A/HRC/13/29 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 10/7 entitled “Human rights of persons with disabilities: national frameworks for the promotion and protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities”. In resolution 10/7, the Human Rights Council decided that the next interactive debate on the rights of persons with disabilities would be held at its thirteenth session and that it would focus on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Convention). 2. To support this debate, the Council requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) “to prepare a study to enhance awareness of the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including States, regional organizations, civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and national human rights institutions”. 3. In consulting with stakeholders in the preparation of this study, OHCHR had received, at the time of writing this report, 95 written submissions from States, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, including organizations of persons with disabilities, and independent experts. OHCHR also organized a one-day open-ended consultation on the theme of the study on 26 October 2009 in Geneva and participated in relevant expert and other meetings during the year. 4. The findings and recommendations which emerged from the consultative process have informed the content of the study. The full texts of all submissions received and the informal summary of the OHCHR consultation are available on the OHCHR website.1 II. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 5. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted by consensus by the General Assembly in resolution 61/106 on 13 December 2006. The Convention and its Optional Protocol were opened for signature on 30 March 2007 and entered into force on 3 May 2008 following the deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification. The Optional Protocol also entered into force on the same date, following the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification. 6. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the first human rights treaty that comprehensively details all human rights of persons with disabilities and clarifies the obligations of States to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. Despite being entitled to protection under all human rights treaties through the cross-cutting principle of equality and non-discrimination, persons with disabilities had by and large remained “invisible” in the human rights system and absent from the human rights discourse. The entry into force of the Convention therefore fills an important protection gap in international human rights law. 7. The Convention marks a paradigm shift in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It endorses a so-called social model that recognizes disability as the result of “the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental 1 GE.09-17748 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/disability/consultation26102009.htm. 3