One of world’s largest disability meetings concludes annual session

The 9th annual Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) took place on 14-16 June at UN Headquarters in New York City, under the overarching theme “Implementing the 2030 development agenda for all persons with disabilities: Leaving no one behind”. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the CRPD.

Roundtables with presentations by various stakeholders covered the sub-themes of the conference and during the event, elections were held for nine members of the CRPD Committee. The new members elected were: Ahmad Alsaif (Saudi Arabia); Monthian Buntan (Thailand); Imed Eddine Chaker (Tunisia); Jun Ishikawa (Japan); Samuel Njuguna Kabue (Kenya); Laszlo Gabor Lovaszy (Hungary); Robert George Martin (New Zealand); Martin Babu Mwesigwa (Uganda); and Valery Nikitich Rukhledev (Russian Federation).

Delegates from 160 States and over 600 NGOs attended the conference, participating in over 70 side-events covering a range of disability issues, receptions, concerts and film-screenings organized by Governments, the UN system, and civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities. The conference strived to be fully accessible and included International Sign and CART services, as well as other accommodations for wheelchair accessibility, and assistive devices for visual and hearing impairments, Braille materials and large-font documentation through the Accessibility Centre at UN Headquarters.

Prior to the Conference, the Office of the President of the General Assembly convened a multi-stakeholder panel discussion to review and discuss outcomes from the high-level meeting on disability and development. A civil society forum was also held the day prior to the conference to address common goals and challenges related to the implementation of the CRPD.

The conference’s closing meeting involved an interactive dialogue between the UN system, States Parties and other stakeholders. UN DESA was represented by its Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Lenni Montiel.

This was the last year of the current bureau’s term led by the Republic of Korea, with Italy, Poland, Tanzania and Brazil as vice-presidents. The incoming President will be Bulgaria while vice-presidents include Germany, Tunisia, Sri Lanka and Ecuador.

In 2017, the 10th session of the Conference of States Parties will be held on 13-15 June at UN Headquarters in New York.

For more information:

9th session of the Conference of States Parties