I. International Norms and Standards relating to
children with disabilities
Norms and standards relating to disability is available at the "Disability Rights
Resources: Database on International Norms and Standards relating to Disability" (http://esa.un.org/socdev/enable/search.htm).This
database is based on the 21 May 1999 version of the Compilation of International Norms and
Standards relating to Disability (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/discom00.htm).
Additional resources on children in Spanish on children with disabilities, specific to
Latin American countries, are available in the Recursos en Español.
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A. Selected Regional Instruments
Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Persons with Disabilities, General Assembly Resolution 1608
AG/Res.1608 (XXIX-0/99), adopted in 1st plenary session on 7June 1999
http://www.iidh.ed.cr/oea/oas4.htm
http://www.oas.org/EN/PROG/Juridico/english/treaties/a-65.htm
Art. III "adopt[…]measures needed to eliminate discrimination against
persons with disabilities and to promote their full integration into society"
"work on priority basis[…] on prevention of all forms of preventable diseases
Art. VI " a Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Persons with Disabilities[…]shall be established
Including Children's Issues on the Hemispheric Agenda, 1999
General Assembly Resolution 1667
http://www.oas.org/EN/prog/juridico/english/ga-res99/eres1667.htm
Declaration of Principles of Santiago, 1998
2nd Summit of the Americas on April 18-19, 1998
Heads of 34 States of the Americas met and agreed on an Action Plan to strengthen
markets, deepen democracy, and to alleviate poverty
http://www.summit-americas.org/chiledec.htm
Plan of action - http://www.summit-americas.org/chileplan.htm
Inter-American Children' Institute and concerted action on behalf of children in the
Americas AG/ Res.1587 (XXVIII-0/98)
http://www.oas.org (available in Spanish)
Inter-American Children's Institute. Status of Children in the Americas; 1996
AG/Res.'1439 (XXVI-0/96)
http://www.oas.org (available in Spanish)
Panama's Commitment to Persons with Disabilities in the American Hemisphere
AG/RES.1369 (XXVI-0/96), adopted in 6th plenary seesion on 5 June1996
http://www.oas.org/En/prog/juridico/english/ga-res96/Res-1369.htm
Situation of Persons with Disabilities in the American Hemisphere
AG/RES.1356 (XXV-0/95), adopted in 9th plenary session on June 9, 1995
http://www.oas.org/EN/PROG/JURIDICO/english/ga-res95/Res-1356.htm
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Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 1993 - 2002
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
resolution 48/3 of April 1992
http://www.unescap.org/decade/backgr.htm#resolution
Proclamation on the Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the
Asian and Pacific Region
http://www.unescap.org/decade/backgr.htm#proclamation
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A more comprehensive source of Selected International Standards and Norms relating to
Persons with Disabilities are available at the Persons with Disability home page of
the United Nations (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disother.htm).
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989
Entry into force 2 September 1990
Art. 2 "principle of non-discrimination"
Art. 3 all actions taken should be in " the best interests of the child"
Art. 6 "States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival
and development of the child
Art.23 "assistance to children with disabilities, which shall be free of charge
after consideration of the financial situation of the family", assures
"effective access to and receive education, training, special health care, and
employment"
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm
World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, 1990
http://www.unicef.org/wsc10/index-summaries.html
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The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 48/96 of 20 December 1993
Rule 6 states that "States should recognize of equal primary, secondary and
tertiary educational opportunities for children, youth, […]. They should ensure that
the education of persons with disabilities is an integral part of the educational
system" and that special attention is given to very young and pre-school children
with disabilities.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/dissr00.htm
World Programme on Action concerning Disabled Persons
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 37/52 on 3 December 1982
Promotes "effective measures for prevention of disability, rehabilitation and the
realization of the goals of "full participation" […]"
States that at least 10 % of children are disabled, but most children in developing
countries receive neither specialized service nor compulsory education, that the
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/diswpa00.htm
Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX) of 9 December 1975
Recognizes that "all disabled persons have the same civil and political
rights as other human beings"
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/m_mental.htm
Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 2856 (XXVI) of 20 December 1971
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/m_mental.htm
The Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs Education
and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education
World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, June 1994
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/sne/salamanc/index.htm
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 217A (III) of 10 December 1948
Art. 25 everyone has the "report to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood…";
http://www.unhcr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Adopted byGeneral Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966
Entry into force 23 March 1976
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966
Entry into force 3 January, 1976
Art. 1 everyone has the right of self-determination
Art. 10 "special protection an assistance" should be accorded to the family,
as it is responsible for the care and education of dependent children: "special
measures of protection and assistance should be taken on behalf of the children
[…]without discrimination"
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm
Convention against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Adopted by General Assembly resolution 39/46 on 10 December 1984
Entry into force 26 June 1987
Sets universally applicable standard relevant to children with disabilities resultant
from torture.
http://unhchr.ch/html/menu31b/h_cat39.htm
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Children with Disabilities
Economic and Social Council resolution 20/1997 of 21 July 1997.
http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/res/1997/eres1997-20.htm
Children Specific:
The girl child
General Assembly resolution 52/106 of 12 December 1997
http://www.un.org/ga/documents/gares52/res52106.htm
The Rights of the child
General Assembly resolution 52/107 of 12 December 1997
http://www.un.org/ga/documents/gares52/res52107.htm
Rights of the child
Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/85 of 27 April 2000
www.inhchr.ch/hu
Implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons:
towards a society for all in the twenty-first century
General Assembly resolution 54/121 of 17 December 1999
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/54/a54r121.pdf
Implementation of the World Programme on Action concerning Disabled Persons General
Assembly resolution 52/82 of 12 December 1997
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/disimpe0.htm
Towards Full Integration of Persons with Disabilities in Society: Implementation of the
Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and of
the Long-Term Strategy to Implement the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled
Persons to the Year 2000 and Beyond.
General Assembly resolution 50/144 of 30 January 1996
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/50/ares50-144.htm
Further Promotion of Equalization of Opportunities by, for and with Persons with
Disabilities
Commission for Social Development resolution E.CN.5/2000/L.6 of 16 February adopted by the
Economic and Social Council on 27 July 2000
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/geneva2000/docs/csd3816.pdf
Equalization of Opportunities for persons with disabilities
Economic and Social Council resolution1997/19 of 21 July 1997
http://www.un.org/documents/ecosoc/res/1997/eres1997-19.htm
Human rights of persons with disabilities
Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/51 of 25 April 2000 http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf
Human rights of persons with disabilities
Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/31 of 7 April 1998 http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf
Women and mental health, with emphasis in social groups
Commission on the States of Women resolution 43/3 of 15 March 1999
Additional information about past United Nations Conferences is available at http://www.un.org/events/conferences.htm
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 14-25 June 1993
United Nations Publication/DPI 1394/Rev.1/HR-95-93241-April 1995-15M
http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/
A.CONF.157.23.En?OpenDocument
The Habitat Agenda and the Istanbul Declaration. Second United Nations Conference on
Human Settlements. Istanbul, June 1996
http://www.undp.org/un/habitat/agenda/index.html
Special session of the UN General Assembly on the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD+5). 30 June - 2 July 1999
http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/reports&doc/sg2cte-e.pdf
Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5-13
September 1994 United Nations Publication, No. E.95.XIII.18. chap. 1, resolution 1, annex
General Comment No. 5: Persons with Disabilities, on 9 December 1994
gopher://gopher.undp.org:70/00/ungophers/popin/icpd/conference/offeng/poa
Results of the Social Summit +5: Special Session of the United Nations General
Assembly. Geneva, 26-30 June 2000
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/geneva2000/agreements/index.html
[Available in Spanish]
Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, Report of the World Summit For Social
Development held in Copenhagen 6-12 March 1995,
UN Publication, No.E.96.IV.8), chap. 1, resolution 11 United Nations, New York 1995 http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/wssd/index.html
Beijing+5: "Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st
Century". General Assembly Special Session. United Nations, New York, 5-19 June 2000.
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/followup/beijing5/index.html
Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China 4-15 September 1995
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/confer/index.html
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China: Regulations on the Education of Persons with Disabilities
Decree of the State Council of the People 's Republic of China; 23 August 1994
Adopted by the seventh national People's Congress on December 28, 1990
http://www.unescap.org/decade/publications/z15007le/z1500702.htm
Japan: Disabled Persons Fundamental Law
The Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, 3 December 1993
Art 26. The State[…]shall]promote the early discovery and early intervention of
injury and illness which cause disabilities."
http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/law/jsrd/z00003/z00003.htm#basic
Australia: Australia's Disability Discrimination Act, 1992
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/dda1992264
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Children Specific
European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Right
Adopted by the Council of Europe,(Strasbourg, 25 January 1996)
http://www.coe.fr/eng/legaltxt/160e.htm
Netherlands: Bill on the Prohibition of Making an Unjustifiable Distinction on
the Grounds of Handicap or Chronic Disease, 1998
http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/dat/1999/en_599PC0565.html
United Kingdom: Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), 1995
Sets accessibility standards
Ensures opportunities for employment training for youth with disability
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm
Spain: Plan de Accion para Personas con Discapacidad
Communidad de Madrid, Consejeria de Servicios Sociales
I.S.B.N. 84-451-1675-4
http://paidos.rediris.es/genysi/recursos/doc/leyes/planacci.htm
Sweden: The Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain
Functional
Impairments, January 1994
Israel: Israel's Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Bill, 1996
http://www.independentliving.org/LibArt/Isrealleg.html
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A more comprehensive list of national legislation on disability in Latin America is
available in Spanish in Recursos en Español
Guyana: National Policy on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 1998
Organized by a series of workshops between November 1994 and July 1996
All possible efforts should be made to educate children with disabilities in existing
school system. State shall provide skills training for teaching children with special
disabilities
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Children with Disabilities
United States: General Bill S1452: Preschool children with Disabilities, 1995
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/seesion/1995/senate/billinfo/html/s1452.html
United States: Education Code, Sec 30.002. Coordination of Services to children
with disabilities, May30 1995
United States: Education for All Handicapped Children Act
Applies to children from 3-21 of age, promotes a least restrictive environment and
special related services
Requires strictly individualized education
Canada: Loi sur la Mise en Oeuvre des Droits à L'Egalité des Personnes
Handicapées, September 1991
United States: Individuals with Disability Education Act, 1997
http://ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA/IDEA.pdf
United States: American with Disabilities Act, 1990
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
Prohibits discrimination because of disability
United States: Education of the Handicapped Amendments, 1986
Recognizes multi-disciplinary evaluations
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RESOURCES:
