UN rights experts on Thursday called [press release] for the creation of inclusive education programming to include those living with disabilities as a central and crucial step in order to create peaceful and inclusive societies. The call comes in the new and improved Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [text], which seeks to ensure that those living with disabilities are not forgotten and ignored by society. The UN experts are calling on an educational transformation as they have found that million of persons with disabilities are being denied access to education and as a result of that discrimination they are are often placed in vulnerable positions in society.

Recognizing also that discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person, Recognizing further the diversity of persons with disabilities, Recognizing the need to promote and protect the human rights of all persons with disabilities, including those who require more intensive support, Concerned that, despite these various instruments and undertakings, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers in their participation as equal members of society and violations of their human rights in all parts of the world

The convention calls on states to create better and inclusive education systems to ensure all individuals are able to receive a proper education.

The rights of persons with disabilities is a global issue. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities released a statement Tuesday that women with disabilities face discrimination and are often excluded from freely participating in society [JURIST report. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against Georgia in August alleging that the state discriminates against students with behavior-related disabilities [JURIST report]. The DOJ announced [JURIST report] in March that the city of Forth Worth, Texas has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging that it discriminated against persons with disabilities by refusing to allow a group home for individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction to operate in a single family residential zone in the city. Last October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent Moroccan officials a letter claiming that a draft framework law before the country’s parliament is in conflict with obligations to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [JURIST report]