Comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities [A/RES/58/246]

A/RES/58/246

Fifty-Eighth session

Agenda item 117 (b)

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

[on the report of the Third Committee (A/58/508/Add.2)]

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, by which it decided to establish an Ad Hoc Committee open to the participation of all Member States and observers to the United Nations, to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, based on a holistic approach in the work done in the fields of social development, human rights and non-discrimination and taking into account the recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission for Social Development,

Recalling also its resolution 57/229 of 18 December 2002, as well as relevant resolutions of the Commission for Social Development and the Commission on Human Rights,

Reaffirming the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for persons with disabilities to be guaranteed their full enjoyment without discrimination,

Convinced of the contribution that a convention can make in this regard,

Encouraging Member States and observers to participate actively in the Ad Hoc Committee in order to present to the General Assembly, as a matter of priority, a draft text of a convention,

Stressing the importance of the active participation of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, and their valuable contribution to the promotion of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities,

Recognizing the important contributions made thus far to the Ad Hoc Committee by all stakeholders,

Welcomes the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities;¹
Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the Ad Hoc Committee to the Commission for Social Development at its forty-second session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixtieth session, and further requests both Commissions to continue to contribute to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
Endorses the decision of the Ad Hoc Committee to establish a Working Group with the aim of preparing and presenting a draft text, which would be the basis for negotiations on the draft convention in the Ad Hoc Committee, taking into account all contributions;²
Notes that the Working Group will present the outcome of its work on a draft text to the Ad Hoc Committee at the third session of the Committee;
Decides that the Ad Hoc Committee shall start the negotiations on a draft convention at its third session;
Decides also that the Ad Hoc Committee shall hold, within existing resources, two sessions in 2004 of ten working days each, prior to the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly;
Underlines the importance of strengthening the cooperation and coordination between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat in order to support jointly the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
Urges that further efforts be made to ensure the active participation of non-governmental organizations in the Ad Hoc Committee, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 56/510 of 23 July 2002 and based on the decision of the Ad Hoc Committee on the modalities for the participation of non-governmental organizations in its work;
Stresses the need for additional efforts to ensure accessibility at the United Nations, with reasonable accommodation regarding facilities and documentation, for all persons with disabilities, in accordance with General Assembly decision 56/474 of 23 July 2002;
Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Ad Hoc Committee with the facilities necessary for the performance of its work;
Encourages Member States to continue to include in their delegations to the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee persons with disabilities and/or other experts in the field;
Urges Member States, observers, civil society and the private sector to contribute to the voluntary fund established pursuant to its resolution 57/229 to support the participation of non-governmental organizations and experts from developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
Requests the Secretary-General to transmit a comprehensive report of the Ad Hoc Committee to the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session and to report on the implementation of paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 of the present resolution.