UN agrees landmark draft to protect disabled

Racing against a deadline, negotiators completed the draft of the first United Nations convention to protect the rights of the world’s disabled people early today.

Completing negotiations that began five years ago, a UN General Assembly committee had to navigate through a handful of obstacles, including a disputed reference to “foreign occupation” that was an apparent jab at Israel.

The draft of the UN convention on rights of persons with disabilities would require countries to guarantee freedom from exploitation and abuse for the disabled, while protecting rights they already have – such as ensuring voting rights for the blind and providing wheelchair-accessible buildings.

Advocates hope the treaty will be adopted by the general assembly during its upcoming 61st session, which starts in September.

On its last day the process had “gotten bogged down” on a few key issues with states “digging in on their positions”, said New Zealand Ambassador Don MacKay, chairman of the drafting committee.

Arab states were insistent on on text calling for the “full protection of persons with disabilities, in particular during armed conflicts and foreign occupation”, an apparent reference to Israel’s control over Palestinian territory.

Representatives from the US, Australia, Canada, Japan and Israel objected to the text in a separate vote. The Israeli representative called it “a clear attempt to politicise the convention”.

References to sexual and reproductive health in regards to health care and other language, including the definition of disability, had also drawn opposition.

A guide dog slumbered at one point through the last-minute negotiations that brought together hundreds of non-governmental organisations and delegates representing the world’s 650 million people with disabilities.

Earlier triumphs of the committee during the session culminating this week included sorting through a flood of proposals received over the weekend.

Agreement had also been reached on the long-standing sticking point of a monitoring mechanism that would ensure conditions of the treaty would be met.

But some committee members were critical of the compromise that ruled out visits by a human rights committee.

A number of states made broad but strong objections to the article, said Lex Grandia, president of the World Federation of the Deafblind.

“I think it made some of the countries nervous, but this is exactly where you don’t say what you think,” he said.

The compromise relies on individuals and NGOs to report infractions of the treaty.

Eighty per cent of people with disabilities live in developing countries, according to the UN Development Programme.

The US Mission to the United Nations has said it is opposed to the convention on grounds that it would dilute the strength of US legislation protecting the rights of the disabled. But it said Washington fully supports the improvement of international standards for the disabled.

“In the beginning, the US was silent,” Grandia said of the nearly five-year process leading to a treaty draft.

“Since then, the US has contributed a lot with negotiations, but we know they won’t ratify.”