A/HRC/7/61 page 3 Introduction 1. In its resolution 2005/65, the Commission on Human Rights requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to report to the Commission at its sixty-second session on progress in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the study on human rights and disability and on the achievement of the objectives set forth in the programme of work of the Office in relation to the human rights of persons with disabilities. In its decision 2/102, the Human Rights Council decided to request the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to continue with the fulfilment of their activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and to update the relevant reports and studies. In addition, the High Commissioner, in her report to the fourth session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/4/75), recommended the submission of annual reports on human rights and disability. Accordingly, the High Commissioner submits the present report. 2. The 2002 OHCHR study on “Human rights and disability: the current use and future potential of United Nations human rights instruments in the context of disability” (the study),1 focused on the work carried out by the (then) six core United Nations human rights treaty bodies to advance the equal effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by persons with disabilities. The study concluded that, despite their considerable potential, the United Nations human rights treaties had not been fully used in the context of disability. In order to enhance the future use of the existing human rights treaties and mechanisms, the study addressed a wide range of recommendations to States parties, treaty bodies, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Commission on Human Rights, national human rights institutions and civil society. 3. On 13 December 2006, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. The two instruments were opened for signature on 30 March. As of 12 December 2007, 119 States and the European Communities have signed and 14 States had ratified the Convention, and 67 States had signed and 7 States had ratified the Optional Protocol. The adoption of the Convention and Optional Protocol has been the significant step forward which addresses the need to advance the equal enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities, as noted in the study. 4. The present report provides an overview of the activities of OHCHR on human rights and disabilities over 2007 as an indication of the continuing steps taken by the Office to meet the recommendations of the study. 1 G. Quinn and T. Degener, “Human rights and disability: the current use and future potential of United Nations human rights instruments in the context of disability”, HR/PUB/02/1, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2002.