On December 13, 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted by acclamation the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the document as "the first human rights treaty to be adopted in the twenty-first century; the most rapidly negotiated human rights treaty in the history of international law; and the first to emerge from lobbying conducted extensively through the Internet." A draft of the treaty had previously been approved in August 2006 by an ad hoc UN committee. The Convention opened for signatures in March 2007 and entered into force in May 2008. The US signed the Convention in 2009, after initially indicating that it would not sign because US domestic disability measures were already adequate. As of December 2011, there are 153 signatories to the Convention.
Flag of the United Nations
Learn more about disability rights from the JURIST news archives.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
SYNDICATION
