UN Human Rights Treaties

UNITED NATIONS
E
Economic and Social Council
Distr.
LIMITED
E/CN.5/1997/L.10
4 March 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Thirty-fifth session
25 February-6 March 1997
Agenda item 3 (b)
FOLLOW-UP TO THE WORLD SUMMIT FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT:
REVIEW OF RELEVANT UNITED NATIONS PLANS AND PROGRAMMES
OF ACTION PERTAINING TO THE SITUATION OF SOCIAL GROUPS
Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Mongolia, Pakistan, Panama,
Philippines, Poland and Sudan: draft resolution
The Commission for Social Development recommends to the Economic and Social
Council the adoption of the following draft resolution:
Children with disabilities
The Economic and Social Council,
Recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft
resolution:
The General Assembly,
Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights1 and other
international human rights instruments, which proclaim that the rights
therein should be ensured equally for all individuals without
discrimination,
Also recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child,2 in
particular article 23 thereof, which requires special measures to ensure
the rights of children with disabilities, and establishes the standards and
1 General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
2 General Assembly resolution 44/25, annex.
97-05655 (E) 040397 /...
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parameters for recognizing and responding to the special needs and
protection of children with mental and/or physical disabilities,
Taking note of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled
Persons3 and the Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities,4 as well as the Declaration on the Rights of
Mentally Retarded Persons5 and the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled
Persons,6
Also taking note of the various other resolutions passed by the
General Assembly related to persons with disabilities, including its
resolution 46/119 of 17 December 1991 on the protection of persons with
mental illness and the improvement of mental health care,
Noting the convening of the Global Workshop on Children with
Disabilities in Developing Countries at Washington, D.C., from 3 to 7
February 1997,
Convinced that disability is not inability and that it is critically
important to take a positive view of abilities as the basis of planning for
persons with disabilities, in particular children with disabilities,
1. Welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on Disability on
the implementation of the Standard Rules for the Equalization of
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities;4
2. Notes, with concern, the growing incidence of disability in
children, either of a physical or mental nature or both, as a consequence
of wars, civil strife, mines, natural and man-made disasters, violence,
poverty, disease and other conditions that destroy the quality of life;
3. Recognizes the need to further address the special needs of
children with disabilities;
4. Encourages Governments to promote and protect the rights, special
needs and welfare of children with disabilities through, inter alia, the
development or strengthening of relevant legislation, and to provide
adequate budgetary allocations to implement such legislation;
5. Invites Governments to consider conducting awareness-raising
activities, where appropriate with the cooperation and assistance of the
United Nations Children's Fund and other relevant United Nations agencies
and non-governmental organizations, especially of the disabled, with a view
3 A/37/351/Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1, annex, sect. VIII.
4 General Assembly resolution 48/96, annex.
5 General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX).
6 General Assembly resolution 2856 (XXVI).
/...
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to developing sensitivity to children with disabilities and combating and
overcoming social prejudice and discrimination directed against them;
6. Encourages further technical, educational and economic
cooperation among States, in coordination with the United Nations
Children's Fund, other relevant United Nations agencies and
non-governmental organizations, towards the development of human resources
by nurturing the talents and potentials of children with disabilities, the
development and dissemination of appropriate technologies and know-how, and
the development of common standards for the national evaluation of
childhood disability, with due regard for the situation of poor or
developing countries;
7. Recommends to Governments, United Nations bodies and agencies
concerned and relevant non-governmental organizations to establish data
banks on childhood disability, which should include information on the
causes, types and frequencies of disability, national legislation and
programmes, including support measures, and the results of studies or
researches and surveys, if any, on the subject;
8. Urges Governments to provide free access to education for
children with disabilities, to integrate disability issues within the
regular education curriculum and to mainstream disabled children in the
school system;
9. Also urges Governments to provide vocational preparatory training
appropriate for children with disabilities;
10. Requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization to continue its programme activities aimed at the integration
of children and youth with disabilities into mainstream education, in line
with the Salamanca Declaration adopted at the World Conference on Special
Needs Education: Access and Quality, Salamanca, Spain, June 1994;
11. Also requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization to extend appropriate assistance to Governments in
designing and setting up programmes to encourage the creative, artistic and
intellectual potential of children with disabilities, and through its
regional offices, to conduct seminars and workshops to provide appropriate
training in those fields to teachers, parents, social workers and others
concerned;
12. Calls upon Governments to encourage the participation of children
with disabilities in recreation activities and sports events, such as the
Special Olympics;
13. Requests relevant United Nations agencies and non-governmental
organizations to establish indicators to facilitate the monitoring of the
implementation of the Standard Rules as they apply to children with
disabilities;
/...
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14. Emphasizes the right of children with disabilities to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical, psychological
and mental health, and urges Governments to guarantee this through free
access to health services and the adoption of holistic approaches towards
the total well-being of disabled children, which should include:
(a) Services for prevention, education/training programmes, early
detection, comprehensive treatment and community-based rehabilitation
programmes, including rehabilitation care through home visits;
(b) Strategies that protect children at highest risk, including
refugee, displaced or migrant children, children living in settings of
continued violence and its immediate aftermath, children living in disaster
areas, and children living on the streets and in squatter colonies;
(c) Priority consideration for the provision of effective mental
health services that are integrated within all forms of health care, that
meet local needs and that provide prevention strategies, including prenatal
and perinatal care, immunization, optimal nutrition, day care, child safety
measures, school-based programmes on family life and appropriate treatment
of common childhood neuropsychiatric disorders. Since schools are the
principal social institutions for furthering the cognitive and emotional
development of children, teachers should be trained to recognize signs and
symptoms of mental disabilities, to manage problems in the classroom, and
to refer children that require more assistance to appropriate mental health
services;
(d) Provision of free supportive and mobility devices/equipment;
(e) Support systems for families as primary caretakers, including
financial, psychological and community support systems, to enable families
to attend to the special needs of children with physical and mental
disabilities;
15. Decides to consult with international organizations of persons
with disabilities and specialized agencies, in accordance with rules 71 and
76 of the rules of procedure of the functional commissions of the Economic
and Social Council, during the thirty-sixth session of the Commission on
Social Development, to be held in 1998, on how to improve the application
of the Standard Rules so that it fully addresses the special needs of
children with disabilities, and requests that the recommendations and/or
agreed conclusions emanating from the consultation be submitted to the
General Assembly for adoption at its fifty-third session, through the
Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1998;
16. Requests the Secretary-General, for the purposes of the abovementioned
consultation within the framework of the follow-up to the World
Summit for Social Development, under the theme "Promoting social
integration and participation of all people, including disadvantaged and
vulnerable groups and persons", to make a compilation of the provisions of
existing conventions, resolutions and other resource material with respect
to the promotion and protection of the rights, special needs and welfare of
/...
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children with disabilities, for submission to the Commission on Social
Development at its thirty-sixth session;
17. Encourages Governments to contribute to the United Nations
Voluntary Fund on Disability specifically for projects to benefit children
with disabilities;
18. Requests the Special Rapporteur on Disability to pay special
attention to the situation of children with disabilities, and to establish
close working relations with the Committee on the Rights of the Child for
monitoring article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child2 and the
Standard Rules in relation to children with disabilities, and to include in
his next report his views, observations and recommendations thereon.
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