The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Strategic…

The side event brings together broad experience in strategic litigation on the rights of persons with disabilities. It includes a wide variety of organizations from different legal systems on different continents. Their experience covers various domestic legal systems, several regional human rights systems, and on the global level the U.N. treaty bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Strategic litigation on the rights of persons with disabilities is a crucial tool to implement the CRPD. Organizations of persons with disabilities have developed strong political advocacy work. However, they often lack expertise and face barriers to use the court system to enforce the rights guaranteed in the Convention. In this side event, we will discuss topics such as the expertise necessary to file court cases, the selection of cases for strategic litigation, media coverage, financial resources, the development of strategies, the relationship to political advocacy, etc.

In addition, this side event demonstrates to State parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) how ratification of the Optional Protocol can improve the implementation of the CRPD, contributing to the ratification campaign by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).