UN and partners issue handbook on rights of persons with disabilities

Aiming to help lawmakers better understand the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, the main United Nations human rights office and its partners today launched a handbook on the treaty's provisions.

“I hope that the Handbook, in addition to raising awareness, will foster the speedy ratification of the Convention so to end the protection vacuum that has, in practice, affected persons with disabilities,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

With 650 million persons with disabilities worldwide, the new guide aims to help address the marginalization that so many have suffered worldwide, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a news release.

Produced by OHCHR along with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, the handbook allows legislators to become more familiar with the Convention and provides them with the tools to facilitate its ratification.

“This Handbook is our contribution to help bring down barriers, remove prejudices, and outlaw discrimination in the area of disability,” said IPU Secretary General Anders B. Johnsson.

The English version of the Handbook was launched today before some 600 legislators attending the a meetig of the IPU Assembly in Geneva.

The Convention and its Protocol were adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006.