Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Opens Thirty-Fourth Session, 2026 Marks the Twentieth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today opened its thirty-fourth session in Geneva, during which it will review the reports of Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Pakistan and Samoa under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Andrea Ori, Chief, Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, opening the session, said that in 2026, the Committee would celebrate 20 years since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted. The impactful slogan behind the Convention, “nothing about us without us”, underscored the critical difference between a rights-based approach and a traditional caretaker perspective on the issues outlined in human rights treaties.
Miyeon Kim, Committee Chairperson, in her opening remarks, said this session was taking place under particularly challenging circumstances. Marking the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, Ms. Kim said that, over the past two decades, the Convention had transformed the global understanding of disability by affirming that the rights of persons with disabilities were an integral and indispensable part of the international human rights system. This anniversary provided an opportunity not only to reflect on the progress achieved, but also to renew the collective commitment to the full implementation of the Convention.
The Committee then heard statements by States, United Nations entities, as well as civil society representatives, hearing from Germany, speaking also on behalf of Jordan; United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; Fundamental Rights Agency; International Disability Alliance; Centre for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry; ASPACE Badajoz Radio; Citizen Commission on Human Rights Europe; Citizen Commission on Human Rights Spain; and Peace Inclusion Piece.
During the meeting, the Committee also adopted the programme of work for the session.
The Committee’s thirty-fourth session will be held until Thursday, 26 March 2026. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee’s thirty-fourth session and other documents related to the session can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public today, 9 March at 3 p.m. to consider the initial report of Lesotho (CRPD/C/LSO/1).
Opening Statements
ANDREA ORI, Chief, Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, opening the session, said that in 2026, the Committee would celebrate 20 years since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted. The Convention translated the rights outlined in the two United Nations Covenants on human rights into specific responsibilities towards persons with disabilities, making their fulfilment essential for their equal enjoyment of all human rights. The impactful slogan behind the Convention, “nothing about us without us”, underscored the critical difference between a rights-based approach and a traditional caretaker perspective on the issues outlined in human rights treaties.
The upcoming Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was scheduled to take place in New York from 9 to 11 June 2026. Its main theme was “The Convention at 20: celebrating and consolidating achievements and shaping the next phase of implementation in a changing world”.
Presenting recent developments of relevance, Mr. Ori said that on 18 September 2025, during the sixtieth session of the Human Rights Council, a cross-regional group of countries, comprising 144 States, adopted a joint statement calling for the guarantee of equal access to cultural life, heritage, and artistic expression for persons with disabilities. The statement garnered unprecedented support, and in December 2026, a cross-regional group led by Italy, Cyprus, Iraq and Mexico proposed a plan to develop guidelines on this significant issue.
On 13 November 2025, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar issued his report on “The Hidden Crisis: Disability Rights in Post-Coup Myanmar”. The report highlighted that the greatest disabler of persons with disabilities in Myanmar remained the social, cultural, political and physical barriers that were pervasive throughout the country.
On 22 December 2025, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/80/197 on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which called on States to review and repeal any law or policy that restricted the full and effective participation in political and public life of persons with disabilities, and take steps to eliminate intersecting forms of discrimination against all women and girls with disabilities through repealing discriminatory laws and removing barriers to the full enjoyment of their rights.
On 16 January 2026, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued her report on the equal participation of persons with disabilities in political life, in which she identified ongoing barriers and called for comprehensive reforms to ensure equal political participation of persons with disabilities, including repealing discriminatory laws, improving representation, establishing binding accessibility standards, providing public funding for disability-related costs, strengthening data collection, and investing in empowerment and leadership development.
On 28 January 2026, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously rejected a proposed draft additional protocol to the 1997 Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, intended to cover involuntary placement and involuntary treatment in mental healthcare services. The Assembly called for new instruments to be fully aligned with the Convention, the Committee’s general comments and guidelines. The next step was for the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to decide on the matter.
Late in February 2026, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change officially recognised the Disability Caucus, giving persons with disabilities a formal platform within global climate negotiations.
Mr. Ori said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was committed to building global partnerships to advance human rights. The High Commissioner had launched the Global Alliance for Human Rights, which would bring together governments, civil society, young people, artists, scientists, businesses, philanthropic organizations, and the entire United Nations system to champion human rights, inspire collective action, and strengthen the global human rights ecosystem.
The Committee’s work had never been more important, yet treaty bodies were facing unprecedented constraints, Mr. Ori said. In 2025, more than 30 per cent of meeting time was lost, and this caused major delays, resulted in the cancellation of State party reviews as well as pre-sessional working groups, and, coupled with a decrease in State party reports received in 2025, had serious consequences for the functioning of the treaty body system. This year, the resource situation was expected to remain extremely challenging, with further cuts in both post and non-post resources. As of today, the Committee’s second session this year had not been confirmed.
The High Commissioner had consistently warned that, if this trend continued, the system risked reaching a breaking point. He had called for innovative ideas and solutions, including in connection with the UN80 Initiative. The Office was doing its utmost to support this Committee and other treaty bodies. Mr. Ori expressed confidence that through collaboration, innovation and shared commitment, these constraints could be navigated to ensure that the essential work of protecting human rights moved forward.
Mr. Ori expressed appreciation to the Committee members, States parties, and all stakeholders who had actively prepared their work in advance of the session and concluded by extending his best wishes to the Committee for a successful and productive session.
MIYEON KIM, Committee Chairperson, said that since the closure of the thirty-third session, she had continued engagement to support the effective functioning of the Committee and to advance the implementation of the Convention. In December 2025, she participated in the online meeting of the Chairs of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, and earlier this year, the document “Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Position: Non-paper on UN Human Rights Treaty Body Strengthening” was submitted through the Secretariat of the Chairs’ meeting.
Ms. Kim said the Committee had also contributed to preparations for the nineteenth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention, including proposals concerning the main theme and round-table topics, as well as the consideration of potential panellists. She also said she had participated in discussions related to the Global Disability Fund, providing advice on strengthening its role in supporting the implementation of the Convention.
The Committee had continued advancing work towards the development of a general comment on article 11 of the Convention, addressing situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, and preparing for the consideration of the zero draft of general comment 11 on article 29 of the Convention, concerning the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life. In addition, during the current session, the Committee would continue its discussions on several important thematic issues, including the development of guidelines on intersectional discrimination and issues related to violence against persons with disabilities, and also continue to address individual communications and inquiries under the Optional Protocol, as well as matters related to the working methods of the Committee.
This session was taking place under particularly challenging circumstances, Ms. Kim said. Recent developments in the Middle East had caused disruptions to international travel, affecting flights and the ability of some participants to reach Geneva. At the same time, the United Nations continued to face a serious liquidity crisis, which had had important operational implications for the work of the treaty bodies. She welcomed that, despite these challenges, the Committee could convene its thirty-fourth session and continue fulfilling its mandate under the Convention.
The session was also taking place at a particularly significant moment, as 2026 marked the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention. Over the past two decades, the Convention had transformed the global understanding of disability by affirming that the rights of persons with disabilities were an integral and indispensable part of the international human rights system. This anniversary provided an opportunity not only to reflect on the progress achieved, but also to renew the collective commitment to the full implementation of the Convention. The Convention was not only a legal instrument, but a transformative framework that continued to guide efforts to build inclusive societies.
Ms. Kim stressed that principles of accessibility, inclusion, and meaningful participation needed to remain central to the work of the United Nations. She acknowledged the continued engagement of organizations of persons with disabilities, whose voices, expertise, and lived experiences remained essential to the work of the Committee. She also thanked the members of the Committee, the Committee secretariat office, and all partners who had worked tirelessly to make the session possible.
Ms. Kim said that the twentieth anniversary of the Convention was an important occasion to reaffirm that the rights of persons with disabilities were not a marginal concern, but a central pillar of the international human rights system, and that the shared responsibility of the international community was to ensure that these rights were fully realised for all persons with disabilities, everywhere.
Statements by Committee Experts, States, United Nations Bodies and Civil Society Representatives
In the discussion, several speakers made statements marking the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, which they said was an opportunity to continue to promote inclusion, accessibility and fundamental rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention was a key tool for bringing down structural barriers; it acknowledged persons with disabilities not as objects of care but as holders of rights. One speaker said that they would host a forum to mark the anniversary, which would promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in transportation, tourism, employment and life in general.
Some speakers presented efforts to raise awareness about article 32 of the Convention, which called for international cooperation to make disability rights a reality. Only around six per cent of official development assistance targeted disability inclusion in some way, and the voices of persons with disabilities were also too rarely heard in international cooperation. One speaker presented the Amman-Berlin Declaration made at the Global Disability Summit in 2025, which called for 15 per cent of development cooperation activities to contribute to disability inclusion. To date, 103 countries had endorsed the declaration. Some speakers called on the Committee to consider developing a guiding document on article 32 to contribute to its increased implementation.
Some speakers addressed violence against persons with disabilities in institutions, noting that the Convention prohibited all involuntary detainment of persons with disabilities, called for substitute decision-making regimes to be eliminated, and made forced psychiatric interventions visible as discriminatory acts of torture. They called for legal and policy frameworks that protected individuals from different forms of violence, for structural safeguards to prevent violence from happening, and for analyses of processes to respond to incidences of violence and ensure accountability.
Related to this issue, several speakers addressed the draft additional protocol to the 1997 Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, which they said would legitimise forced treatment if adopted. These speakers called on Member States of the Council of Europe to reject the protocol; to abolish involuntary commitment, compulsory treatment and substitute decision making; and to provide survivors of forced treatment with adequate reparation. They presented efforts to raise awareness of the harms of involuntary and coercive measures and welcomed that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had unanimously adopted an advisory opinion that rejected the draft additional protocol. Speakers also commended the work of the Committee in encouraging this advisory opinion.
One speaker reported on the Marrakesh Treaty, which required that contracting parties allowed for accessible format copies of literary works by authorised entities and for their exchange across borders for the benefit of people who were blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled. The speaker called for provisions of the Treaty to be transposed into national law. They also presented the operational arm of the Treaty, the Accessible Books Consortium, which provided training in the latest accessible book production techniques; had implemented projects between 2015 and 2025 that had resulted in the production of over 24,000 accessible texts; and operated a service which supported the exchange of accessible formats of literary works across borders at no cost.
Another speaker said that global disasters were projected to rise by 40 per cent by 2030, compounding long-standing inequalities and exposing over a billion persons with disabilities to disproportionate harm. Some 84 per cent of persons with disabilities currently did not have a personal preparedness plan, and 56 per cent lacked access to disaster risk information. These gaps were systemic but could be fixed. By addressing vulnerability and exposure, disaster risk could be reduced. This was why increased implementation of article 11 of the Convention was so important, the speaker said.
A speaker presented efforts to encourage the incorporation of Convention standards into the legal binding instrument on the human rights of older persons currently being elaborated within the United Nations. The speaker said they were also engaging on the issue of taxation and human rights as part of ongoing negotiations on a United Nations Framework Convention on international tax and cooperation and two preliminary protocols, which would be submitted by September 2027. They called for this process to consider article four of the Convention.
One speaker presented activities to support people with cerebral palsy and their families, including by operating a radio service for and by people with cerebral palsy, which broadcast a variety of content, including cultural programmes and children’s programmes. Broadcasts encouraged people to think differently about what each person could contribute.
Another speaker announced that in 2027, Japan would host the Asia Regional Summit, which would bring together governments, universities and persons with disabilities and create policies to move the Convention forward. They called for increased global efforts to build a world where no one was left behind.
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