UN Human Rights Treaties

UNITED NATIONS
E
Economic and Social Council
Distr.
LIMITED
E/CN.5/1997/L.9
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
Canada, Finland, Norway and Sweden: draft resolution
The Commission for Social Development recommends to the Economic and Social
Council the adoption of the following resolution:
Equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities
The Economic and Social Council,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 37/52 of 3 December 1982, by which
the Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons
which designates a focal point within the United Nations for coordinating and
monitoring the implementation of the Programme of Action, including its review
and appraisal, and General Assembly resolution 48/96 of 20 December 1993, by
which it adopted the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities,
Recalling also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1 the Convention
on the Rights of the Child2 and other international human rights instruments
which proclaim that the rights therein should be ensured equally to all
individuals, without discrimination,
1 General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
2 General Assembly resolution 44/25.
97-05649 (E) 040397 /...
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Recalling further the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and
Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development,3 requesting
Governments to promote the Standard Rules and to develop strategies for their
implementation, while emphasizing that policies concerning persons with
disabilities should focus on their abilities rather than their disabilities,
Recalling also that children with disabilities have special needs,
Noting with great satisfaction that the Standard Rules play an important
role in influencing legislation, policies, action and evaluations at both the
national and international levels,
Acknowledging the active role played by non-governmental organizations,
including organizations of persons with disabilities, in support of the Standard
Rules and their contribution to the implementation and monitoring of the Rules,
Concerned by the effects of the current budgetary constraints of the United
Nations on its disability activities,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the valuable work by the Special
Rapporteur of the Commission for Social Development and welcomes his
comprehensive report;
2. Urges the United Nations, Governments and concerned non-governmental
organizations to strengthen their efforts to implement at all levels, by
appropriate legal, administrative, financial and other measures, the goal of
full participation and equality for persons with disabilities, in accordance
with the World Programme of Action and the Standard Rules;
3. Requests the Secretary-General to give higher priority to disability
activities and to allocate the resources necessary, enabling the United Nations
Secretariat to fulfil its function as focal point in a forceful way;
4. Urges the Secretary-General and Governments to further the effective
implementation of the Standard Rules and to emphasize the dimension of human
rights, including that dimension for persons with developmental and psychiatric
disabilities;
5. Also urges the Secretary-General and Governments to give full
attention to a gender perspective in all policies and programmes related to
disability;
6. Further urges the Secretary-General and Governments to give full
attention to the rights of children with disabilities;
7. Encourages the United Nations and Governments to involve organizations
of persons with disabilities in policy planning and decision-making processes
regarding education, communications, employment and health services;
3 Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen,
6-12 March 1995 (A/CONF.166/9), chap. I.1.
/...
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8. Also encourages the United Nations and Governments to enhance
cooperation, through appropriate mechanisms of cooperation, with organizations
of persons with disabilities or concerned with disability issues so as to
improve the effective implementation of the Standard Rules;
9. Urges the United Nations, Governments and concerned non-governmental
organizations to combat the sexual abuse of persons with disabilities;
10. Requests the Secretary-General to invite United Nations bodies to
provide advisory services and support to Governments in their efforts to develop
disability policies based on the Standard Rules and thereby collaborate with the
focal point in its role as policy coordinating body and with organizations of
persons with disabilities;
11. Encourages the United Nations Development Programme and other entities
of the United Nations system, including the World Bank group and inter-agency
mechanisms, to mainstream disability issues in their development activities and
in their efforts to eradicate poverty;
12. Requests the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the Administrative
Committee on Coordination, to ensure that the United Nations Children’s Fund,
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the
World Health Organization and all other relevant organizations and bodies of the
United Nations system, take into account, in their policies and programmes, the
rights of children with disabilities and mainstream the particular needs of such
children;
13. Invites the Special Rapporteur and the Committee on the Rights of the
Child to pursue and enhance their cooperation to ensure that the rights of
children with disabilities are fully addressed in the Committee’s reporting
process;
14. Calls upon Governments, when formulating national policies and
strategies during the International Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, to
combat the social exclusion of persons with disabilities, to promote their
employment and to include disability measures in poverty eradication programmes;
15. Urges all Governments to provide education for disabled children,
youth and adults, regardless of the nature of the disability, in accordance with
the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education;4
16. Also urges Governments that have not ratified International Labour
Organization Convention No. 159 concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and
Employment (Disabled Persons) to consider doing so, in order to strengthen their
policies, and to use the opportunity to obtain technical assistance from the
International Labour Organization, and urges Governments that have ratified the
Convention to seek further guidance when implementing it, in the accompanying
Recommendation No. 168;
4 See "Report of the World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access
and Quality", held at Salamanca, 7 June 1994.
/...
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17. Encourages donors to provide assistance to developing countries and
countries with economies in transition in their efforts to address the needs of
persons with disabilities and also encourages Governments of recipient countries
to include disability matters in their applications for such assistance;
18. Decides to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a further
period of three years, so as to make it possible to continue the monitoring of
the implementation of the Standard Rules in accordance with chapter IV of the
Rules, and to request the Special Rapporteur, assisted by the Secretariat and in
consultation with the panel of experts, to prepare a report for submission to
the Commission for Social Development at its thirty-eighth session;
19. Requests the Special Rapporteur to pay special attention to the
situation of children with disabilities when monitoring the implementation of
the Standard Rules;
20. Urges Member States to make contributions to the United Nations
Voluntary Fund on Disability so as to support initiatives on disability and to
support, by financial and other means, the important work of the Special
Rapporteur;
21. Requests the Secretary-General to include in his reports to the
Commission at its thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh sessions information on
activities within the United Nations system, with reference to the Commission’s
priority themes, to promote the social integration of disabled persons and
social services for all, and to counteract the social exclusion facing persons
with disabilities and eradicate poverty among them.
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