Geneva, 25 February 2013 – Today the Human Rights Council opens its 22nd session (25 February – 22 March 2013) in which the Council will adopt a resolution on work and employment of persons with disabilities.
The Human Rights Council (HRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. The HRC holds three regular sessions per year in Geneva, including a main session in March, in which the Council holds an annual discussion and adopts a resolution on the rights of persons with disabilities.
Annual Discussion on Human Rights and Persons with Disabilities
On 6 March, the HRC will hold a debate on the rights of persons with disabilities, which will focus on the right to work and employment of persons with disabilities (Article 27 of the CRPD). To support the debate, the Office of High Commissioner produced a thematic study on this topic (A/HRC/22/25). Mr. Yannis Vardakastanis, IDA Chair, will represent IDA during this debate and will deliver an oral statement before the HRC. At the end of this session, the Council will likely adopt a resolution (co-facilitated by Mexico and New Zealand) on this same topic.
Related information:
- Concept Note of the Annual Discussion on Human Rights and Persons with Disabilities
- IDA Contribution to the OHCHR thematic study on work and employment of persons with disabilities
Side Events
On 1 March, Mr Patrick Clarke, Past President of Down Syndrome International, an IDA Member, will represent IDA in the side event “Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities: Examples from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Region” organized by UNICEF.
On 6 March, IDA represented by its Chair, will take part in a side event on “Including persons with disabilities in the labour market. Best Practices” organized by Spain and Ecuador.
On 7 March, Mr. Yannis Vardakastanis will also take part as 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 organized by Finland, Austria and IDA.
More relevant information
HIGH LEVEL PANEL ON THE VIENNA DECLARATION AND PROGRAMME OF ACTION
A High Level Panel on the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action will take place on February 25th, which will include international sign language and captioning. Zamir Dhale, nominated by IDA member Disabled Peoples’ International, will deliver a statement on behalf of IDA. Zamir is a deafblind person from India and he is a user of tactile sign language, the first time this will be used in the Plenary of the Human Rights Council.
RESOLUTIONS
Apart of the resolution on work and employment of persons with disabilities, the HRC will also adopt resolutions on adequate housing, the right to food and rights of the child, among others. (This list has been prepared based on the list of resolutions adopted at the March session of the last year, so it may be subject to change)
REPORTS
To have access to all reports prepared for this Session of the HRC, please click the following link: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session22/Pages/ListReports.aspx. Of note is the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, who includes in his report a specific section on persons with psychosocial disabilities (A/HRC/22/53, paragraphs 57-70).
UPR
The working Groups Reports of the 14th Session of the UPR (22 October – 5 November 2012) will be also adopted during this HRC Session (Argentina, Benin, Czech Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Japan, Pakistan, Peru, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Ukraine and Zambia). UPR 14th Session: disability specific recommendations pending acceptance
OTHER INFORMATION
Programme of Work of this Session
The webcast of the session will be available here: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/c/un-human-rights-council.html
Contact: Ellen Walker at ewalker [at] ida-secretariat.org
IDA Website: http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/en
IDA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InternationalDisabilityAllianceIDA
IDA Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/IDA_CRPD_Forum
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