Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

The CRPD has a list of human rights for people living with disabilities and sets standards for how they are treated.

The CRPD is made up of two documents:

Australia ratified the CRPD in 2008 and the optional protocol in 2009. The Australian and Victorian governments have included parts of the CRPD in their own laws.

Rights in the CRPD

Many of the rights in the CRPD are also in the International Convention on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR). Some of the additional rights that are specifically about people living with a disability include:

• Right to accessibility, including to IT
• Right to live independently and be included in the community
• Right to personal mobility (being able to get around)
• Right to habilitation (building or keeping skills for daily living) and rehabilitation (regaining skills and abilities that have been lost)
• Right to participate in political and public life, cultural life, recreation and sport

Important: Section 32(2) of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights says that international law can be taken into account when you are interpreting Victorian laws like the Corrections Act 1986 (Vic). 

Requirements for member countries

The CRPD also says that countries who have ratified the treaty (called member countries) must:

• Raise awareness of the human rights of people living with a disability in their country
• Make sure people living with a disability have access to roads, buildings and information
• Provide reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Treaty body – UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the treaty body responsible for making sure the CRPD is being implemented in member countries.

All member countries have to submit regular reports to the Committee about how the CRPD is being implemented in their country. The Committee will look at each report, address any concerns and make recommendations.

The Committee also takes complaints and can make investigations about human rights breaches by member countries. This includes Australia.

For more information on making a complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, click here.

The full CRPD can be found on the UN’s website.