UN passes Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes AM, has applauded the UN General Assembly passing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“It clearly spells out that the 650 million people with disabilities throughout the world are entitled to equality in work, education, access and many other areas of public life,” he said.

The Convention provides a clear benchmark and establishes goals for governments throughout the world to work towards, as well as monitoring the situation to ensure real progress actually takes place.

The Australian Government and many non-government organisations representing and advocating for rights for people with disabilities made major contributions to the progress of the Convention.

The Convention will be available for signing by individual governments, including Australia in March 2007.