The CRPD Committee closed its 30th session on Friday 22nd, March, which started on March 4th and included seven States reviews and two sessions for Follow up to Inquiry reports. The Committee will soon publish its Concluding Observations on the countries under review, namely, Kazakhstan, Zambia, Bahrein, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica and Nicaragua (as per the order in which State reviews took place).
At the closing, the CRPD Committee communicated its main decisions of the session. The CRPD Committee decided, among other things, to:
- Adopt Concluding Observations on Kazakhstan, Zambia, Bahrein, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, reiterating its regret about the absence of a State delegation of Nicaragua.
- Adopt views on one individual communication, decided to discontinue two other individual communications and declared another one inadmissible.
- Adopt a follow up report on individual communications.
- Adopt reports on follow up of inquiry procedures.
- Amend its rules of procedure, in several areas.
- Adopt a Statement on Achieving real gender balance and equitable geographical representation in the 2024 elections of members of the Committee
In a closing statement on behalf of IDA, Juan Ignacio Pérez Bello, Senior Advisor on Human Rights, highlighted, among other things, that "IDA will keep advocating for increased resources within the United Nations for timely human rights monitoring and accessibility for persons with disabilities of all procedures, in line with the 2023 Conclusions of the UN Treaty Bodies Chairpersons' Meeting, which we highly appreciated. The General Assembly will adopt its resolution on human rights and the treaty body system in December 2024. IDA will seek to join efforts with other partner human rights organizations and other stakeholders to increase advocacy for a well-resourced treaty body system to ensure human rights monitoring and to allow for increased engagement by national organizations of persons with disabilities.”
Find the video of the closing session here.
If you would like to review what happen throughout the weeks of public sessions, you can check IDA’s weekly newsletters below:
Newsletter 1st week (4th to 8th March)
Newsletter 2nd week (11th to 15th March)
You can find all the information and documents related to the session here.
Upcoming 31st session and 20th pre-sessional working group
At the closing, the CRPD Committee also confirmed its plan to hold the 31st session and 20th pre-sessional working group in August and September, subjected to availability of funding. National organizations of persons with disabilities should get ready to work towards the session, submit alternative reports and participate at the session and PSWG. They should also be attentive to potential changes.
According to the Committee's Website by March 22nd, during the 31st session (12th August to 6the September 2024), the CRPD Committee will undertake the reviews of Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Denmark, Ghana, Mauritius, Netherlands and Ukraine.
According to the Committee's Website by March 22nd, at the 20th Pre-Sessional Working Group (9th to 13th September 2024), the CRPD Committee will adopt List of Issues on Colombia, Egypt, Mozambique and Namibia, and List of Issues prior to Reporting on Brazil and Thailand, initiating its second review cycle.
All the info on the 31th session and on the 20th Pre-Sessional Working Group can be find on the respective CRPD Committee’s websites, here and here.
