COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES OPENS THIRD SESSION

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this morning opened its third session, hearing an introductory statement by a representative of the Secretary-General. This morning the Committee also adopted its agenda, the report of its second session and the report of the Chairperson on inter-sessional activities.

Mohammed Al-Tarawneh, Outgoing Chairman of the Committee, thanked his colleagues, as well as the civil society and the Secretariat, for the very hard work that the Committee had done during the Committee’s first year. All had played a role in achieving to get the Convention to 80 ratifications, which would trigger the expansion of the Committee’s membership from 12 to 18 Experts.

Ronald McCallum, Incoming Chairman of the Committee, elected at the last session, said the Committee, the States Parties and non-governmental organizations owed gratitude to Mr. Al-Tarawneh; he would always be remembered as the founding Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Thanks to his work, reporting guidelines for State parties had been set up, which would allow the Committee to start one of its major tasks (reviewing reports from States parties).

Mr. McCallum expressed delight that France had ratified the Convention last week, becoming the eightieth country to do so. Thanks to that, the Committee would now be expanded. The elections of the six new experts would happen this September. An augmented Committee, with additional disabilities being represented, would surely profit the work of the Committee.

Ibrahim Salama, Director of the Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the Committee was a crucial part in OHCHR’s efforts to eliminate injustice, inequality and discrimination. It was good to see so many States adhering to the Convention; in less than two years it had seen its number of ratification reaching 80, which would result in the increase of the membership of the Committee by six members. That attested to a growing recognition that persons with disabilities had been marginalized for too long.

When societies and communities provided for the needs of all persons equally, including those with disabilities, the benefit went well beyond the individual members, and actively contributed to the success of society as a whole, Mr. Salama said. While those ideals were far from being realized, it was through the Convention that that change would have the best chance of success.

Mr. Salama said that the High Commissioner had launched a few days ago her Strategic Management Plan for the 2010-2011 biennium. Among proposed activities was a communication strategy to promote ratification and increase awareness of the individual complaints procedures of all the treaty bodies.

On the issue of strengthening the treaty body system, the High Commissioner encouraged all relevant stakeholders to initiate a process of reflection on how to streamline and strengthen the treaty body system to achieve a better coherence and effectiveness. In that connection, an informal meeting of a number of former and current treaty body Experts had taken place last November in Dublin. That was the beginning of a process of reflection which would offer all stakeholders an opportunity to participate and express their views, said Mr. Salama.

Mr. Salama further noted that the Human Rights Council had taken the initiative to conduct interactive discussion panels on the rights of persons with disabilities as a way of contributing to the implementation of the Convention. The second such interactive debate would be held next month, and would focus on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention.

United Nations agencies had also been engaged in work to find ways of assisting in the implementation of the Convention, Mr. Salama observed. At the end of several meetings of the United Nations Inter-Agency Support Group on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a United Nations-wide Strategy and Action Plan had been adopted which would guide the United Nations in including a disabilities perspective in its work both at headquarters and in field missions.

This third session of the Committee presented a timely opportunity to finalize all pending pre-reporting matters, Mr. Salama said. The drafting of the reporting guidelines and the expected conclusion of the Committee’s work on its core documents, such as its rules of procedure and working methods, would enable the Committee to start receiving reports from States Parties.

The next public meeting of the Committee will take place on Friday, 26 February at 11 a.m., when it is scheduled to meet with States parties.

Composition of New Bureau

At the end of its second session, the Committee elected its first full Bureau, which is taking office as of this session. The Chairman of the Committee is Ronald McCallum (Australia), the Vice-Chairs are Mohammed Al-Tarawneh (Jordan); Ana Pelaez Narvaez (Spain); and Jia Yang (China). The Committee Rapporteur is Edah Wangechi Maina (Kenya).


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