Back to: Nothing About Us Without Us

Message of H.E. Ambassador Luis Gallegos

Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations

The United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons
3 December 2004

The following is the message of H.E. Ambassador Luis Gallegos, Chairperson 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, a subsidiary body of the General Assembly of the United Nations charged with the mandate of elaborating an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

In this year's observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons, we are celebrating with shared pride and joy the progress made toward realization of universal human rights by, for, and with persons with disabilities.

More than two decades have passed since the world community came together with one voice —in the adoption of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons (1982)— and made a firm commitment to achieve full and effective participation of persons with disabilities in social life and development.

As a result of this commitment, the international community has embarked, since 2001, upon an historical endeavor to elaborate a comprehensive and integral convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Both governmental and non-governmental communities have consistently demonstrated their unwaivering commitment to this essential international goal: realization of the human rights for all in a just and equitable society. This is a celebration for all of us —those of us with and without recognized disabilities— as we reaffirm our commitment to work toward a just and equitable society and as we anticipate early adoption and universal ratification of the envisaged international convention on the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

At the same time, however, the work to promote the rights of persons with disabilities presents us, collectively, with a daunting challenge in this ever-changing world. We are all keenly aware of the numerous new and emerging global issues affecting persons with disabilities—those ranging from increased poverty and inequity, escalating situations of armed conflicts, and the continuing threat of the AIDS epidemic, to important technological advances, particularly in information and communications. This complex situation requires more sophisticated norms, processes, institutions and mechanisms capable of effectively addressing the needs of persons with disabilities

In this context, and particularly given current disabling attitudinal, environmental and economic realities, there is a realization —in legal, policy, and programmatic sectors, and at the international, regional, and national levels— that the inequity and discrimination that exists against persons with disabilities must be addressed within an integrated development and human rights framework, with an emphasis on the interdependence between human rights and development. This is not a new idea: our firm commitment to the creation of a just and equitable society is deeply rooted in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international human rights instruments. It was further advanced by a series of United Nations development conferences and agreements in the 1990s and their respective five year reviews, by the Millennium Development Goals, and by other relevant international commitments.

This developmental framework clearly reaffirmed the values that are of particular importance in the twenty-first century: freedom; equity and solidarity; tolerance; non-violence; and shared responsibilities.

I would like to share with you my thinking on the envisaged convention and its future as follows.

The international community has made considerable progress in promoting the human rights of persons with disabilities through the ground-breaking decision to elaborate an international convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are prominent leaders in this process of creating a new international human rights instrument. They are enriching every aspect of the discourse on the convention and their valuable contributions to both the convention process and global society in general are changing the way in which the international community views persons with disabilities and their ability.

Leading international development agencies, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, are taking concrete steps to address the social and economic inequalities of persons with disabilities in their global strategies to pursue "poverty alleviation" and to integrate persons with disabilities in their current development efforts.

I believe that the convention, through the establishment of international legal standards, will help transform our society into a new community of stakeholders in disability rights. It should be a “living document,” taking account of the changing nature of disability and how it is inevitably a part of every individual's life and every society. In this sense, the convention should enable interpretations across a variety of contexts, providing a coherent interpretative tool consisting of principles and concepts for flexible implementation in line with resources, culture, and other environmental factors.

In my view, the development of an international human rights instrument is akin to creating a new “universal language” for societies and individuals worldwide to discuss the way forward in realizing the human rights of all persons, with or without disabilities. The process serves to translate the lived experience of persons with disabilities into the “universal language”, the language of an international convention. In turn, the “universal language” takes on concrete meaning in the lives of persons with disabilities and in their respective communities.

The treaty-making process thus provides a contextual understanding of the lives of persons with disabilities, making visible the necessity of including them in the development agenda and in the implementation of its resulting policies and programmes. This process can be a critical entry point for evolving a society that values difference and respects the equality of all human beings regardless of their actual or perceived "difference".

In preparing for the convention’s adoption, we will soon need to devise viable and forward-looking strategies to maximize the impact of this important tool called an “international convention." We need to be able to utilize this essential instrument to provoke changes in society —not only to rectify past discrimination against persons with disabilities, but also to create a society, based on justice and equity, where differences among individuals, such as gender, age, disability, religion, political belief or social status, will not hinder their full enjoyment of universally-recognized human rights or their national and local implementation.

As such, a new paradigm is needed, one in which the disability-focused development and human rights communities collaborate closely at national, regional, and international levels through partnerships with the disability community. This new paradigm would contribute to strengthening the newly emerging community of traditional and non-traditional stakeholders.

Indeed, networking among the disability community and their advocates, the supporting non-governmental community, academic institutions, legal and development experts, and practitioners will forge a sense of integrated community and prioritize the development agenda for promoting the rights of persons with disabilities.

Let us reflect on the following: the formal separation between “human rights” and “development” and any artificial distinctions between different “categories” of rights or of implementation of those rights as legal action verses development policies, are rendered totally meaningless in the reality of individuals with disabilities suffering from poverty and destitution each and every day.

Above all, we must prioritize human dignity, and it is the human dignity of persons with disabilities that we are vigorously defending. Each of us has a crucial role to play in this historical process toward realization of "human rights and development for all."