition Situation: Nutrition
Throughout the Life Cycle, Geneva, January 2000
(English only).