Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets two times a year in Geneva to consider the reports submitted by 164 UN member states^{[nb 1]} on their compliance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and to examine individual petitions concerning 94 States Parties^{[nb 2]} to the Optional Protocol.

The committee is one of ten UN human rights treaty bodies, each responsible for overseeing the implementation of a particular treaty.^[1] The Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child are among the other United Nations treaty bodies.

UN member states that have ratified or acceded to the Optional Protocol have agreed to allow persons within their jurisdiction to submit complaints to the Committee requesting a determination whether provisions of the Convention have been violated.

All states parties are required to submit regular reports to the Committee outlining the legislative, judicial, policy and other measures they have taken to implement the rights affirmed in the convention. The first report is due within two years of ratifying the convention; thereafter reports are due every four years.^[2] The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the state party in the form of "concluding observations".

The members of the committee, who must be "of high moral standing and recognized competence and experience in the field covered by the present Convention", are elected by the member states on an individual basis or "personal capacity", not as representatives of their countries. CRPD Article 34 also mandates "balanced gender representation" and "participation of experts with disabilities." They serve four-year terms, with one-half of their number elected every second year.^[3]

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights assists the work of the committee, and maintains a website with links to all documentation considered by the committee, and documents issued by the committee, such as concluding observations on state reports.^[4]

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