Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

History

Following the Convention coming into force on 3 May 2008, the initial membership of the committee was elected by secret ballot at the first Conference of States' Parties to the convention on 3 November 2008 in New York. The first chair, elected at the first session in February 2009, was Mohammed Al-Tarawneh, who was succeeded in February 2010 by Ron McCallum. The current chair is Rosemary Kayess of Australia, whose term lasts until the end of 2022.

The Committee initially consisted of 12 members, however once the Convention achieved 80 ratifications the Committee expanded to 18 members. Half of members were elected for two-year terms and half elected for four years. Since then, members have been elected for four-year terms, with half the members elected every two years by the Conference of States Parties.

Membership

The membership of the committee is as follows (as of January 2026):

Review of Parties' Periodic Reports

The Parties to the convention are to submit periodic reports to the committee. Before the report is due, the Committee provides a List of Issues, created with input from civil society. Often a "shadow report" will be submitted by non-government organizations (NGOs). Ultimately, the Committee agrees on a set of Concluding Observations. As described in the CRPD's Article 35, parties' reports should describe "measures taken to give effect to its obligations under the ... Convention and ... the progress made in that regard" and may also describe "factors and difficulties" affecting their fulfilment of Convention obligations. Similar to the record of other human rights bodies, most reports have been submitted late, some not at all.

In 2013, the Committee issued Simplified Reporting Procedures. The committee's intent was not only to assist states parties, but also to foster interest from and participation by persons with disabilities, national monitoring groups, and human rights organizations.

General Comments

The committee has issued eight General Comments, intended to offer interpretation of CRPD provisions that will be useful for states in preparing their periodic reports. These are:

Two examples of General Comments that attracted experts and organizations' analysis, with areas of agreement and of disagreement were General Comment No. 4 on CRPD Article 24, the right to inclusive education, and General Comment No. 6 on CRPD Article 5, the right to equality and non-discrimination. In the 2016 deliberations, several organizations argued unsuccessfully that a "sensory exception" to inclusive education would not risk perpetuating harmful practices of school segregation. In the 2018 deliberations, some experts and organizations debated which kinds of employment policies would most effectively address disability discrimination.

Notes

References

References

1. "Human Rights Bodies".
2. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 35.
3. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 34.
4. "OHCHR {{!}} Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities".
5. "The Convention in brief: Entry into Force". UN Enable.
6. "CRPD Committee".
7. "Article 34 - Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities {{!}} United Nations Enable".
8. (14 September 2012). "Membership: Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations Human Rights)". [[United Nations]].
9. "Article 35 - Reports by States Parties {{!}} United Nations Enable".
10. (2018). "The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a commentary".
11. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. "General Comments".
12. Byrne, Bronagh. (2019-08-06). "How inclusive is the right to inclusive education? An assessment of the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities' concluding observations". International Journal of Inclusive Education.
13. Atrey, S., Fredman, S., Campbell, M., Samtani, S., Brickhill, J., & Ramalekana, N. (2017, Nov 30). Achieving Transformative Equality for Persons with Disabilities: Submission to the CRPD Committee for General Comment No.6 on Article 5 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Manuscript submitted for publication. Oxford Human Rights Hub.http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/sandra-fredman-meghancampbell-shreya-atrey-jason-brickhill-sanya-samtani-and-nomfundoramalenka-achieving-transformative-equality-for-persons-withdisabilities-submission-to-the-committee-o/ Retrieved 30 August 2020.