A/HRC/28/58 I. Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities in its resolution 26/20. In resolution 26/20, the Council expresses deep concern that, in all parts of the world, persons with disabilities continued to face barriers in their participation as equal members of society and violations of their human rights. Recognizing that greater attention was needed to address these challenges, the Council appointed the Special Rapporteur for an initial period of three years, to work together with other human rights bodies and mechanisms and the broader global community towards a better realization of the rights of persons with disabilities. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar took office as the first mandate holder on 1 December 2014. 2. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 26/20, the Special Rapporteur will report annually to the Council, starting from its twenty-eighth session, and to the General Assembly. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur describes her vision of the mandate, her working methods and a work plan for the first three years. II. Background: towards a human rights-based approach to disability 3. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities brings the issue of disability to the family of human rights mandate holders and mechanisms under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. The mandate strengthens the United Nations system in its efforts to realize the rights of persons with disabilities and reinforces an important message: persons with disabilities are holders of human rights on an equal basis with others, and the global community must work together to promote their inclusion from a human rights-based approach. 4. The establishment of the new mandate comes as important recognition of how far the global community has come in the recent past in the advancement and the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. In a very short period of time, there has been an extraordinary paradigm shift, a change in the way persons with disabilities have been perceived and hence treated. From its initial focus on charity and medical considerations, the international community has moved towards a model that recognizes that social and environmental barriers are the real obstacles for the enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities. It is in that interaction between a person with an impairment and his or her environment where discrimination and rights violations arise, resulting in disability, and it is only by addressing those social aspects that persons with disabilities will be fully included in their communities. 5. The United Nations system has been responsive to this shift in paradigm and become, over the years, a main actor in promoting a human rights-based approach to disability. While the General Assembly started to include persons with disabilities in its resolutions in the 1950s, human rights language became visible in the 1970s through the adoption of two declarations: the Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons of 1971,1 and the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons of 1975.2 The United 1 2 General Assembly resolution 2856 (XXVI). General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX). It is important to note that while these declarations contain language that is today considered derogatory towards persons with disabilities, they played an important role in advancing the understanding of the rights of persons with disabilities at that time. 3