ConventionYES!: Campaign for a U.N. Treaty on Disability Rights
Around the globe, people with disabilities remain a marginalized group, consistently denied their basic human, economic, social and cultural rights. Poverty, forced institutionalization and barriers to access and inclusion in employment, housing, education, transportation, emergency assistance and other services are a reality for many individuals with disabilities.
As a global leader in the development of international human rights standards, the United Nations (UN) is currently negotiating a treaty to ensure that these standards are extended to people with disabilities. The creation of this historic treaty, called the "Comprehensive and Integral International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
1," would bring moral authority and credibility to efforts to achieve equality and inclusion in all parts of the world. Its adoption would be a crucial step toward guaranteeing universal recognition of the human rights of all persons and would bring international attention and legitimacy to the disability rights movement.
In order to secure the ratification of a strong Convention, members and supporters of the disability community around the globe must work together to raise popular and governmental support for the Convention. The ConventionYES! website was designed to assist in this process by providing up-to-date information, resources, collaborative workspaces, communication and advocacy tools and other avenues through which to support the adoption of the Convention.
Please take a few moments to explore the site, and be sure to check the Action Center for simple actions you can take to help protect the human rights of people with disabilities worldwide.
1. Referred to on this site as the "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or simply "the Convention."
