Monitoring Symposium: A Contribution to the Formulation of Proposals for Monitoring a United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities Report

October 24, 2005

SCOPE AND PURPOSE:

On October 24, 2005, the U.S. National Council on Disability, the American University, School of International Service, and Mental Disability Rights International, hosted a half-day meeting of an inter-disciplinary group of scholars, practitioners, government delegates, and disability activists, to consider the following questions in relation to the future monitoring of a new UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

• What mechanisms can be used to solicit information from States Parties regarding their implementation of the Convention? 
• What mechanisms can be used to collect and respond to the information submitted by States Parties regarding their implementation of the Convention? 
• What mechanisms can be used to provide constructive feedback to States Parties regarding the sufficiency of their compliance with convention obligations? 
• How can all relevant stakeholders (especially people with disabilities and their representative organizations) participate meaningfully in the above-mentioned processes?

The ideas and observations raised by participants during the course of the meeting are set forth in the report that follows. They are not presented in the form of a formal proposal or draft article language, but rather reflect key concepts and principles that the Committee may find helpful to consider. In addition, some of the examples, illustrations and resources from existing treaty contexts that were highlighted by participants have also been included. It should be noted that the suggestions are drawn from the meeting discussions, but do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the meeting group as a whole, nor should they be considered as reflective of the views or positions of specific participants or the organizations they represented at the meeting.