OVERVIEW
During the General Debate of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly President
Vicente Fox of Mexico called upon the international community to combat poverty and social
exclusion. He observed that as societies address issues related to the creation and
distribution of opportunities of global development, it is important that all citizens be
involved as stakeholders; the world would not become more just if certain groups are
excluded from this process. For that reason Mexico presented for the consideration of the
Assembly a proposal to establish a "Special Committee" to study the question of
a new international convention on promoting and protecting the rights and dignity of
persons with disabilities, which resulted in Assembly resolution 56/168 [1].
The first session of the Ad Hoc Committee established pursuant to Assembly resolution
56/168 met from 29 July to 9 August 2002 at Headquarters to consider proposals related to
a "comprehensive and integral convention" to promote and protect the rights of
persons with disabilities. The work of the Committee was informed by the outcomes of
expert meetings hosted, respectively, by the Government of Indonesia on
disability-sensitive policy design and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods for all
(Jakarta, 15-17 January 2002) [2] and the Government of Mexico on
international norms and standards related to disability (Mexico City, 11-14 June 2002) [3]. The Committee considered the context, structure and elements of a new,
comprehensive and integrated international convention on the rights of persons with
disabilities, which would address their social, economic and cultural rights, and civil
and political rights. On the basis of its deliberations the Committee drafted a resolution
to be submitted for adoption by the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session on
further action related to the proposed new international convention on the rights of
persons with disabilities. Operative paragraph 4 of the draft resolution "encourages
States to hold meetings or seminars to contribute to the work of the Ad Hoc
Committee" [4].
A recurring theme in the deliberations of the Committee on the context, structure and
content of what would be a seventh international human rights instrument, with the focus
on promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, as well as in
presentations to the Committee by representatives of the non-governmental community, is
rights based approaches to development and sustainable livelihoods for persons with
disabilities in the mainstream.
In the Asia and Pacific region, in 1992 Governments proclaimed the Asian and Pacific
Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993-2002 [5]. Governments, civil society
organizations with support from the United Nations system implemented the "Agenda for
Action for the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons" [6],
the regional guiding policy instrument, which contained 12 policy categories. At the end
of the Decade, there was general consensus among Governments, the United Nations system
and civil society organizations in the region that overall improvement had been achieved
in the 12 policy areas under the Agenda for Action but that progress had been uneven.
Significant achievements had been realized in the areas of national coordination and
legislation and some improvement in the areas of the prevention of causes of disability,
rehabilitation services, access to built environments and development of self-help
organizations of disabled persons but there was a continuing and alarmingly low rate of
access to education for children and youth with disabilities [7]. Based
on, inter alia, the assessment of progress and obstacles in implementing the goals and
objectives of the Asia and Pacific Decade, Governments of the region adopted Commission
resolution 58/4 of 22 May 2002 "Promoting an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based
society for people with disabilities in the Asian and Pacific region in the twenty-first
century," which proclaimed the extension of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled
Persons for another decade, 2003-2012 [8]. Commission resolution 58/4
also urged Governments in the region to support and contribute the work of the Ad Hoc
Committee, established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 56/168, on elaboration of a
comprehensive and integral convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.
The High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the Asian and Pacific Decade of
Disabled Persons, which met at Otsu, Shiga, Japan, from 25 to 28 October, adopted the
Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based
society for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF) as regional policy
guidelines for the extended Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (2003-2012) [9]. The BMF encourages Governments to support and implement rights-based
approaches to advancement of persons with disabilities. The BMF identifies targets and
strategies to promote various rights of persons with disabilities; it also advocates that
Governments support and contribute to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee. The BMF urges
Governments to incorporate disability concerns into national policies and programmes to
further achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) [10].
It also identifies seven priority areas for action: (1) self-help organizations of persons
with disabilities and related family and parental associations, (2) women with
disabilities, (3) early detection, early intervention and education, (4) training and
employment, including self-employment, (5) access to built environments and public
transport, (6) access to information and communications, including information and
communications and assistive technologies, and (7) poverty alleviation through
capacity-building, social security and sustainable livelihood programmes.
The current project is a response to the expressions of interest by delegations at the
first session of the Ad Hoc Committee [11] on rights based approaches to
development and advancement of persons with disabilities. Its focus is the Asia and
Pacific region in the light of the policy guidance contained in the Biwako Millennium
Framework for Action (BMF).
The project has the basic goal of furthering equalization of opportunities for persons
with disabilities in social life and development, with reference to the situation in the
Asian and Pacific region in the light of the BMF, and three operational objectives:
strategic assessment of issues and trends related to strategies, policies and programmes
related to rights based approaches to development and promotion of sustainable livelihoods
of persons with disabilities in the mainstream; formulation of a strategic framework on
building national capacities to promote and protect the rights of persons with
disabilities in line with the goals and objectives of the renewed Asian and Pacific Decade
of Disabled Persons (2003-2012) and the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action; and
identification of actions concerning a new international instrument to promote and protect
the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of development.
The project will be carried out by means of an Asian and Pacific regional meeting to
discuss norms and standards related to development and the rights of persons with
disabilities, which will take place at Beijing, People's Republic of China for four
working days from 8 to 11 April 2003. Project preparations and conduct will make maximum
use of Internet-enabled resources to ensure widest possible access to meeting dialogue,
findings and recommendations.
The meeting will include a seminar component to provide a forum for the exchange of
knowledge and national experiences in promoting and protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities, in rights based approaches to development and the issues of social
inclusion, empowerment, institution building and promotion of sustainable livelihoods of
persons with disabilities in mainstream development.
The workshop component of the meeting will focus on formulating strategic options for
promoting rights based approaches to development and national capacity building with
reference to Asia and the Pacific.
The meeting will produce as its outcome document a strategic planning framework for
advocacy, for formulating and negotiating policy options, and for building national
capacities and institutions for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with
disabilities and development-based approaches to advancement of persons with disabilities
in the Asia and Pacific region. As envisaged in operative paragraph 4 of Assembly
resolution 57/229, the Asian and Pacific regional meeting outcome would be presented for
the consideration of the Ad Hoc Committee at its second session from 16 to 27 June 2003.
In the Asian and Pacific regional context and in accordance with the Biwako Millennium
Framework for Action, follow up could include promotion, establishment and development of
open and democratic networks to create awareness, exchange knowledge and experience, and
promote both South-South and South-North cooperation in building capacities and empowering
persons with disabilities for rights based approaches to development.
Notes:
1 < http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disA56168e1.htm >.
2 < http://www.worldenable.net/livelihoods/default.htm >.
3 < http://www.sre.gob.mx/discapacidad/.>.
4 General Assembly resolution 57/229 of 18 December 2002, operative
paragraph 4.
5 UN ESCAP Commission resolution 48/3 <
http://www.unescap.org/decade/backgr.htm#resolution >.
6 < http://www.unescap.org/decade/agenda.htm >.
7 < http://www.unescap.org/decade/APDDP-1.htm >.
8 < http://www.unescap.org/sps/res58-4.htm >.
9 < http://www.unescap.org/sps/bmf.htm >
10 < http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.html >.
11 A/57/357 <
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/adhoca57357e.htm >.
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