The Convention and its Optional Protocol
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities offers sufficient standards of protection for the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of persons with disabilities on the basis of inclusion, equality and non-discrimination. It makes clear that persons with disabilities are entitled to live independently in their communities, to make their own choices and to play an active role in society.
The Optional Protocol on the Convention came into force at the same time as the Convention. It gives the Committee of experts’ additional capacities. The Committee can accept and examine complaints filed by individuals, and where there is evidence of grave and systemic violations of human rights, it can launch inquiries. The Convention and its Optional Protocol received immediate and wide support from the international community. Their adoption has been welcomed as evidence of a real commitment to a truly inclusive and universal human rights framework.
The Committee of experts
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a group of 18 independent experts (currently, most of them persons with disabilities), oversees promotion and implementation of the Convention. The experts are nominated by individual countries and then elected by the States that have ratified the Convention. All States are obliged to report regularly to the Committee on how the rights embodied in the Convention are being implemented in each of their countries. The Committee in turn, makes comments and suggestions for further progress, based on each of the reports. Civil society organizations and national human rights institutions also contribute to the reviews.
The Convention and its Optional Protocol
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities offers sufficient standards of protection for the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of persons with disabilities on the basis of inclusion, equality and non-discrimination. It makes clear that persons with disabilities are entitled to live independently in their communities, to make their own choices and to play an active role in society.
The Optional Protocol on the Convention came into force at the same time as the Convention. It gives the Committee of experts’ additional capacities. The Committee can accept and examine complaints filed by individuals, and where there is evidence of grave and systemic violations of human rights, it can launch inquiries. The Convention and its Optional Protocol received immediate and wide support from the international community. Their adoption has been welcomed as evidence of a real commitment to a truly inclusive and universal human rights framework.
The Committee of experts
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a group of 18 independent experts (currently, most of them persons with disabilities), oversees promotion and implementation of the Convention. The experts are nominated by individual countries and then elected by the States that have ratified the Convention. All States are obliged to report regularly to the Committee on how the rights embodied in the Convention are being implemented in each of their countries. The Committee in turn, makes comments and suggestions for further progress, based on each of the reports. Civil society organizations and national human rights institutions also contribute to the reviews.
The Committee is responsible for interpreting the Convention, and to that purpose issues General Comments, which offer clarification and guidance on specific articles.
