A/RES/57/229
Fifty-seventh session
Agenda item 109 ( b )
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/57/556/Add.2 and Corr.1-3)]
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001, by which it established the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, as well as Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/61 of 25 April 2002 on the human rights of persons with disabilities1 and Economic and Social Council resolution 2002/7 of 24 July 2002 on a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and Council resolution 2002/26 of 24 July 2002 on the further promotion of equalization of opportunities by, for and with persons with disabilities and protection of their human rights,
Stressing the importance of the active participation of non-governmental organizations in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and the important contribution of non-governmental organizations to the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities,
Underlining the fact that the consideration of proposals for a convention should complement concrete efforts to mainstream further the disability perspective into the implementation of international obligations and into the monitoring mechanisms of the six core United Nations human rights conventions, as well as into the process of implementing and strengthening the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities,2
Welcoming the work of national, regional and international meetings of Governments, experts, and non-governmental organizations that contributed to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee,
Reaffirming the need to promote and protect the equal and effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities, aware of the contribution that a convention could make in this regard and thus convinced of the need to continue to consider proposals,
- Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on its first session;3
- Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the Ad Hoc Committee to the Commission on Social Development at its forty-first session and to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session;
- Decides that the Ad Hoc Committee should hold, within existing resources, at least one meeting in 2003 of a duration of ten working days, prior to the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly;
- Encourages States to hold meetings or seminars to contribute to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, in cooperation with, as appropriate, the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, and non-governmental organizations;
- Requests the Secretary-General to seek the views of Member States, observer States, relevant bodies and organizations of the United Nations system, including relevant human rights treaty bodies and the Special Rapporteur, on proposals for a convention including, inter alia, questions relating to its nature and structure and the elements to be considered, including the work done in the field of social development, human rights and non-discrimination, as well as issues of follow-up and monitoring and the complementarity between a new instrument and existing instruments;
- Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Ad Hoc Committee at its second session a comprehensive report on the views submitted, to be issued at least six weeks before the commencement of the second session;
- Invites the regional commissions and intergovernmental organizations, within their respective mandates, as well as non-governmental organizations, national disability and human rights institutions and independent experts with an interest in the matter, to make available to the Ad Hoc Committee suggestions and possible elements to be considered in proposals for a convention;
- Welcomes the contributions of the Special Rapporteur and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, and invites them to continue to collaborate with the Ad Hoc Committee and with each other in this regard;
- Urges that further efforts be made to ensure the active participation of non-governmental organizations in the Ad Hoc Committee in accordance with General Assembly resolution 56/510 of 23 July 2002 and with the decision of the Ad Hoc Committee on the modalities for the participation of non-governmental organizations in the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;4
- Also urges that efforts be made to ensure that accessibility, with reasonable accommodation as regards facilities and documentation, is improved for all persons with disabilities, in accordance with General Assembly decision 56/474 of 23 July 2002;
- Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide the Ad Hoc Committee with the facilities necessary for the performance of its work and, in this context, invites the Secretary-General to reallocate resources in order to allow the United Nations Programme on Disability to provide the necessary support to the Ad Hoc Committee;
- Encourages Member States to involve persons with disabilities, representatives of disability organizations and experts in the preparatory processes contributing to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee;
- Also encourages Member States to include persons with disabilities and/or other experts in the field in their delegations to the meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee;
- Decides to establish a voluntary fund to support the participation of non-governmental organizations and experts from developing countries, in particular from the least developed countries, and invites Governments, civil society and the private sector to contribute to the voluntary fund;
- Requests the Secretary-General to transmit a comprehensive report of the Ad Hoc Committee to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session.
77th plenary meeting
18 December 2002
