A/HRC/28/31 Committee has concluded that reasonable accommodation in the area of education was of immediate application and not subject to progressive realization. It was also noted that the Convention clearly states that denial of reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities amounts to discrimination (art. 2). 60. Participants welcomed the appointment of the Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities. 61. Reference was made to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Working Group on the Rights of Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities that was currently drafting a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa. The Protocol is intended to address Africaspecific issues, such as the protection of parents, guardians and caregivers from discrimination on the basis of their association with persons with disabilities or the protection of persons with disabilities from harmful practices. 62. Participants recognized the important role played by national human rights institutions in encouraging States to ratify and adhere to international human rights instruments relating to the rights of persons with disabilities,. 2. Challenges and lessons learned 63. Participants agreed on the importance of civil society participation, particularly persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, in the design, implementation and monitoring of legal instruments, public policies and other measures relating to the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities. 64. The impact of austerity measures and the growing need to guarantee that the rights of persons with disabilities would be met, even in times of economic crisis and austerity, were discussed. 65. It was noted that regional mechanisms had a major role to play in overcoming inconsistencies in terms of language and cultural approaches to the human rights relating to persons with disabilities which were leading to different conceptions in the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in different regions. 66. In the case of the African continent, it was flagged that the effectiveness of the framework to protect the rights of persons with disabilities showed a deficit and faced normative and practical challenges because much of the disability-specific content in African human rights instruments was understood in a medical, rather than a social rights, perspective; core disability rights concepts, such as reasonable accommodation, legal capacity and independent living, remain on the normative fringes of regional human rights instruments; disability-specific interventions by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other regional human rights institutions were scarce. 3. Forms of cooperation 67. Participants put forward proposals for cooperation between United Nations, regional human rights mechanisms, national human rights institutions, civil society and persons with disabilities through: • Promoting close consultations with, and active involvement of, persons with disabilities in formulating policies and approaches on disability issues; • Bridge building between civil society and people with disabilities by way of awareness-raising, accessibility, empowerment and rehabilitation; 13