UN Human Rights Treaties

United Nations A/RES/60/232
General Assembly Distr.: General
31 January 2006
Sixtieth session
Agenda item 71 (b)
05-50152
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 23 December 2005
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/60/509/Add.2 (Part I))]
60/232. Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral
International Convention on the 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 decided to
establish an Ad Hoc Committee, open to the participation of all Member States and
observers to the United Nations, to consider proposals for a comprehensive and
integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of
persons with disabilities, based on a holistic approach in the work done in the fields
of social development, human rights and non-discrimination and taking into account
the recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission for
Social Development,
Recalling also its resolution 59/198 of 20 December 2004, as well as relevant
resolutions of the Commission for Social Development and the Commission on
Human Rights,
Reaffirming the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and
interrelatedness of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for
persons with disabilities to be guaranteed their full enjoyment without
discrimination,
Convinced of the contribution that a convention will make in this regard, and
encouraged by the increased support of the international community for such a
convention,
Welcoming with satisfaction the progress achieved so far in the negotiations on
a draft convention,
Stressing the importance of the active participation of intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions in the work
of the Ad Hoc Committee, and their valuable contribution to the promotion of the
full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with
disabilities,
Underlining the importance of the participation of the Special Rapporteur on
disability of the Commission for Social Development in the work of the Ad Hoc
Committee,

A/RES/60/232

Recognizing the important contributions made thus far to the Ad Hoc
Committee by all stakeholders,
1. Welcomes the reports 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 on its fifth1 and sixth2 sessions;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the reports of the Ad Hoc
Committee to the Commission for Social Development at its forty-fourth session
and to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session, and requests
both Commissions to continue to contribute to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
3. Invites Member States and observers to continue to participate actively
and constructively in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee with the aim of concluding
a draft text of a convention and submitting it to the General Assembly, as a matter of
priority, for its adoption, preferably at the sixty-first session;
4. Decides that the Ad Hoc Committee shall hold, within existing resources,
prior to the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, two sessions in 2006, one of
fifteen working days, from 16 January to 3 February, in order to achieve a complete
reading of the draft text of a convention prepared by the Chairman of the Ad Hoc
Committee, and one of ten working days, from 7 to 18 August;
5. Underlines the importance of further strengthening the cooperation and
coordination between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat
in order to provide technical support to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, and
invites them to provide, in advance of the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee,
background documentation to assist Member States and observers in the negotiation
of a draft convention, and to organize, in close connection and timing with the dates
and venue of the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee, meetings of experts and
seminars in relation to the draft convention, within existing resources;
6. 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 to the United Nations
Programme on Disability so as to provide support to the negotiations on a draft
convention;
7. Stresses the need for additional efforts to ensure accessibility at the
United Nations, with reasonable accommodation regarding facilities and
documentation, for all persons with disabilities, in accordance with General
Assembly decision 56/474 of 23 July 2002;
8. Requests the Secretary-General to explore and implement innovative
measures, within existing resources and in consultation with organizations of
persons with disabilities and the Bureau of the Ad Hoc Committee, for the provision
of selected documents of the Ad Hoc Committee in formats accessible to
participants with visual and hearing disabilities;
9. Encourages Member States to continue to include in their delegations to
the Ad Hoc Committee persons with disabilities and/or other experts in the field;
_______________
1 A/AC.265/2005/2.
2 See A/60/266.

A/RES/60/232

10. Urges Member States, observers, civil society, international
organizations, financial institutions and the private sector to contribute to the
voluntary fund established pursuant to its resolution 57/229 of 18 December 2002 to
support the participation of non-governmental organizations and experts from
developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in the work of the
Ad Hoc Committee;
11. Requests the Secretary-General to disseminate widely to nongovernmental
organizations all available information on accreditation procedures,
modalities and supportive measures for their participation in the work of the Ad Hoc
Committee, as well as the criteria for the financial assistance that is available
through the voluntary fund;
12. Also requests the Secretary-General to transmit a comprehensive report
of the Ad Hoc Committee and to report on the implementation of paragraphs 5, 6, 7,
8 and 11 of the present resolution to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session.
69th plenary meeting
23 December 2005