A/HRC/40/27 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 37/20, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on the theme of empowering children with disabilities for the enjoyment of their human rights, including through inclusive education, and to present it to the Council at its fortieth session with a view to providing information for the annual full-day meeting on the rights of the child. 2. Children with disabilities hold the same rights as all children, and their empowerment depends upon the realization of those rights. Recognition and respect for a child’s agency as a participant in the family, community and society is frequently overlooked, or rejected as inappropriate across cultures and regions. Children with disabilities face a range of intersecting barriers to the enjoyment and exercise of their rights due to their gender, age, impairment, colour, race, ethnic or social origin and religion, among other grounds. From birth, children with disabilities face a greater risk of not being registered nor counted, being denied education and equal opportunities of play and inclusion in the community. Compared to other children, they are more likely to be placed in institutions and to be exposed to violence in those settings, as well as in the home, at school and in the community at large. The rights violations that children with disabilities experience are intensified by the barriers that they face in claiming their rights, including their right to participation, to express their views and be heard in decision-making, and in their access to justice. 3. Although “empowerment” has not been defined by international human rights law, it is widely understood as a term that covers a broad range of measures aimed at achieving self-determination and full participation in society. Empowerment is about enabling each individual to take hold of their own inherent power to shape their life and the life of their community. It is also about avoiding and eliminating measures and practices that have the effect of diminishing, ignoring or dismissing one’s power in this same respect. In the present report, the High Commissioner addresses the empowerment of children with disabilities in terms of supporting and fostering their agency, and equipping them with the competences, knowledge and environments to enable them to determine the direction of their own lives and of the life of their community, particularly in the exercise of their rights and in matters concerning them. 4. A robust legal and policy framework, increased understanding and awareness of the rights of children with disabilities, and the implementation of good practices for inclusion and participation can help to empower children with disabilities to enjoy their rights in full and on an equal footing with other children. Their inclusion in education is one crucial element of such empowerment and a central pathway to enabling their active involvement in the community and in decisions and policies that affect them. Children with disabilities can be empowered by system-wide measures to eliminate discrimination and harmful stereotypes, protect them from violence and abuse, ensure their right to live in their community supported by their families in their empowerment, and ensure effective monitoring, accountability and access to justice. 5. For the preparation of the present report, the Office of the High Commissioner addressed a note verbale to all Member States requesting their input. The Office received written contributions from 25 States. It also received submissions from a number of civil society organizations, United Nations agencies and other international entities, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. 1 1 2 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/ThematicReports/Pages/ChildrenWithDisabilities.aspx.