Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities introduced
The Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities was introduced to the House today by the Member In-Charge of the Convention, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade.
The Minister submitted that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a human rights instrument with special emphasis on the rights of persons with disabilities with the main purpose to promote and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. He further stated that it covers a number of key areas such as accessibility, participation, equality, employment, education and training, social protection and health. The Convention marks a shift in thinking about disability from a social welfare perspective to a human rights based approach. The Minister reported that as of date, there are 173 State Parties to the Convention and that Bhutan is the only SAARC country that has not ratified the Convention.
With the approval of the House to deliberate on the Convention, the Convention was referred to the Women, Children and Youth Committee for further review and was directed to report back to the House on 13th June for Third Reading. The Speaker advised the committee to carefully dissect the four reservations submitted by the government.
