A/RES/63/192*
18 December 2008
Original: English
United Nations
General Assembly
Sixty-third session
Third Committee
Agenda item 64 (e)
Promotion and protection of human rights: Convention A
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto
The General Assembly,
Recalling its previous relevant resolutions, the most recent of which was resolution 62/170 of 18 December 2007, as well as relevant resolutions of the Human Rights Council, the Commission for Social Development and the Commission on Human Rights,
1. Welcomes the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto on 3 May 2008;
2. Also welcomes the fact that, since the opening for signature of the Convention and the Optional Protocol on 30 March 2007, one hundred and thirty-six States have already signed and forty-one States have ratified the Convention and seventy-nine States have signed and twenty-five States have ratified the Optional Protocol, and that one regional integration organization has signed the Convention;**
3. Calls upon those States which have not yet done so to consider signing and ratifying the Convention and the Optional Protocol as a matter of priority;
4. Welcomes the First Meeting of the Conference of States Parties, held on 31 October and 3 November 2008, and the establishment of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
5. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto;
6. Welcomes the Joint Statement of Commitment to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the Inter-Agency Support Group;
7. Invites the Secretary-General to intensify efforts to assist States to become parties to the Convention and the Optional Protocol, including by providing assistance with a view to achieving universal adherence;
8. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the staff and facilities necessary to support the effective performance of the functions of the Conference of States Parties and of the Committee established under the Convention and the Optional Protocol, as well as for the dissemination of information on the Convention and the Optional Protocol, taking into account the provisions of the Convention, in particular on accessibility;
9. Also requests the Secretary-General to continue the progressive implementation of standards and guidelines for the accessibility of facilities and services of the United Nations system, taking into account relevant provisions of the Convention, in particular when undertaking renovations, including interim arrangements;
10. Requests the Secretary-General to take further actions to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in the United Nations system in accordance with the Convention, including the retention and recruitment of persons with disabilities;
11. Requests United Nations agencies and organizations, and invites intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to continue to strengthen efforts undertaken to disseminate accessible information on the Convention and the Optional Protocol, including to children and young people to promote their understanding, and to assist States parties in implementing their obligations under these instruments;
12. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session a report on the status of the Convention and the Optional Protocol and the implementation of the present resolution.
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* Contained A/63/430/Add.5 (orally corrected)
** Numbers will be updated as required.
Resolution 61/106, annex I.
Ibid., annex II.
[3] A/63/264 and Corr.1.
As orally amended
