A/HRC/16/38 persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters18. As a logical consequence, all phases of humanitarian operations – from disaster preparedness to the transition phase to handover from relief operations – should also be inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities. 14. Sixth, the Convention promotes a rights-based approach to international cooperation. Article 32 recognizes international cooperation as a support for the realization of the purpose and objectives of the Convention; requires international cooperation to respect the underlying principles of the Convention, most specifically by being inclusive and accessible; and promotes capacity-building. These factors reflect three underlying principles of a rights-based approach to development, namely: all international cooperation should further the realization of human rights, including those in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments; human rights standards and principles should guide development cooperation and programming in all sectors and stages of the programming process – such as the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes; and international cooperation should contribute to capacity-building of duty-bearers to meet their obligations and rights-holders to claim their rights19. 15. Finally, the Convention clearly specifies that international cooperation, while important, is nonetheless complementary to the legal obligations on individual States to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention explicitly recognizes international cooperation as a support to national efforts for the realization of disability rights and, moreover, stipulates that international cooperation is “without prejudice to the obligations of each State Party to fulfil its obligations” under the Convention20. Consequently, States remain the primary duty-bearers in relation to the Convention and therefore ultimately responsible for implementation of its provisions, although international cooperation has an important role to play in ensuring full realization of the rights of persons with disabilities. III. Examples of international cooperation related to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities A. Cooperation among States 16. Cooperation between States, whether north-south, south-south or north-north, is a significant focus of article 32 and a potentially important way to realize the rights of persons with disabilities. Such cooperation can play several roles, including, inter alia: providing a means to share experiences on implementation of the Convention; allowing countries to catch up with those countries with greater experience in promoting and protecting disability rights while avoiding pitfalls and challenges that have previously occurred; providing economic and technical assistance to poorer countries which can be particularly important in implementing the cost-intensive aspects of the CPRD, such as progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights or in the context of a humanitarian emergency; and helping countries to benefit from innovations such as 18 19 20 6 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 11. United Nations Common Understanding on the Human Rights-Based Approach to Development Cooperation, United Nations Development Group website, (www.undg.org) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 32, paras. 1 and 2.