Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol Thereto : Accessibility

Calls upon those States that have not yet done so to consider signing and ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities2 and the Optional Protocol thereto3 as a matter of priority;

Encourages States that have ratified the Convention and submitted one or more reservations to it to review regularly the effect and continued relevance of such reservations and to consider the possibility of withdrawing them;

Requests United Nations agencies and organizations, and invites intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to continue to strengthen efforts undertaken to disseminate accessible and easy-to-understand information on the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto, including to children and young people to promote their understanding, and to assist States parties in implementing their obligations under those instruments;

Calls upon those States that have not yet done so to consider signing and ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled;

Encourages States to review and repeal any law or policy that restricts the full and effective participation in political and public life of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others or discriminates against persons with disabilities, including with regard to accessing a service or facility open to the public, and to establish accessible and effective channels of redress for discrimination on the basis of disability;

Urges States to take steps to eliminate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities through repealing discriminatory laws, policies and practices, to take all effective measures to remove any other barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities in accessing the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, transportation, health and education, information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public and to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all rights stipulated in the Convention;

Calls upon all States to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, on an equal basis with other children, in recognition that discrimination against any child on the basis of a disability is a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the child, to enhance inclusion and address barriers faced by children with disabilities, including addressing discriminatory, attitudinal and environmental barriers to their participation and inclusion in society and in the community, to develop gender- and age-sensitive policies and capacities to ensure the rights and address the particular needs of children with disabilities, including children in vulnerable situations, including migrant children, children without parental care, children in street situations and child victims of trafficking, and those affected by climate change, and to prevent and respond to cases of gender-based violence;

Recommends that Member States take into account the needs and requirements of older persons with disabilities in national development plans and national policies, including through the collection of data disaggregated by sex, age and disability, and encourage communities to develop targeted services for older persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States to develop, adopt and promote national accessibility standards and guidelines, in close consultation with persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations and other relevant stakeholders, which include the promotion of universal design and also include minimum standards for the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public, in both urban and rural areas;

Also calls upon States to regularly review accessibility standards and laws, as appropriate, in close consultation with persons with disabilities, including through their representative organizations, national human rights institutions in compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles),¹⁴ where they exist, and other stakeholders, and to use data in compliance with data-protection regulations and standards in order to identify, assess and address gaps to ensure that persons with disabilities can access the physical environment, transportation, information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public on an equal basis with others;

Further calls upon States to promote other appropriate forms of assistance and support to persons with disabilities to ensure their access to information, and to provide information intended for the general public to persons with disabilities using accessible formats and technologies appropriate to different kinds of disabilities in a timely manner and without additional cost;

Calls upon States to ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement and that persons with disabilities have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community support services, including personal assistance necessary to support living and inclusion in the community, and to prevent isolation or segregation from the community;

Also calls upon States to promote and facilitate access to and sharing of accessible and assistive technologies, especially new and emerging ones, including information and communications systems, mobility aids, assistive devices and other assistive technologies, by persons with disabilities, and to promote research and development in this regard, so that these technologies and systems become accessible at minimum cost and at an early stage;

Urges States to consider laws, policies and procedures relating to public procurement to ensure that persons with disabilities can access any service or facility open to the public on an equal basis with others;

Calls upon States to continue to take appropriate measures to raise awareness and to provide training and other support to public officials, service providers and other relevant stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities, and to address discrimination, stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices in order to promote the provision of accessible and inclusive public services and facilities that take into account all aspects of accessibility, including the rights of persons with disabilities;

Encourages States to disseminate information to and work with the private sector, including employers and other relevant stakeholders, to implement accessibility measures for any facilities or services that are open or provided to the public that take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;

Urges States to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities, including women and girls, in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters, and ensure that their specific needs are addressed, such as access to basic services, including health-care services, rehabilitation assistance, psychosocial support and educational programmes, as well as transportation and information and communications technologies and systems on an equal basis with others;

Calls upon States to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access inclusive, quality primary, secondary and tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others and to facilitate the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in education by taking appropriate steps through the provision of information in accessible and alternative communication formats, reasonable accommodation and other support as required;

Also calls upon States to strengthen efforts to empower all persons with disabilities and enhance their participation and promote their leadership in society through taking measures to address and remove all barriers that prevent or restrict their access and full inclusion and participation in the community on an equal basis with others, including in the government and public sector, the private sector, civil society and all branches and bodies of the national monitoring system of the Convention, and to work to ensure that persons with disabilities are closely consulted and actively involved, through their representative organizations, in the design, implementation and monitoring of all legislation, policies and programmes which have an impact on their lives;

Encourages States to provide support to existing organizations and promote the creation of organizations, including civil society organizations and networks of persons with disabilities, as appropriate, and to promote and support persons with disabilities in taking leadership roles in public decision-making bodies at all levels, recognizing the importance for States of having an open, inclusive and transparent engagement with civil society in the implementation of measures on persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States to collect and analyse data disaggregated by income, sex, race, age, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographical location and other characteristics relevant to national contexts to assist, inter alia, with the identification and eradication of barriers and all forms of discrimination, including multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, that prevent persons with disabilities from enjoying all the rights stipulated in the Convention, to guide inclusive policy planning and to be used on an ongoing basis to assess and advance accessibility, and also calls upon States to improve data-collection systems for adequate monitoring and evaluation frameworks on the implementation of the Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals for all persons with disabilities;

Urges States and other relevant stakeholders, including national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles, where they exist, to continue to support the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by, inter alia, supporting the disaggregation of data by disability, sex and age for specific indicators, using appropriate measurement tools, including, as appropriate, the United Nations Children’s Fund Module on Child Functioning and the Washington Group short set of questions on disability and other data-collection methodologies, to assist States in measuring the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets and programming policies in the context of the Goals;

Encourages States, United Nations entities and relevant international organizations, inter alia:

Invites the Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities to address and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly annually, under the item entitled “Promotion and protection of human rights”, as a way to enhance communication between the Assembly and the Committee;

Calls upon the United Nations system, including its agencies, funds and programmes, within their respective mandates, to continue to work collaboratively to accelerate the full and effective mainstreaming of disability inclusion into the United Nations system, including by implementing and reporting on the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy across its programmes and operations;

Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session a progress report on steps taken by the United Nations system towards mainstreaming disability inclusion, including implementation of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, within existing resources;

Calls upon Member States, the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders to take part in implementing the recommendations endorsed by the Steering Committee on Accessibility in June 2019;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session a report on the rights of persons with disabilities with a focus on the participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in decision-making processes, including good practices and challenges in the implementation of the Convention in that regard, in consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, relevant United Nations agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Children’s Fund, taking into account the views of relevant stakeholders and using existing available materials, and to include a segment on the status of the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto;

Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to maintain the levels of resources required by the relevant offices in the United Nations system for the fulfilment of their tasks with respect to their work on the rights of and inclusive development for persons with disabilities.