Ad Hoc Committee
A/RES/57/229
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 109 ( b )
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
[ on the report of the Third Committee (A/57/556/Add.2 and Corr.1-3)]
57/229. Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on
Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
Français | Espanol
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, by which it established
the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on
Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, as well
as Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/61 of 25 April 2002 on the human rights of
persons with disabilities [1] and Economic and Social Council resolution
2002/7 of 24 July 2002 on a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote
and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and Council resolution
2002/26 of 24 July 2002 on the further promotion of equalization of opportunities by, for
and with persons with disabilities and protection of their human rights,
Stressing the importance of the active participation of non-governmental
organizations in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and the important contribution of
non-governmental organizations to the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms
of persons with disabilities,
Underlining the fact that the consideration of proposals for a convention
should complement concrete efforts to mainstream further the disability perspective into
the implementation of international obligations and into the monitoring mechanisms of the
six core United Nations human rights conventions, as well as into the process of
implementing and strengthening the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for
Persons with Disabilities, [2]
Welcoming the work of national, regional and international meetings of
Governments, experts, and non-governmental organizations that contributed to the work of
the Ad Hoc Committee,
Reaffirming the need to promote and protect the equal and effective enjoyment
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, aware of the
contribution that a convention could make in this regard and thus convinced of the need to
continue to consider proposals,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on a
Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the
Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on its first session; [3]
2. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the Ad Hoc
Committee to the Commission on Social Development at its forty-first session and to the
Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session;
3. Decides that the Ad Hoc Committee should hold, within existing resources,
at least one meeting in 2003 of a duration of ten working days, prior to the fifty-eighth
session of the General Assembly;
4. Encourages States to hold meetings or seminars to contribute to the work of
the Ad Hoc Committee, in cooperation with, as appropriate, the Division for Social Policy
and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on
disability of the Commission for Social Development, and non-governmental organizations;
5. Requests the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States, observer
States, relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, including relevant
human rights treaty bodies and the Special Rapporteur, on proposals for a convention
including, inter alia, questions relating to its nature and structure and the elements to
be considered, including the work done in the field of social development, human rights
and non-discrimination, as well as issues of follow-up and monitoring and the
complementarity between a new instrument and existing instruments;
6. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Ad Hoc Committee at
its second session a comprehensive report on the views submitted, to be issued at least
six weeks before the commencement of the second session;
7. Invites the regional commissions and intergovernmental organizations,
within their respective mandates, as well as non-governmental organizations, national
disability and human rights institutions and independent experts with an interest in the
matter, to make available to the Ad Hoc Committee suggestions and possible elements to be
considered in proposals for a convention;
8. Welcomes the contributions of the Special Rapporteur and the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, and
invites them to continue to collaborate with the Ad Hoc Committee and with each other in
this regard;
9. 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 with the decision of the Ad Hoc Committee on the
modalities for the participation of non-governmental organizations in the work of the Ad
Hoc Committee; [4]
10. Also urges that efforts be made to ensure that accessibility, with
reasonable accommodation as regards facilities and documentation, is improved for all
persons with disabilities, in accordance with General Assembly decision 56/474 of 23 July
2002;
11. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Ad Hoc Committee
with the facilities necessary for the performance of its work and, in this context,
invites the Secretary-General to reallocate resources in order to allow the United Nations
Programme on Disability to provide the necessary support to the Ad Hoc Committee;
12. Encourages Member States to involve persons with disabilities,
representatives of disability organizations and experts in the preparatory processes
contributing to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
13. Also encourages Member States to include persons with disabilities and/or
other experts in the field in their delegations to the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee;
14. Decides to establish a voluntary fund to support the participation of
non-governmental organizations and experts from developing countries, in particular from
the least developed countries, and invites Governments, civil society and the private
sector to contribute to the voluntary fund;
15. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit a comprehensive report of the
Ad Hoc Committee to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session.
77th plenary meeting
18 December 2002
1 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2002, Supplement
No. 3 (E/2002/23), chap. II, sect. A.
2 Resolution 48/96, annex.
3 See A/57/357.
4 Ibid., para.10.
Return to top |
