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34 Syracuse J. Int'l L. & Com. 563 (2006-2007)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: New Era or False Dawn

handle is hein.journals/sjilc34 and id is 567 raw text is: THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: NEW ERA OR FALSE DAWN? Anna Lawson* INTRODUCTION On August 25, 2006, a U.N. Ad Hoc Committee' concluded its five year long task by reaching agreement on the substance of a draft International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The agreed text, having been revised by a drafting group, was approved by the Ad Hoc Committee on December 5th and adopted by the General Assembly on December 13th.2 This new human rights treaty, the first of the 21st Century, opened for signature on March 30, 2007. According to Kofi Annan, the outgoing Secretary-General, the U.N.'s adoption of this remarkable and forward-looking document marks the dawn of a new era - an era in which disabled people will no longer have to endure the discriminatory practices and attitudes that have been permitted to prevail for all too long.,3 Ambassador Don MacKay, who chaired the later sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee, also * Senior Lecturer, School of Law and Center for Disability Studies, University of Leeds. I would like to thank the organizers of the following events for inviting me to speak on topics related to this article and the participants for their insights and contributions: Inter- rights Satellite Event on Disability Law at the Commonwealth Law Association Conference, London, September 2005; The Impact of Globalisation on Marginalised Groups, International Law Guest Speaker Seminar Series, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Canada, November 2005; The Human Rights of People With Disabilities: Extending Freedom to All, London School of Economics Center for the Study of Human Rights, London, March 2006; and the Gulf Seminar on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Doha, Qatar, June 2006. I am also grateful to the Leeds Law School, the World Blind Union (particularly Kicki Nordstrom) and Oliver Lewis (Mental Disability Advocacy Center) for enabling me to participate as a delegate in the Final Session of the Ad Hoc Committee. Finally, I would like to thank David Newman and my readers and support workers for their invaluable assistance; and Michael Cardwell, Oliver Lewis, Peter Bartlett and Mark Priestley for their comments on earlier drafts. 1. Established by the General Assembly. See G.A. Res. 56/168, 1, U.N. Doc. AIRES/56/168 (Dec. 19, 2001). 2. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, G.A. Res. 61/106, art. 1, 61st Sess., U.N. Doc. A/RES/61/106 (Jan. 24, 2007) [hereinafter CRPD]. 3. Message, The Secretary-General, Secretary-General's Message on the Adoption of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, delivered by Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Deputy Secretary General, U.N. Doc. SG/SM!10797, HR/491 1, L/T/4400 (Dec. 13, 2006), available at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sgsmI0797.doc.htm (last visited Apr. 10, 2007).