The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is one of the human rights bodies in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations. It is a body consisted of 18 independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP). The CRDP is an international human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13th 2006 that adopted a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirmed that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Committee holds two or three sessions in Geneva annually. The members of the Committee serve in their individual capacity and not as government representatives. They are elected from a list of persons nominated by the Member States at the Conference of the State Parties for a four year term with a possibility of being re-elected once. All State parties are required to submit regular reports to the Committee outlining the legislative, judicial, policy and other measures they have taken to implement the rights affirmed in the Convention. The first report is due within two years of ratifying the Convention; thereafter reports are due every four years. The Committee examines each report and makes suggestions and general recommendations on the report. It forwards these recommendations, in the form of “concluding observations”, to the State party concerned.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention gives the Committee competence to examine individual complaints with regard to alleged violations of the Convention by States parties to the Optional Protocol or to undertake inquiries in the case of reliable evidence of grave and systematic violations of the Convention. In addition, and in keeping with the practice of other human rights treaty bodies, the Committee may also issue General Comments elaborating the meaning of the provisions of the Convention or cross-cutting themes. It may also hold Days of General Discussion with States, civil society, United Nations entities and other international organizations.
THESSISMUN 2019 – UN UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
BOARD-MEMBERS
President: Georgios Pastelis
Vice-president: Karina Iskandarova
AGENDA
1. Ensuring the right to Health for people with disabilities as stated in the Article 25 of the Convention.
2. Promoting and Protecting the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Work and Employment and Combatting any form of Discrimination against them in the Workplace.