August 25, 2017

Co-Hosted by European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) & IDA; sponsored by Office of High Commission for Human Rights & the Permanent Missions of Mexico and New Zealand

Date: Friday, 25 August 2017
Time: 1.30 pm to 2.45 pm
Place: Room XVII, Palais des Nations, Geneva 

Download the flyer

FRA, GANHRI and IDA, with the sponsorship of the OHCHR and the Permanent Missions of Mexico and New Zealand, will co-host a side event during the CRPD Committee Day of General Discussion on Article 5 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The side event will focus on the key roles of organisations of persons with disabilities and national human rights institutions in “SDGs-CRPD implementation and monitoring”.

The Sustainable Development Agenda entails a high political commitment by all UN member States. Its motto “Leave no one behind” illustrates its inclusive aim. In contrast to the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its targets include explicit references to persons with disabilities and use language related to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (e.g. “inclusive”). States have committed to develop policies and frameworks to achieve these goals including, among others, Goal 10 Reduced inequality within and among countries. They have also underlined that this needs to be done in line with their obligations under international law.

The CRPD represents the most advanced international standards on the rights of persons with disabilities. Article 5 requires measures both to advance equality for persons with disabilities, including specific measures under paragraph 4, and to protect persons with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability and other grounds. The CRPD acknowledges that persons with disabilities face inequality and structural discrimination.

Building the bridge between the SDGs and the CRPD obligations, development and human rights, is therefore key to ensure that all policies directed to implement SDGs are guided by and comply with CRPD legal standards, including Article 5. This will allow for human rights-based SDG-CRPD implementation which promotes equality for persons with disabilities and protects them from discrimination.    

FRA, GANHRI and IDA propose a panel that will present the perspectives of States, DPOs, NHRIs and other stakeholders on ways of collaboration and involvement in SDG-CRPD implementation and monitoring, with a particular focus on measures directed to promote and enforce equality and non-discrimination. In this way, it is hoped that the debate during the side-event would nourish suggestions towards a general comment no. 6 on Article 5 of the CRPD, which would hopefully be assertive when it comes to put in motion the machinery for its implementation and monitoring, taking into consideration the key roles of DPOs and NHRIs.

See more by