A global treaty (convention) protecting and promoting the human rights of the worlds approximately 600 million people with disabilities could be ready for signature as early as September 2005, the Chairman of a United Nations committee drafting the convention said Friday.
Following a two-week negotiating session in New York, Ambassador Luis Gallegos Chiriboga of Ecuador said there were still many substantive and procedural issues to be negotiated before an agreed text would be ready.
– But I am a believer in optimism and human nature. We could have something substantive ready for international signature and ratification in September next year, he said
Mr. Chiriboga said the numbers of people living with disabilities, either physical or mental, will rise given that the population is ageing and many people acquire disabilities not through birth but later in life through sickness or injury.
It is estimated that one in 10 of the global population, or 600 million people, have a disability. Up to three quarters of them live in the developing world.
Mr. Chiriboga said the convention would contain a monitoring body to help enforce its provisions, but its structure was yet to be decided.
The 24-article draft, approved by the committee on Friday, is based on the principles of the dignity, individual autonomy and independence of persons with disabilities, their full inclusion as equal citizens and participants in all aspects of life; respect for difference and acceptance of disability as part of human diversity, equality of opportunity, and non-discrimination.
The committees next session will be held from 23 August to 3 September 2004.
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