The 69th regular session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) took place from September – December 2014. Of the 70 resolutions considered by the Third Committee (human, cultural and social rights), 22 included explicit references to persons with disabilities and one was dedicated solely to addressing the rights of persons with disabilities (“Realising the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed goals for persons with disabilities towards 2015 and beyond”). The breakdown of resolutions was as follows: five resolutions incorporating language on persons with disabilities that previously had no references; four resolutions incorporating additional paragraphs with references to persons with disabilities; and 13 resolutions with pre-existing references to persons with disabilities.
Member States worked closely with the IDA Secretariat on the resolution specific to persons with disabilities, with the result that language in the final text saw a positive shift towards a rights-based approach to development for persons with disabilities. As the text was adopted by consensus, the resolution presents very positive language that can be utilised in future documents relating to development and the rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, the IDA Secretariat followed the negotiations of as many resolutions as possible relevant to the rights of persons with disabilities, and provided language suggestions, background information and other relevant materials to Member States engaged in resolution negotiations. All language referencing persons with disabilities is being collected to produce a resource guide for Member States to facilitate UN CRPD compliance in future resolutions of the UNGA.