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14 Eur. J. Health L. 273 (2007)
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

handle is hein.journals/eurjhlb14 and id is 283 raw text is: MARTIN U S European Journal NJHOFF of P U B L I S H E R S European Journal of Health Law 14 (2007) 273-298 HealtL SELECTED LEGISLATION AND JURISPRUDENCE UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 1. Introduction The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006.' In accordance with Article 42, the Convention and the accompanying Optional Protocol were opened for signature on 30 March 2007. As of September 2007, the number of signatures amounts to 102 for the Convention and 59 for the Optional Protocol. Almost all European States as well as the European Community are amongst those who have signed the Convention. Five states formally ratified the Conven- tion. The Convention will enter into force once twenty ratifications or accessions have been received (Article 45). In this commentary I will address the question why it was felt necessary to draft a new legal instrument on the rights of people with disabilities (§ 2), describe its aim and material provisions (0 3), examine its implications for (the right to) health and health care (§ 4), and end with the main conclusions (6 5). 2. Rationale and Passage Persons with disabilities are traditionally perceived as dependent individuals who evoke sympathy, if not pity, and require societal protection and support to com- pensate for their inabilities. As such, they were predominantly seen as objects of care instead of legal subjects entitled to respect and the full enjoyment of human rights. This approach is also reflected in the human rights instruments adopted in response to the atrocities committed during the Second World War. Despite large scale eugenics, involuntary sterilisation, 'euthanasia' and medical experimenta- tion programmes and policies, not confined to Nazi-Germany, the human rights of people with disabilities were systematically ignored, if not neglected, by the drafters of such instruments as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1949), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural ') Resolution A/RES/61/06. Q Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1 163/092902707X240620

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