A/HRC/31/62 the processes of drafting and negotiating the Convention. Since the beginning of the debates, the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities was encouraged to adopt working methods that would allow full participation by relevant NGOs in its deliberations.4 In what was a remarkable procedural innovation, the Ad Hoc Committee allowed representatives of NGOs to speak in all its public meetings,5 and in its informal and closed meetings.6 Furthermore, the Ad Hoc Committee included 12 representatives of NGOs, designated by representative organizations of persons with disabilities and their allies, in the Working Group in charge of drafting the text.7 The General Assembly encouraged Member States to involve persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in the preparatory processes contributing to the work of the Ad Hoc Committee and to include persons with disabilities in their official delegations.8 Importantly, NGOs were actively supported and funded so that they could participate in the negotiations.9 17. Such participatory processes had a positive impact on the quality of the treaty and its relevance for persons with disabilities. Furthermore, the importance given in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to full and effective participation by all persons with disabilities represents a profound paradigm shift in international human rights law whereby persons with disabilities are not “objects” to be cared for but rather “subjects” enjoying human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.10 While the core international human rights instruments already considered persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, before the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities those legal obligations were rarely used to advance the rights of persons with disabilities.11 Moreover, persons with disabilities faced significant barriers to participation in public life and often had their views disregarded in favour of those of representatives of “organizations for persons with disabilities” and other groups of “experts”. 18. While participation in political and public life entails a web of specific rights, such as the rights to vote and be elected, to access public services, and to participate in the conduct of public affairs, other human rights and fundamental freedoms contribute significantly to public participation by persons with disabilities, such as the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly. These rights enable persons with disabilities and their representative organizations to achieve change peacefully and legitimately through the democratic process.12 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities broadened the significance of the participation of persons with disabilities in decision-making to beyond the scope of political rights, ensuring that they could express their views in all matters affecting them. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 6 See Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/61. See www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/adhoca57357e.htm. See www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc4reporte.htm. See www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/a_58_118_e.htm. General Assembly resolution 57/229, paras. 12 and 13. See A/AC.265/2004/3. Gerard Quinn, “Resisting the temptation of elegance”, The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: European and Scandinavian Perspectives, Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir and Gerard Quinn, eds., p. 216. See Gerard Quinn and Theresia Degener, Human Rights and Disability: The Current Use and Future Potential of United Nations Human Rights Instruments in the Context of Disability (United Nations, 2002). Ibid., p. 21.