The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities opened its 18th Session on 14 August 2017, in which it will review Latvia, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Panama and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
On 25 August, the Committee will also hold a day of general discussion on Article 5 of the Convention (Equality and non-discrimination). It will also initiate the second cycle of review under the simplified reporting procedure by adopting list of issues prior to reporting on Argentina, Australia, Ecuador and Tunisia.
During the opening, which took place during the morning of 14 August, in a public session from 10 am to 12pm, Theresia Degener, Chair-Person of the CRPD Committee, provided an update on the work of the Committee. In her presentation, Ms. Degener referred to the importance of collecting disaggregated data on persons with disabilities and, in this regard, referring to the Washington Group set of questions. Ms. Degener has also highlighted the non-compliance of the current Draft Protocol to the Oviedo Convention with the CRPD and the General Comment 1.
In her statement on behalf of the International Disability Alliance (IDA), Ms. Silvia Quan, IDA’s Senior Human Rights Adviser for the Treaty Bodies Unit, called for more concrete guidance on Article 4.3 (close consultation with and active involvement of DPOs) in recommendations made by the CRPD members to the States. Ms. Quan also welcomed efforts to move forward with the wording of general comment no. 5 on the right to live independently and be included in the community and called upon the Committee to emphasize the importance that States ensure the provision to people with disabilities of the basic supports and services that enable them to live independently in the community.
In connection with the Day of General Discussion on Article 5 of the CRPD, Ms. Quan encouraged the Committee to provide more precise and concrete guidance to States to ensure the provision of reasonable accommodation in relation to all rights. IDA also encouraged the Committee to explicitly mention the use of the Washington Group's questions in its Concluding Observations of this session.
Relating to the work of other UN Treaty Bodies, Ms. Quan, drew attention to the ongoing drafting process by the Human Rights Committee of the General Comment No. 36 on Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Right to Life) whose current draft includes worrying elements that could negatively impact the rights of persons with disabilities, in particular in relation to the death penalty and assisted death.
To conclude, Ms. Quan commended the Committee's Secretariat for its continued efforts to improve accessibility, especially with regard to Webcasting and sign language interpretation and encourages it to continue to improve accessibility including the national sign language in the official transmission of UN Web TV. ida_opening_statement_crpd18_final (English, docx, 17.27 KB)
Above picture: Ms. Silvia Quan during the opening of the 18th Session of the CRPD Committee.
To follow live the public meetings, according to the below schedule (all GVA time) please click here!
Programme of Work
The following public sessions of the CRPD Committee, including State party reviews of Latvia, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Panama and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will be webcast live by the United Nations Office of Geneva on UNTV.
Webcast will be provided in ENGLISH, International Sign and national languages of the countries (ensured when language is a UN language).
National Sign language will be provided for dialogues between States delegations and the Committee and it will be webcasted in the following links:
- Week of August 14th -August 18th Link- http://bit.ly/2vRK6jd
- Week of August 21st -August 25th Link- http://bit.ly/2wFTrIB
All times indicated are Geneva local time- CET:
Tuesday 15 August 2017
15.00 - Panama
Wednesday 16 August 2017
10.00 - Panama
15.00 - Morocco
Thursday 17 August 2017
10:00 - Morocco
15:00 - Montenegro
Friday 18 August 2017
10:00 - Montenegro
Monday 21 August
15:00 - Latvia
Tuesday 22 August
10:00 – Latvia
15:00 - Luxembourg
Wednesday 23 August
10.00 - Luxembourg
15.00 – United Kingdom
Thursday 24 August
10:00 – United Kingdom
Friday 25 August
10:00 – Discussion on article 5
15:00 – Discussion on article 5
For more information on the 18th session, please visit the Committee's session website.
Thursday 31 August
5pm - Closing
