Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – Forthcoming Election – Call for WOMEN on the Committee – WEI Questionnaire to Candidates
Author: WUNRN
Date: May 22, 2018
CRPD Committee Elections 2018 – UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
May 10, 2018 – The CRPD Committee is a group of human rights and disability rights experts that monitors State implementation of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international human rights treaty that specifically outlines the rights of persons with disabilities.
Every two years, the States that have ratified the CRPD and agreed to abide by the rights outlined in the treaty nominate and elect new members to the CRPD Committee. On June 12, 2018, these States will be electing or re-electing 9 people to serve on the 18-person committee. You can find out more about the CRPD Committee elections here.
For the past two years, the CRPD Committee has had only one person who identifies as a woman serving on the Committee, out of a total of 18 members, creating a massive and outrageous gender imbalance on the body tasked with monitoring the human rights of all persons with disabilities worldwide. Although there are a handful of strong advocates for the rights of women and girls with disabilities within the CRPD Committee, it is imperative that States Parties prioritize the election of progressive women and strong women’s rights advocates to the CRPD Committee this year.
Women Enabled International Questionnaire to CRPD Committee Candidates
WEI sent a short questionnaire to all CRPD Committee candidates to gauge their interest in and knowledge about the rights of women and girls with disabilities, including how they think the CRPD Committee could work to better include women and girls with disabilities in its work. We received the following responses (click PDF links to view them).
Mara Cristina Gabrilli (Brazil) PDF Word docx
Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame (Ghana) PDF Word docx
Jonas Ruskus (Lithuania) PDF Word docx
Nahid Mohammed Khairy (Sudan) PDF Word docx
Marina Vujačić (Montenagro) PDF Word docx
Rosemary Kayess (Australia) PDF Word docx
What do CRPD Committee members do?
CRPD Committee members are expected to independently and impartially review the human rights records of States who have ratified the CRPD, through periodic State reviews. They also gather information and issue decisions on individual complaints about specific human rights abuses from residents of States which have ratified an additional treaty, called an Optional Protocol. Finally, CRPD Committee members develop and contribute to authoritative written interpretations of the provisions in the CRPD, known as General Comments, which help guide States in their implementation of the treaty at the national level. Through all of these efforts, CRPD Committee members collaborate with civil society organizations, particularly organizations of persons with disabilities, and UN Member States, other treaty monitoring bodies, and UN agencies.
What makes a good CRPD Committee member?
A good CRPD Committee member will have significant experience working to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities, including the rights of women and girls with disabilities. This person will also have a strong knowledge of human rights law and issues that impact persons with disabilities, including women and girls with disabilities. A good CRPD Committee member will be independent, meaning that this person does not serve on the Committee as a representative of a State but rather as a human rights expert who is not influenced by State or government interests. Finally, a good CRPD Committee member will be collaborative, including with fellow CRPD Committee members, with members of other UN treaty monitoring bodies such as the CEDAW Committee, and with civil society organizations working to promote the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly organizations of persons with disabilities operating at the local, national, regional, and international levels.
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