[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E751-E752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E751]]
  STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR LUIS GALLEGOS ON ``INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY 
 RIGHTS: THE PROPOSED U.N. CONVENTION'' BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL HUMAN 
                     RIGHTS CAUCUS, MARCH 30, 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 5, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on March 30th, the Congressional Human 
Rights Caucus held a groundbreaking Members' Briefing entitled, 
``International Disability Rights: The Proposed U.N. Convention.'' This 
discussion of the global situation of people with disabilities was 
intended to help establish disability rights issues as an integral part 
of the general human rights discourse. The briefing brought together 
the human rights community and the disability rights community, and it 
raised awareness in Congress of the need to protect disability rights 
under an international law to the same extent as other human rights 
through a binding U.N. convention on the rights of people with 
disabilities.
  Our expert witnesses included Deputy Assistant Secretary of State 
Mark P. Lagon; the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Ecuador 
to the United Nations, Ambassador Luis Gallegos; the United Nations 
Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development in the 
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Johan Scholvinck; the 
distinguished former Attorney General of the United States, former 
Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and former Governor of 
Pennsylvania, the Honorable Dick Thornburgh; the President of the 
National Organization on Disability (NOD), Alan A. Reich; Kathy 
Martinez, a member of the National Council on Disabilities (NCD); and a 
representative of the United States International Council on 
Disabilities (USCID) and Executive Director of Mental Disability Rights 
International, Eric Rosenthal.
  As I had announced earlier, I intend to place the important 
statements of our witnesses in the Congressional Record, so that all of 
my colleagues may profit from their expertise, and I ask that the 
statement of Ambassador Gallegos be placed at this point in the 
Congressional Record.

       Mr. Chairman, Members of U.S. Congressional Human Rights 
     Caucus, Representatives of the U.S. Administration, 
     Representatives of Disability and Human Rights Organizations, 
     Ladies and Gentlemen: I am deeply honored by the invitation 
     extended to me to address you at this distinguished panel of 
     the United States Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
       I regard the privilege of addressing you as imposing upon 
     me three obligations: first that of discussing the background 
     of the Ad Hoc committee on an international convention on the 
     rights of persons with disabilities; second, that of 
     informing you of its on-going work and third my analysis 
     concerning development of an international convention and the 
     newly emerging disability rights movement.


                             I. Background

       The commitment of the United Nations to promotion of the 
     rights of persons with disabilities is deeply rooted in the 
     goal of the Organization: realization of the Charter's vision 
     of a just and peaceful world and the better standards of life 
     in larger freedoms. The work of the Organization in 
     disability in its early period focused on improvement of the 
     well-being of persons with disabilities to meet their needs 
     in the social context. In the 1960s, initiatives within the 
     disability community and adoption by the United Nations of 
     the international human rights conventions both in civil and 
     political and economic, social and cultural realms, resulted 
     in a fundamental reevaluation of the rights of persons with 
     disabilities within the context of development. The growing 
     concern for the need of adopting a human rights perspective 
     since 1970s were specifically addressed by the United Nations 
     in adoption of the declarations concerning the rights of 
     persons with disabilities.
       The human rights of persons with disabilities became part 
     of the international policy agenda in the 1980s since 
     adoption of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled 
     Persons by the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session 
     in 1982. The World Programme transformed the disability issue 
     from ``social welfare'' issue into that of integrating the 
     human rights of persons with disabilities in all facets of 
     development.
       The Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for 
     Persons with Disabilities was adopted by the United Nations 
     in 1993 to focus on the human rights perspective of the World 
     Programme of Action. Though the Standard Rules was not a 
     legal instrument, it has been widely used as a set of 
     strategic guidelines to promote the rights of persons with 
     disabilities. The international frameworks to promote the 
     rights of persons with disabilities were further advanced by 
     a series of 1990s United Nations development conferences and 
     their respective five-year reviews, the Millennium 
     Development Goals and other relevant international 
     commitments.
       Proposals to elaborate a convention on the rights of 
     persons with disabilities were presented during the United 
     Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), many of which 
     have reflected reformulated concepts of disability that have 
     moved away from the traditional model of care, social welfare 
     and medical support to a human rights framework. These 
     proposals were required of further study by the international 
     community.
       The initiative on a comprehensive and integral convention 
     to promote and protect the rights of disabled persons is the 
     result of a proposal made by President Vicente Fox of Mexico 
     during the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the 
     United Nations, which called upon the international community 
     to combat poverty and social exclusion with Mexico taking the 
     lead in promoting an agenda for development. The importance 
     was highlighted to involve all citizens as stakeholders 
     and that a just world must be inclusive of all groups. For 
     that reason, Mexico had proposed the establishment of a 
     ``Special Committee'' to study the elaboration of an 
     international convention on promoting the rights and 
     dignity of persons with disabilities, which was endorsed 
     by General Assembly resolution 56/168.


     II. Progress in elaborating a ``comprehensive and integral'' 
                        international convention

       The outcome of the first session of the Ad Hoc Committee 
     (29 July-9 August 2002) was a resolution, adopted by the 
     fifty-seventh session of the General Assembly as resolution 
     57/229 of 18 December 2002, on further action related to 
     elaboration of a comprehensive and integral international 
     convention. The Committee, in close collaboration with 
     disability organizations and civil society organizations, 
     reaffirmed the commitment to the goals set out before it by 
     General Assembly resolution 56/168.
       The outcome of the second session of the Ad Hoc Committee 
     was the decision to elaborate an international convention and 
     to establish the Working Group to draft a text that would 
     form the basis for negotiations on the convention, which will 
     be submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee at its third session, 
     from 24 May to 4 June at he United Nations Headquarters in 
     New York.


     III. The Working Group of the Ad Hoc Committee Jan. 5-16, 2004

       The Working Group was chaired by the Permanent 
     Representative of New Zealand, Don MacKay. It took into 
     account all contributions submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee 
     by States, observers, expert meetings, United Nations bodies, 
     regional commissions and intergovernmental organizations, as 
     well as by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), independent 
     experts and national disability and human rights 
     institutions.
       Members of the Working Group were of a diverse body of 
     policy makers, legal practitioners, disability advocates, and 
     experts, consisted of 27 representatives of governments, one 
     national human rights institution and 12 NGO representatives, 
     mainly from organizations of persons with disabilities, 
     resulting in a broader and enhanced understanding of 
     disability in the context of promotion and protection of the 
     rights of persons with disabilities in today's society and in 
     development.
       Disability advocates, working side by side with experts in 
     international law and other relevant fields, helped to view 
     the existing human rights norms and standards from a 
     disability perspective, which, in turn, proposed viable 
     options to strengthen the existing system for promoting and 
     protecting the rights of persons with disabilities as well as 
     to incorporate the disability perspective into the human 
     rights norms.
     (1) Summary of the meeting
       The Group identified possible approaches and narrowed down 
     the options, which resulted in the draft text with options 
     for consideration of the Ad Hoc Committee. The draft text 
     embodies successful collaboration among all the members of 
     the Working Group. It covers, in its 25 articles and the 
     Preamble, encompassing human rights principles and norms, 
     such as general principles and obligations, equality and non-
     discrimination, the right to work, and equal recognition 
     before the law with a disability focus. It also addresses 
     disability-specific issues and concerns, such as 
     accessibility, independent living, protection of persons with 
     disabilities from violence and abuse, accessibility, 
     education, personal mobility, social security and adequate 
     standards of living, as well as issues of inclusion, such 
     as inclusion of disabled children, disabled women and 
     persons with multiple disabilities, promotion of positive 
     attitudes towards persons with disabilities, inclusion in 
     the community, participation in political and public life, 
     and participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure 
     and sport.
     (2) Analysis
       The draft text by the Working Group, reflecting their 
     diversity in background and approach, resulted in a broader 
     and enhanced understanding of disability in the context of 
     promotion and protection of the rights of persons with 
     disabilities in today's society and in development. The work 
     of the Group facilitated interpreting the existing human 
     rights norms and standards from the disability perspective as 
     well as incorporating the disability perspective into the 
     human rights norms.
       Members of the European Union advocated that a proposed new 
     convention should focus on the model of a non-discrimination 
     human

[[Page E752]]

     rights treaty, such as the Convention on Elimination of all 
     Forms of discrimination against Women and the Convention on 
     Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which would minimize 
     proliferation of detailed standards and mechanisms. Other 
     Members, such as Mexico, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, South 
     Africa, Thailand, and Organizations of Persons with 
     Disabilities, promoting, in most cases, the model of a 
     comprehensive convention, such as the Convention on the 
     Rights of the Child, emphasizing on the specificities of the 
     situation of persons with disabilities as their focus in 
     elaborating the Convention.
       The draft text by the Working Group, as it stands now, is 
     the result of a hybrid between the two approaches and there 
     are number of complex issues and tasks left to the Ad Hoc 
     Committee for its consideration.
     (3) The issue areas requiring close attention
       The following issues would require close examinations and 
     consultations by the Ad Hoc Committee as the views differed 
     significantly among the Members: definition(s) of disability 
     and persons with disabilities; disability statistics and data 
     collection; international cooperation; special and inclusive 
     education, and the monitoring mechanism(s). The Group did not 
     cover the international monitoring mechanism at this time and 
     focused instead on national frameworks for implementation and 
     monitoring of the convention.
     (4) The third session of the Ad Hoc Committee
       The third session of the Ad Hoc Committee will take place 
     from May 24-June 4 at the United Nations Headquarters in New 
     York. The Ad Hoc Committee will have before it the draft text 
     as a basis for negotiation of the text of an international 
     convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.


   IV. The significant role played by U.S. leaders and advocates in 
      disability rights in the work of the international community

       The commitment of the United States to further goals of 
     human equality and dignity for persons with disabilities has 
     been demonstrated in a number of legislative and policy 
     initiatives, such as American with Disabilities Act (1992) 
     and ``New Freedom Initiative'' (2001), which resulted in 
     a comprehensive set of regulations and enforcement 
     mechanisms and the new disability-sensitized community--
     leadership of government, organizations of disabilities, 
     countless advocates, scholars, practitioners in disability 
     rights, as well as civic groups. I am delighted to see 
     many of those leaders present at this meeting today. Those 
     leaders have made extraordinary contributions not only to 
     their own society, but also to the work of the 
     international community.
       Such outstanding contributions are exemplified in a wide 
     range of activities from legislative and policy initiatives, 
     scholarship, research to advocacy at national, regional and 
     international levels: for example, one of the finest 
     institutions of higher-learning in the United States, 
     University of California at Berkeley co-organized with the 
     United Nations ``The United Nations Consultative Expert 
     Meeting on international norms and standards relating to 
     disability (December 1998). The work is considered as a first 
     step to consider promotion of the human rights of persons 
     through the use of international normative framework, 
     including implications of an international convention on the 
     rights of persons with disabilities. A number of US 
     participants and leading scholars participated in both 
     Berkeley and its follow-up meeting (the Interregional Seminar 
     on international norms and standards relating to disability 
     organized by the Equal Opportunities Commission, Hong Kong 
     SAR, Republic of China).
       During the past two sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee and 
     the most recent session of its Working Group in January 2004, 
     US participants as government and NGO representatives, 
     panelists, researchers or individual advocates played a major 
     role in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities. 
     The international community, along with the disability 
     communities worldwide, would have much to gain from the 
     continuing and active participation of the United States in 
     the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and the newly emerging 
     international disability rights movement.


                               Conclusion

       As a result of consultations at national, regional and 
     international levels concerning an international convention 
     since the Ad Hoc Committee was established, new networks and 
     communities of disability-sensitized policy makers, programme 
     specialists, academics and advocates have emerged. Together, 
     they are contributing to a process of promoting and 
     developing universal norms and thereby contributing to 
     implementation of the universal human rights for all.
       The on-going international discourse on disability rights 
     in the process of elaboration of an international convention 
     demonstrates our common foundation--a fundamental aspiration 
     of the humankind to establish an integrated community of its 
     members based upon the principles of the universality of 
     human rights--the fundamental freedoms, the dignity and worth 
     of every human person.
       As we strive to promote and protect the rights of persons 
     with disabilities through the work on an international 
     convention, we are embarking upon a significant endeavour in 
     translating the universality of the human rights into reality 
     and taking a concrete step toward a just and equitable 
     society.

                          ____________________