A/HRC/25/29 Optional Protocol to the Convention should consider ratifying it, to allow for the possibility of individual communications. 64. The monitoring and implementing system of article 33 of the Convention is a fundamental resource in advancing the agenda on inclusive education. National human rights institutions and mechanisms designated to monitor the Convention have collected data on the denial to mainstream education, produced studies and surveys on exclusions and barriers, promoted quality education and recommended legislative and policy reforms.42 Civil society groups, including organizations of persons with disabilities, have been effective in influencing a move towards inclusive education.43 The role of civil society is crucial in implementation, including international monitoring, such as reporting the situation in China,44 promoting regulatory flexibility as in Buenos Aires,45 contributing to policy design as in Lao People’s Democratic Republic,46 campaigning for inclusion47 or sign-language teaching. V. International cooperation 65. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes a stand-alone article on the role of international cooperation (art. 32) in realizing the rights of persons with disabilities.48 The contributions of States to the present report offer a number of examples where international cooperation has been effective in supporting the change to inclusive education systems. In Georgia, the first inclusive education project implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sciences was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. The Government of Denmark supported the introduction of new methods of teaching in some schools of Nepal, which allowed children with sensory and intellectual impairments to be integrated into mainstream education. In Cambodia, funds channelled through a national non-governmental organization supported the teaching of Braille and sign language in 150 public schools, the translation of the school curriculum into Braille and sign language, and provided financial support to Braille and sign-language teachers in mainstream schools. 66. Inclusive education is one of the areas of cooperation funded through the United Nations Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In the Republic of Moldova, the aim is to support the Government’s 2011 national programme of inclusive education and the focus on improving access of persons with disabilities to mainstream education and targeted services. Steps have already been taken towards creating psychopedagogical assistance services to support the inclusive education of children with disabilities, the training of relevant personnel (teachers, inspectors, local representatives) on 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 16 See contributions from the Ombudsperson’s Offices of Buenos Aires, Azerbaijan, the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Colombia, the National Human Rights Commission in Rwanda, and the Parliamentary Ombudsman in Finland. Human Rights Watch, “Signs for Good Education”, video, 2013. Available from http://deafnewstoday.blogspot.fr/2013/10/signs-for-good-education.html. Human Rights Watch, “As long as they let us stay in class”: Barriers to education for persons with disabilities in China (United States, 2013). Grupo 24 obtained regulatory reforms in Buenos Aires on support in public schools for children with disabilities and ensuring the continuity of the school trajectory in mainstream private schools. The Laos Association of the Blind’s contribution to the National Strategy and Action Plan on Inclusive Education 2011–2015. The 2013 “No excuses” campaign of the Canadian Association for Community Living. For more details, see the thematic study by OHCHR on the role of international cooperation in support of national efforts for the realization of the rights of persons with disabilities, A/HRC/16/38.