| Programme : Presentation on Day
1 Text version of a PowerPoint Presentation:
Regional
Follow-Up: After the Adoption of the Convention
Presented by: Andrew Byrnes
Faculty of Law, UNSW, Australia
Slide 1
UN ESCAP Workshop on Regional Follow-up to the Seventh
Session and Preparation for the Eighth Session of the Ad Hoc Committee of
the General Assembly on the Elaboration of a Convention on the Rights and
Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
Bangkok, Thailand, 20-21 July 2006
Regional Follow-Up: After the Adoption of the Convention
Andrew Byrnes
Faculty of Law, UNSW, Australia
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After the adoption of the Convention: what lies ahead and what do we
need to do?
- Bringing the Convention into force and the steps that will be needed
to implement it
- What capacities and expertise will we need to draw on or develop to
make the Convention an effective instrument?
- What do we need to do now to prepare ourselves for these challenges?
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After the adoption of the Convention
- The adoption of the Convention will represent a significant new stage
– the work starts even as the negotiations finish
- We need:
- to learn from the experience with other treaties (human rights
especially), to draw on the expertise of others, to build alliances and
avoid reinventing the wheel
- to recognise that the Convention has to fit in with existing
international and national norms, institutions and procedures
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1. Bringing the Convention into force generally and for individual
countries
- Persuading States to ratify the Convention
- Establishing the international monitoring mechanism
- Setting up relevant national institutions and mechanisms for
implementation
- Substantive implementation at the national level
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a. Persuading States to ratify the Convention
- Convention will only enter into force internationally once a minimum
number of States has ratified it
- Necessary to launch campaigns at the national and international levels
to persuade governments to ratify – engaging civil society, Parliaments,
and others
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b. Establishing the international monitoring mechanism (1)
- If there is to be a monitoring committee, need to:
- Start to identify potential candidates with the appropriate
expertise and independence
- Lobby governments to ensure that the process of selecting nominees
is designed to ensure the nomination of independent and qualified
candidates
- Need to ensure that governments’ decisions on voting are driven by
qualifications rather than political horse-trading
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b. Establishing the international monitoring mechanism (2)
- Preparing governments to fulfil their reporting obligations under the
Convention
- Organising NGO support for the international monitoring committee
- International NGO liaison with committee
- Development of training programs to make national NGOs aware of the
procedure
- Facilitating national NGOs in bringing information and their
experiences to the Committee
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c. Setting up relevant national institutions and mechanisms for
implementation
There will be a need to:
- establish national implementation machinery in government or to ensure
that Convention responsibility is included in mandate where this exists
- establish or expand mandate of NHRIs to incorporate Convention
responsibility
- ensure the broader dissemination of information about the Convention
and its impact on government activities throughout government
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d. Substantive implementation at the national level
- Serious commitment to implementation will require a thoroughgoing
review of existing national law to identify inconsistencies with the
Convention and adopt reform proposals
- Need to raise the awareness of government, legislative, and judicial
organs and to incorporate Convention obligations in their activities
- Need to raise the awareness of civil society about the Convention
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2. What capacities and expertise are needed? (1)
Government officials
- some may have little knowledge about the content and implications of
the Convention and will need to persuaded that there are benefits in
ratification and to know what the implications of ratification are for
national law and practice
- need for training government officials in the preparation of reports
under the Convention
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2. What capacities and expertise are needed? (2)
DPOs and NGOs
- Knowledge and advocacy skills to mount a ratification campaign –
international and national law knowledge, substantive knowledge about the
Convention and international human rights law and procedures
- Development of expertise and capacity in preparing NGO reports for
international bodies, carrying out advocacy within the human rights treaty
body framework, and working with government, NHRIs and legislatures using
the Convention as an advocacy tool
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2. What capacities and expertise are needed? (3)
- National Human Rights Institutions
- – many have expertise in this area but may need to develop
Convention-related expertise and tools
- Possibilities for sharing of experience across networks of NHRIs, eg
the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions
- Legal profession – judiciary and the legal profession need to be
provided with usable material about the relevance and utility of the
Convention and related jurisprudence
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3. What should we do now?
Already lots is beginning to happen and many resources and models
available. But we could also:
- Identify the resources that we need to develop or adapt, e.g.,
ratification kits for NGOs, government and Parliaments, manual on
reporting under the Convention for governments and NGOs
- Identify the specific needs of particular groups and develop specific
programs to meet these needs (eg judicial colloquia, lawyers and NGO
training, NHRI seminars)
- Identify what is being done already, and who should undertake these or
other tasks
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