News

Volume 6 Issue 6 - September 01, 2009

Conference of State Parties to U.N.C.R.P.D. on September 2 & 3

D.N.I.S. News Network, India: The second session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (U.N.C.R.P.D.) will be held on September 2 and 3 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Besides matters relating to implementation of U.N.C.R.P.D., a high level panel on “Legislative measures to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and an interactive dialogue on United Nations System Support for the implementation of the Convention are also on the agenda.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (C.R.P.D.) was formed to monitor the implementation of U.N.C.R.P.D. It consists of 12 members, one each from Qatar, Jordan, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Chile, Hungary, Kenya, Australia, Spain, Ecuador, Slovenia and China.

Though India was the 7th and the first prominent country to have ratified the Convention, it does not have a representation in the Committee.

Javed Abidi, Secretary General, Disabled Peoples’ International (D.P.I.) - India, who is attending the Conference as an Observer says, “There is no excuse for India not being there in the Committee. It is the utter failure of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment once more to focus on these issues.”

“We have been advocating towards getting India to become a part of the Committee but with no success so far,” he added.

Abidi would also be speaking as a panelist on “The Role of Civil Society and National Human Rights Institutions”, a side event at the Conference.