U.N. approves treaty to protect rights of disabled

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U.N. approves treaty to protect rights of disabled

From the Associated Press

December 14, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-

disabled14dec14,1,1815734.story

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a

treaty to protect the rights of the world's 600 million disabled

people.

The convention requires countries to guarantee disabled people

freedom from exploitation and abuse, while protecting such rights as

education, healthcare and work. It advocates keeping the disabled in

their communities, rather than removing and educating them

separately, as many nations do.

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The treaty was adopted by consensus at a plenary meeting of the 192-

nation General Assembly. To take effect, it has to be ratified by

the legislatures of 20 countries.

In August, agreement was reached on a way to ensure that treaty

conditions would be met. But some members were critical of the

compromise that ruled out visits by a human rights panel.

New Zealand Ambassador Don MacKay, who chaired the committee that

drafted the convention, said his government was confident that the

measure would " make a difference to the 10% of the world's

population that lives with a disability. "

Theoretically, there should be no need for a treaty because people

with disabilities are included in existing human rights conventions,

MacKay said.

" The reality, unfortunately, has not followed the theory. The

existing human rights instruments have fallen far short in their

protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms guaranteed

to persons with disabilities, " he said.