A/HRC/4/75 page 12 The Convention and social development 37. A distinctive aspect of the Convention is its social development dimension. When the General Assembly decided to move forward on a new convention on human rights and disability, it decided, in its resolution 56/168 to establish an Ad Hoc Committee “to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, based on the holistic approach in the work done in the fields of social development, human rights and non-discrimination …”. Accordingly, the Convention refers to social development in the context of the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the preamble and in several provisions. For example, the preamble, at paragraph (t) highlights the fact that the majority of persons with disabilities live in conditions of poverty and recognizes the critical need to address the negative impact of poverty on persons with disabilities. Many articles also refer to social development.6 38. The relationship between social development, human rights and non-discrimination is established in several ways throughout the Convention. The present report shall focus on three of those. 39. First, as with previous human rights treaties, although in greater detail, the Convention provides guidance on the steps and measures that States parties have to take in order to guarantee the enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities. In some cases, these steps and measures appear in dedicated articles such as: awareness-raising (art. 7), accessibility (art. 9), access to justice (art. 13), personal mobility (art. 20), habilitation and rehabilitation (art. 26), statistics and data collection (art. 31), international cooperation (art. 32). The enjoyment of the specific rights recognized in the Convention relies in large part on States parties meeting their obligations in relation to these developmental aspects. Thus, for example, the right to work of persons with disabilities requires an accessible work place, equal protection before the law for persons with disabilities relies on access to justice, while the compilation and analysis of statistics and data will be a crucial element in effective national and international monitoring. 40. Second, the Convention seeks to change the way that development is undertaken in the field of disability. Not only should States and other development actors take steps to initiate development programmes relevant to disability, those steps must also respect a process based on the human rights principles and obligations established under the Convention and human rights law more generally. Consequently, in taking social development measures, the State should 6 Other articles also refer to development, for example: States have to undertake or promote research and development of universally designed goods and services (art. 4), ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women (art. 6), promote the development of accessible information and communications technologies (art. 9), ensure effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development and enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate participation in the community (art. 24), promote the development of initial and continuing training for professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation services (art. 26), and promote opportunities for entrepreneurship and the development of cooperatives in the sphere of work (art. 27).