UPDATE: First Human Rights Treaty of the 21st Century

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force on the 3rd of May 2008 after Ecuador became the 20th ratifying country . The ratification of the Convention comes at an important time with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrating its 60th anniversary and the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities approaching its end. But what can we expect to happen now that the Convention has entered into force?

To begin with, The Conference of States Parties will soon have to convene its first meeting in accordance with Article 40 of the Convention. This body will have the authority to consider any matter of relevance to the implementation of the Convention. In addition, it will elect members to The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This expert body will be responsible for monitoring reports from States Parties on their progress towards full implementation of the Convention. With that in mind, the sooner they are elected and start their work the better.

In the meantime however, the Convention is still achieving results by occasioning change in the way that the governments and citizens of the world think. For example, the Malaysian Consumer Affairs Ministry has recently begun to take steps to identify buildings that could be made more accessible to people with physical disabilities. It was acknowledged that these steps were taken in order to be in line with Article 30 of the Convention. In addition, citizens in New Zealand have criticised the government for failing to live up to the standards of the Convention with regard to the funding of education for children with disabilities. Similar reliance on the Convention has been seen in other countries such as Ireland and India so governments must now start facing up to these new challenges.

This change in attitude should surely be seen as a positive move in safeguarding the rights of over 60 million inhabitants of Africa and the countless others around the world that are directly affected by the Convention. Also, being the first human rights treaty of the 21st century provides a very real impetus to those campaigning for the rights of persons with disabilities. However, the next steps are crucial and continued pressure must be put on the governments of the world to both increase the numbers of ratifying countries and to ensure the full implementation of the Convention.