COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES CONCLUDES FIFTH SESSION

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this afternoon closed its one-week fifth session after reviewing the initial report of Tunisia on how that country implements the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Tunisia’s report was the first to be considered by the Committee since the Convention went into force and the Committee’s concluding observations on the report will be available on the Committee’s web site next week.

At the opening of its session the Committee heard an address by Marcia Kran, Director of the Research and Right to Development Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said that the Convention had reached an impressive level of ratifications in a short period of time and this meant that the work of the Committee would significantly increase. The review of State party reports was very much the core of their work and it offered States the opportunity to have a constructive dialogue with experts and identify good practices to bridge gaps in implementation. The concluding observations issued by the Committee not only helped States, they also assisted national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations in supporting governments in implementation of the Convention. The Committee also heard from representatives of non-governmental organizations who said, among other things, that the disaster in Japan had highlighted the importance of implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Another issue that was raised was that of capacity building in States, who often said they did not have the expertise to implement and monitor the Convention.

During the session, eight new Committee members took the solemn declaration and the Committee elected a Chairperson, three Vice-Chairs and a Rapporteur. The Committee Secretary said that decisions taken by the Committee during its fifth session included the adoption of the report of the Chairperson on inter-sessional activities, the report of the fourth session of the Committee, and the first bi-annual report to the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOC). The Committee also decided that Ms. Yang would accompany the Chairperson to the Inter-Committee meeting later this year and it appointed rapporteurs for the reports of Peru and China. The Committee also established a working group on accessibility to public transportation and airline transport, established a working group to draft a general comment on article 9 on accessibility, appointed additional members to the working group on article 12 on legal capacity, terminated the informal working group on natural disasters, decided to review the report of Spain during the September session in two meetings, drafted a list of issues for Peru and China, adopted the list of issues on Spain’s report, adopted concluding observations on Tunisia, and adopted its working methods.

During the fifth session the Committee held several closed meetings in which members discussed organizational matters and methods of work, as well as adopted lists of issues on State party reports.

In closing remarks, Ron McCallum, Committee Chairperson, thanked the Committee members for a splendid week and all their hard work as well as the assistants and the Committee secretariat. They were working very hard as a Committee to promulgate the provisions of the Convention and they all agreed on the need to ensure that the 650 million people with disabilities around the world were given the same human rights and inherent dignity that most people took for granted.

The next session of the Committee will take place from 19 to 23 September 2011, during which it is expected to review the initial report of Spain.

Members of the Committee

The current membership of the Committee is as follows: Ms. Amna Ali Al-Suwaidi (Qatar); Mr. Mohammed Al-Tarawneh (Jordan); Mr. Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury (Bangladesh); Ms. María Soledad Cisteras Reyes (Chile); Ms. Theresia Degener (Germany); Mr. Gábor Gombos (Hungary); Ms. Fatiha Hadj-Salah (Algeria); Mr. Hyung Shik Kim (Republic of Korea); Mr. Lotfi Ben Lallahom (Tunisia); Mr. Stig Langvad (Denmark); Ms. Edah Wangechi Maina (Kenya); Mr. Ronald McCallum(Australia); Ms. Ana Peláez Narváez (Spain); Ms. Silvia Judith Quang-Chang (Guatemala); Mr. Carlos Rios Espinosa (Mexico); Mr. Damjan Tatic (Serbia); Mr. Germán Xavier Torres Correa (Ecuador); Ms. Jia Yang (China).


For use of the information media; not an official record

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