USA signs UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

From AFP:

UNITED NATIONS — Amid applause and a smattering of hoots, the US ambassador to the United Nations on July 30 signed a landmark UN convention promoting and protecting the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people.
Present at the signing ceremony at UN headquarters were President Barack Obama's senior aide Valerie Jarrett; William Kennedy Smith, a US advocate for the rights of the disabled; and representatives of American disabled groups.

Rice noted that the United States was joining 141 countries in signing what is the first major human rights treaty of the 21st century.

Signatory countries are expected to enact laws and other measures to improve disability rights and to abolish legislation and practices that discriminate against the disabled.

The UN convention, which was adopted in 2006, "urges equal protection and equal benefits under the law for all citizens," the US ambassador said. "It rejects discrimination in all its forms and calls for full participation and inclusion in society of all persons with disabilities."

Thursday's signing "represents a profound shift and an engagement not only in disability rights, but with the international community in general that has happened since the change in (US) administration," Smith said.

Rice highlighted the significance of the treaty by pointing to the glaring inequalities the disabled face in obtaining healthcare, education and work.

According to a June 2009 poll by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, unemployment among disabled people in the United States stands at 14.3 percent, compared with 9.5 percent for persons with no disability.

Obama will soon bring the treaty before the US Senate for ratification, she added.

Jarrett, meanwhile, took the opportunity to announce the creation of a new senior-level disabilities human rights position in the State Department.

"This individual will be charged with developing a comprehensive strategy to promote the rights of persons with disabilities internationally," she added.

"Discrimination against people with disabilities is not simply unjust, it hinders economic development, limits democracy and erodes society," Rice added.