Update on the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

July 1, 2004

SCOPE AND PURPOSE:

In June 2003, the Ad Hoc Committee established a Working Group composed of representatives from 27 governments, 12 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and one national human rights institution to prepare and present a draft treaty text that would be the basis for negotiations of a comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. For additional information on the establishment of the Working Group, please see the NCD website for the document, UN Disability Convention – Topics at a Glance: History of the Process (/newsroom/publications/2003/history_process.htm).

The Working Group convened January 5 - 16, 2004 to prepare the draft text drawing from a wide variety of governmental and civil society contributions. During this drafting process the Working Group focused on the draft text of the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee (Luis Gallegos, Ecuador), the Bangkok draft text, and the Mexican draft text.

The text prepared did not represent the views of any specific delegation to the Working Group, but instead represented the work of the Group as a whole