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NGO Comments at the third session

Comments by NGOs at the Third Session
Center for International Rehabilitation

Draft article 6 – Statistics and Data Collection

Center for International Rehabilitation Intervention

Thank you, Mr. President.

On behalf of the Center for International Rehabilitation, I thank you for your effort as president of this committee, and I thank the Bureau and the members of this committee for favoring NGO participation in the debate.

We consider it important to move Article 6 to the end of the text, to include it under the Operative Provisions section. We value the European Union’s proposal regarding this article, but would like to see it expanded under a distinct section for Implementation.

We find it relevant to highlight that the collection of information should be used not only in the planning and implementation of policies, as proposed by the European Union, but also in the monitoring of such policies. Furthermore, it is imperative that such information be made accessible.

We concur with the European Union’s proposal regarding provisions to safeguard the confidentiality and respect the privacy of persons with disability. This is an extremely sensitive topic that the convention must expressly address. As proposed by the European Union, internationally established norms must also be applied to data collection, in order to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disability.

We emphasize that it is always necessary to include disability organizations in the design and process of gathering and interpreting information on persons with disability. This process must not be segregated, however, and should be integrated into the general statistics of the country. The intention should be to evaluate the situation and needs of persons with disability, which, more so than simply obtaining statistics, is our true interest.

Furthermore, and given that a number of delegations deem it important to gather information in discrete categories, such as gender, age, etc., we call for the inclusion of indigenous populations as its own category.

Finally, we stress the need for greater international cooperation in order to improve and standardize the collection of information.

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