UN protocol for disabled people finalised

Disability Issues Minister Nicky Wagner welcomes New Zealand’s accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

The Optional Protocol enables individuals or groups, who claim to have had their rights breached under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to make a complaint to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“While most matters are resolved through domestic channels, the Optional Protocol means that disabled New Zealanders will have access to the full range of human rights protections available internationally,” says Ms Wagner.

“Accession to this Optional Protocol demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the rights of disabled people.

“I am very pleased that we have now completed the full process for accession, including receiving the full support of the Select Committee when they considered this last month,” says Ms Wagner.

The Optional Protocol will come into force for New Zealand from 4 November 2016.

For more information about the Optional Protocol: www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD