UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (UNCPRD)

AFDO is part of a coalition of Australia's peak human rights and disability advisory and advocacy groups. This coalition is calling on State and Territory governments to support the Commonwealth as it pursues swift ratification of the new United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Convention is the first major UN human rights treaty of the 21st century. We congratulate the Federal Government on being among the first to sign the Convention on 30 March 2007. The next step is to ratify the Convention; a process that involves the State, Territory and Commonwealth governments.

The UN Convention sets out fundamental rights for full societal participation for people with a disability, enshrining their rights in modern and effective law. So far, 99 countries have signed the Convention but only one country has ratified. We are asking all Australian governments to work as quickly as possible to enable Australia to take full advantage of the benefits of the Convention at the earliest opportunity.

Our goal is for Australian ratification of the Convention by 3 December 2008, International Day of People with a Disability.

Consultations by government will be taking place soon to ask people with
disability what they think the impact of ratification will be in Australia.

A website has been set up by disability rights coalition to keep people
informed of the ratification process and actions they can take. This also has resources people can download such as plain English versions of the Convention and handbooks on ratification, as well as links to other useful sites.

Website: www.disabilityrightsnow.org.au

The UN website shows that there are:
118 signatories to the Convention
67 signatories to the Optional Protocol
7 ratifications of the Convention
3 ratifications of the Optional Protocol