A/HRC/DEC/19/119 the Council, including its Internet resources, should be fully accessible to persons with disabilities. 18. The task force thoroughly discussed measures to enhance accessibility for persons with disabilities to the Human Rights Council and the work of its mechanisms. It received contributions from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the United Nations Office at Geneva, as well as from organizations representing persons with disabilities. On the basis of these discussions and contributions, the task force identified two main areas of improvement to guarantee full inclusion and equal participation without discrimination to the work of the Council for persons with disabilities: (a) accessibility of information and communication; and (b) physical accessibility to Council meetings in the Palais des Nations, especially around building E and in room XX. 19. Taking into account the limited resources available in the budget of the United Nations Office at Geneva for the current biennium (2012-2013), the task force identified certain priority measures that should be taken as soon as possible in order to enhance accessibility to the work of the Human Rights Council. The task force was of the view that, in future, more resources should be allocated for accessibility in the regular budget of United Nations Office at Geneva in order to enable the implementation of necessary improvements, in conformity with General Assembly resolution 65/186. In addition, the task force was of the view that accessibility criteria must be built into all procurement processes in order that that no resources are spent creating new barriers for persons with disabilities. 20. To achieve improvements in accessibility to the Human Rights Council and the work of its mechanisms, the task force was of the view that an accessibility plan should be elaborated by the United Nations Office at Geneva, in coordination with the Office of the High Commissioner, and that the appointment of a focal point in the United Nations Office at Geneva would facilitate coordination on accessibility issues and implementation of an accessibility plan. 21. With regard to accessibility of information and communication, the task force was of the view that Human Rights Council-related documentation should be made progressively available in an accessible electronic format. For example, the main webpages describing the work and functioning of the Council and its mechanisms should be available in easy-read versions and, as a further step, in video format with captioning. Like the documents distributed during Council sessions, it should be possible to obtain, upon request, copies printed in Braille from Conference Services. For the time being, only a limited number of documents can be provided owing to the financial implications involved. 22. The task force was of the view that, in future, the sessions of the Human Rights Council should be captioned. Sign language interpretation was also considered to be important. Taking into account the costs of such measures and the number of Council meetings and sessions, the task force was of the view that captioning could be initially provided for certain meetings and agenda items, subject to the availability of resources. It would be easier to provide and less costly than sign language interpretation, especially for English and Spanish. Because of technical considerations, however, only two languages may be captioned on the screen in room XX. With regard to sign language interpretation, it was noted that a decision should first be taken by the General Assembly on which sign language (or languages) should be used in the United Nations system. The Secretariat should identify, in consultation with organizations representing persons with disabilities, the number of sessions (a session is a slot of three hours) that would require videocaptioning and/or sign languages, and in which languages. 23. The provision of captioning and sign language in webcasts was also identified as a high priority to significantly enhance accessibility to the work of the Human Rights Council. It was noted that this would be subject to the provision of adequate and sufficient funding for webcasts, which currently rely on extrabudgetary contributions. 6

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