A/HRC/28/58 Nations system paid increasing attention to persons with disabilities throughout the 1980s, adopting in 1982 the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons,3 and proclaiming the period 1983-1992 the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons.4 6. In 1993, the General Assembly adopted the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.5 This non-binding document anchored the issue of disability in a framework of non-discrimination and equal opportunity, and served as an instrument to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of social development and beyond. The Rules created a monitoring mechanism within the framework of the Commission for Social Development, namely, a Special Rapporteur on Disability, tasked with assisting States in assessing and measuring their progress in implementing the Rules, providing advisory services, identifying obstacles and suggesting suitable measures that would contribute to the successful implementation of the Rules. The monitoring mechanism also included a panel of experts created by international organizations representing persons with disabilities. Between 1994 and 2014, the Commission appointed three Special Rapporteurs on Disability,6 who played an instrumental role in advancing the global disability agenda. 7. In parallel to these disability-specific developments, and guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations human rights framework continued to grow with the adoption in 1966 of two international covenants – one on civil and political rights, the other on economic, social and cultural rights – and subsequent thematic human rights treaties throughout the following decades. In this context, persons with disabilities were viewed mainly from an anti-discrimination perspective, first implicitly under “any other status”. In 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was the first binding treaty to explicitly mention disability as a ground of discrimination. Although persons with disabilities were in theory equally protected under the core human rights treaties, however, they would remain at the margins of human rights discourse until the new millennium. 8. By 2001 it had become evident that, despite the various efforts made by the United Nations system to advance the situation of persons with disabilities, they were not sufficient to ensure the equal and effective enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities. Following a recommendation made by States at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, from 31 August to 8 September 2001, the General Assembly established in its resolution 56/168 an ad hoc committee to consider proposals for a thematic convention on the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was negotiated in a relatively short period of time, between 2002 and 2006. The negotiations were characterized by the active participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, bringing to the drafting process a remarkable and previously unprecedented level of ownership by rights-holders and their support networks. The Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto were adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 61/106, and came into force on 3 May 2008. 9. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ties the social understanding of disability to a legal framework, defining duty-bearers and rights-holders, and implementation and accountability frameworks. In doing so, it anchors disability to a 3 4 5 6 4 General Assembly resolution 37/52. General Assembly resolution 37/53. General Assembly resolution 48/96, annex. Bengt Lindqvist (Sweden), from 1994 to 2002; Sheikha Hessa Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani (Qatar), from 2003 to 2009; and Shuaib Chalklen (South Africa), from 2009 to 2014.