Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The States Parties to the present Protocol have agreed as follows:

Article 1

1. A State Party to the present Protocol ("State Party") recognizes the competence of

the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ("the Committee") to receive

and consider communications from or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals

subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of

the provisions of the Convention.

2. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to

the Convention that is not a party to the present Protocol.

Article 2

The Committee shall consider a communication inadmissible when:

a. The communication is anonymous;

b. The communication constitutes an abuse of the right of submission of such

communications or is incompatible with the provisions of the Convention;

c. The same matter has already been examined by the Committee or has been or is

being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;

d. All available domestic remedies have not been exhausted. This shall not be the rule

where the application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to bring

effective relief;

e. It is manifestly ill-founded or not sufficiently substantiated; or when

f. The facts that are the subject of the communication occurred prior to the entry into

force of the present Protocol for the State Party concerned unless those facts

continued after that date.

Article 3

Subject to the provisions of article 2 of the present Protocol, the Committee shall bring any

communications submitted to it confidentially to the attention of the State Party. Within six

months, the receiving State shall submit to the Committee written explanations or statements

clarifying the matter and the remedy, if any, that may have been taken by that State.

Article 4

1. At any time after the receipt of a communication and before a determination on the

merits has been reached, the Committee may transmit to the State Party concerned

for its urgent consideration a request that the State Party take such interim measures

as may be necessary to avoid possible irreparable damage to the victim or victims of

the alleged violation.

2. Where the Committee exercises its discretion under paragraph 1 of this article, this

does not imply a determination on admissibility or on the merits of the communication.

Article 5

The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining communications under the

present Protocol. After examining a communication, the Committee shall forward its

suggestions and recommendations, if any, to the State Party concerned and to the petitioner.

Article 6

1. If the Committee receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations

by a State Party of rights set forth in the Convention, the Committee shall invite that

State Party to cooperate in the examination of the information and to this end submit

observations with regard to the information concerned.

2. Taking into account any observations that may have been submitted by the State

Party concerned as well as any other reliable information available to it, the

Committee may designate one or more of its members to conduct an inquiry and to

report urgently to the Committee. Where warranted and with the consent of the State

Party, the inquiry may include a visit to its territory.

3. After examining the findings of such an inquiry, the Committee shall transmit these

findings to the State Party concerned together with any comments and

recommendations.

4. The State Party concerned shall, within six months of receiving the findings,

comments and recommendations transmitted by the Committee, submit its

observations to the Committee.

5. Such an inquiry shall be conducted confidentially and the cooperation of the State

Party shall be sought at all stages of the proceedings.

Article 7

1. The Committee may invite the State Party concerned to include in its report under

article 35 of the Convention details of any measures taken in response to an inquiry

conducted under article 6 of the present Protocol.

2. The Committee may, if necessary, after the end of the period of six months referred to

in article 6, paragraph 4, invite the State Party concerned to inform it of the measures

taken in response to such an inquiry.

Article 8

Each State Party may, at the time of signature or ratification of the present Protocol or

accession thereto, declare that it does not recognize the competence of the Committee

provided for in articles 6 and 7.

Article 9

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of the present Protocol.

Article 10

The present Protocol shall be open for signature by signatory States and regional integration

organizations of the Convention at United Nations Headquarters in New York as of 30 March

2007.

Article 11

The present Protocol shall be subject to ratification by signatory States of the present

Protocol which have ratified or acceded to the Convention. It shall be subject to formal

confirmation by signatory regional integration organizations of the present Protocol which

have formally confirmed or acceded to the Convention. It shall be open for accession by any

State or regional integration organization which has ratified, formally confirmed or acceded to

the Convention and which has not signed the Protocol.

Article 12

1. "Regional integration organization" shall mean an organization constituted by

sovereign States of a given region, to which its member States have transferred

competence in respect of matters governed by the Convention and the present

Protocol. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments of formal confirmation

or accession, the extent of their competence with respect to matters governed by the

Convention and the present Protocol. Subsequently, they shall inform the depositary

of any substantial modification in the extent of their competence.

2. References to "States Parties" in the present Protocol shall apply to such

organizations within the limits of their competence.

3. For the purposes of article 13, paragraph 1, and article 15, paragraph 2, of the

present Protocol, any instrument deposited by a regional integration organization

shall not be counted.

4. Regional integration organizations, in matters within their competence, may exercise

their right to vote in the meeting of States Parties, with a number of votes equal to the

number of their member States that are Parties to the present Protocol. Such an

organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any of its member States exercises

its right, and vice versa.

Article 13

1. Subject to the entry into force of the Convention, the present Protocol shall enter into

force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or

accession.

2. For each State or regional integration organization ratifying, formally confirming or

acceding to the present Protocol after the deposit of the tenth such instrument, the

Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of its own such

instrument.

Article 14

1. Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the present Protocol shall

not be permitted.

2. Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.

Article 15

1. Any State Party may propose an amendment to the present Protocol and submit it to

the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall

communicate any proposed amendments to States Parties, with a request to be

notified whether they favour a meeting of States Parties for the purpose of

considering and deciding upon the proposals. In the event that, within four months

from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States Parties favour

such a meeting, the Secretary-General shall convene the meeting under the auspices

of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of two thirds of the

States Parties present and voting shall be submitted by the Secretary-General to the

General Assembly of the United Nations for approval and thereafter to all States

Parties for acceptance.

2. An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article

shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of

acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date

of adoption of the amendment. Thereafter, the amendment shall enter into force for

any State Party on the thirtieth day following the deposit of its own instrument of

acceptance. An amendment shall be binding only on those States Parties which have

accepted it.

Article 16

A State Party may denounce the present Protocol by written notification to the Secretary-

General of the United Nations. The denunciation shall become effective one year after the

date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General.

Article 17

The text of the present Protocol shall be made available in accessible formats.

Article 18

The Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts of the present Protocol

shall be equally authentic.

IN WITNESS THEREOF the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto by

their respective Governments, have signed the present Protocol.