On Wednesday, December 13, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will now pass into the ratification process when it opens for signing by States on March 31, 2007.
Outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the General Assembly that the Convention's adoption "promises to be 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." Mr. Annan continued by noting that this Convention is not only the first human rights treaty of the 21st Century, but also "the most rapidly negotiated human rights treaty in the history of international law; and the first to emerge from lobbying conducted extensively through the Internet."
You can read Annan's complete statement (in English) on the DPI website. The text of the newly-adopted Convention is currently available in English on UN Enable's website. Their website indicates that the full text will be posted in French and Spanish when it is translated:
