The 22nd Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) took place in Geneva from 25 February - 22 March 2013.
More information on this session
Resolutions
During the session, the Council adopted a resolution on persons with disabilities’ right to work and employment (article 27 CRPD). It calls for States to take measures, including legislative and other measures to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in the workplace; positive action measures; employment of persons with disabilities in the public and private sectors; reasonable accommodation; increased social protection including that to cover disability-specific costs in accessing employment; promoting alternatives to sheltered employment that are is consistent with the CRPD; and monitoring and complaint mechanisms, among other things.
It sets forth the topic for the annual panel next year: the right to education (article 24 CRPD).
Resolution on article 27 CRPD (Tabled version)
Adoption of the Resolution in the Council webcast
The Council referred to the rights of persons with disabilities in several other resolutions.
Disability analysis of resolutions of the twenty-second session
Annual Discussion on Human Rights and Persons with Disabilities
On 6 March, the HRC held an interactive panel discussion on the rights of persons with disabilities, which was focused on the right to work and employment of persons with disabilities (Article 27 of the CRPD).
It was opened by Ms. Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and was moderated by H.E. Mr. Luis Gallegos Chiriboga (Ecuador), Vice-President of the Human Rights Council. Speakers included: Mr. Frederick Ouko Alucheli Executive Director of Action Network for the Disabled in Nairobi, Kenya, Prof. Ronald McCallum, Chair, CRPD Committee and Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Law of the University of Sydney; Ms. Barbara Murray, Senior Disability Specialist at the International Labour Organization; Mr. Valery Nikitich Rukhledev, President of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf; and, Ms. Susan Scott-Parker, founder and Chief Executive of the Business Disability Forum.
The Office of High Commissioner presented a thematic study on this topic (A/HRC/22/25), which served as a basis for the discussion.
IDA Contribution to the OHCHR thematic study on work and employment of persons with disabilities
Yannis Vardakastanis, IDA Chair, represented IDA during this discussion and delivered an oral statement calling for anti-discrimination legislation, implementation of reasonable accommodation and accessibility- with the necessary resources being made available, and targeted measures for women with disabilities.
Annual discussion on the rights of persons with disabilities webcast (IDA statement at 1:46:05)
Meeting summary for the annual panel (Press release elaborated by the OHCHR)
High Level Panel on the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
On 25 February 2013, Mr. Zamir Dhale, a deafblind advocate from Sense International-India, who was nominated by IDA member DPI and with the support of EDF and all other IDA members, spoke on behalf of IDA in a panel commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. This panel was the second panel in the Council’s history, which was not specifically on the rights of persons with disabilities and which was made accessible to persons with disabilities via international sign and real-time captioning, which were webcast.
Webcast of the VDPA panel (IDA statement at 2:09:17)
Side Events
On 1 March, Mr Patrick Clarke, Past President of Down Syndrome International, an IDA Member, represented IDA in the side event, “Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Examples from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Region”, organised by UNICEF.
IDA report on side event “Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Examples from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Region”
IDA press release: side event “Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Examples from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Region”
On 6 March, the IDA Chair took part as a speaker in the side event, “Including persons with disabilities in the labour market. Best Practices”, organised by ONCE Foundation (Spain), Spain and Ecuador.
IDA report on side event “Including persons with disabilities in the labour market. Best Practices”
IDA press release: Annual discussion on HR & persons with disabilities and side event on “Including persons with disabilities in the labour market. Best Practices”
On 7 March, the IDA Chair also was a speaker at the side event, "Promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities: Where we are now and the way forward post-2015" jointly organised by Finland, Austria and IDA.
IDA report on side event "Promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities: Where we are now and the way forward post-2015"
IDA press release: side event "Promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities: Where we are now and the way forward post-2015"
Panel on Mainstreaming Human Rights in the UN System
During the session, in the panel on mainstreaming human rights in the UN system on 1 March 2013, New Zealand made a joint statement on behalf of a group of fourteen countries (Burkina Faso, Congo, Ecuador, Finland, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Qatar, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay and New Zealand) emphasizing the importance of including the rights of persons with disabilities in the post-2015 development framework. 4 of the 5 panellists mentioned the statement in their concluding comments, sending a clear and important message on the need to include persons with disabilities and their representative organisation in the process, as well as to focus on the needs of marginalised groups (since only by ensuring equality and non-discrimination in the achievement of any goals could there be true progress and development).
Webcast of the mainstreaming human rights panel (joint statement at 2:01:20)
UPR
Also during the session, the Council adopted the outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review fourteenth session (Argentina, Benin, Czech Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Japan, Pakistan, Peru, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Ukraine and Zambia), which took place in October-November 2012.