Resolution Regarding an International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

Adopted, July 8, 2000
By the National Federation of the Blind
 

 Whereas, in today's increasingly globalized world, it is incumbent upon the international community to ensure the full human rights and fundamental freedoms of people with disabilities and their equal opportunity to participate in all spheres of human activity, no matter where they may happen to be in the "global village," and

 Whereas, the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities is the principal international instrument specifically addressing the civil, political, economic and social status of disabled persons, even though it is not legally binding, under international law, and

 Whereas, on the other hand, the UN has adopted international conventions, which are legally binding upon their states parties, covering the human rights and fundamental freedoms of other historically disadvantaged populations, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and

 Whereas, the fact that the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability was appointed in 1994, and twice re-appointed since then, by the UN's Commission for Social Development rather than by its Commission on Human Rights indicates that the UN still views the problems of people with disabilities primarily in social welfare terms rather than as a human rights issue, and

 Whereas, in March 2000, the five major world organizations in the disability field, including the World Blind Union, at their meeting in Beijing, China, called for the formulation of an international convention on the rights of people with disabilities, and

 Whereas, in April 2000, at its fifty-sixth annual session in Geneva, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a consensus resolution in which it "invites the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for Social Development, to examine measures to strengthen the protection and monitoring of the human rights of persons with disabilities and to solicit input and proposals from interested parties," and

 Whereas, the U.S. Department of State has expressed its opposition to the concept of an international convention on the rights of people with disabilities, arguing that the rights of disabled persons are already sufficiently protected, under existing international legal instruments, and that the need to define "disability" in a new convention would pose extremely difficult problems, now therefore,

 Be it resolved by the National Federation of the Blind in convention assembled, this 8th day of July, 2000, in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, that this organization calls upon the White House, the Department of State and the Congress to adopt a policy fully supportive of the formulation by the UN of an international convention on the rights of people with disabilities, and

 Be it further resolved that this organization calls upon the Administration and Congress to assume the leadership in marshalling broad international backing for such a convention, leadership no less bold and determined than that which they demonstrated, a decade ago, in promoting, promulgating and implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act.
 

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