13th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

Quick links

Decisions adopted by the Conference of States Parties
Letter of the President of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to inform the results of the third round of ballots (11 December 2020)
General Assembly Seating Chart for Monday 11 December 2020
Letter of His Excellency Ambassador Cristian Espinosa, President of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (7 December November 2020)
Registration is now open for 3rd round of balloting! Click this link entitled “Registration” to designate one representative for each State Party to attend the 7th meeting of the 13th Conference of States Parties and to elect one member for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (Conference Room 1-3, UNHQs, Friday, 11 December 2020, 10 a.m-13 p.m). Note: Rooms will be open for check-in at 9 a.m on 11 December. Registered delegates are requested to check-in and pick-up their ballot papers to one of the three rooms.
New>>Annex A: Expedited arrival list of States Parties to attend the 3rd round of ballot election of the Committee
Letter of the President of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to inform the results of the second round of ballots (30 November 2020)
Letter of President informing the results of the first round of the secret ballot held on 30 November 2020 to elect 9 members of the Committee of the CRPD (30 November 2020)
General Assembly Seating Chart for Monday 30 November 2020
Logistical and procedural aspects for holding the in-person meeting of the 13th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD and elections of nine members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities whose term expires on 31 December 2020
Social distanced seating chart in the General Assembly Hall, vehicular and pedestrian maps (as of 23 November)
Letter from H.E. Mr. Cristian Espinosa, President of the 13th Conference of States Parties To the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations (5 November 2020)
UN DESA Note Verbale on Credentials (22 October 2020)
Letter from H.E. Mr. Cristian Espinosa, President of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations (19 October 2020)
Letter from H.E. Mr.Luis Gallegos, President of the Conference of States Parties To the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations
Communication to Member States and other Stakeholders from the Secretariat of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Postponement of the thirteenth session of the Conference due to the worldwide outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to Member States and other stakeholders

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted by the General Assembly by its resolution 61/106 of 13 December 2006. It came into force on 3 May 2008 upon the 20th ratification. Article 40 of the Convention stipulates that “The States Parties shall meet regularly in a Conference of States Parties in order to consider any matter with regard to the implementation of the present Convention.” Since 2008, 12 sessions of the Conference of States Parties have been held at United Nations Headquarters, New York.

The 13th session, per decided by States Parties at the 12th session of the Conference of States Parties (COSP) in June 2019, will be scheduled to take place at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 10 to 12 June 2020 **, during which an election of nine members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with disabilities will be conducted.

** Please note that the 13th session of the COSP will take place this year on 30 November 2020 (in-person meetings: Opening and the election of the CRPD Committee members), 1 and 3 December 2020 (virtual meetings: roundtable discussions, the interactive dialogue with the UN system and the closing). Further information will be provided at this site as soon as it is available.

Final Report

Bureau of the COSP13

President: Ecuador (Latin American and Caribbean Group)
Vice-Presidents: Liberia (African Group), Singapore (Asia-Pacific Group), Hungary (Eastern European Group) and Finland (Western European and Others Group)

Informal Briefing

Virtual Informal briefing to Member States: Preparation of the COSP13 (A/RES/61/106), organized by the Bureau in collaboration with UNDESA on 12 November 2020 from 11 am to 12 pm at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Virtual Informal briefing to Civil Society: Preparation of the COSP13, organized by the Bureau in collaboration with the UNDESA on Thursday, 12 November 2020 from 3 -4 pm at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Theme and sub-themes

“Over-arching theme: A decade of action and delivery for inclusive sustainable development: implementing the CRPD and the 2030 Agenda for all persons with disabilities.

Sub-themes for the three round tables

Disability and business: realizing the right to work in open, inclusive and accessible environments for persons with disabilities.
Addressing the rights and needs of older persons with disabilities: ageing and demographic trends
Promoting Inclusive environments for the full implementation of the CRPD

Cross-cutting theme: Strengthening capacity- building to fully implement the CRPD and the SDGs for persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities. (Addressing the Beijing+ 25th and other relevant commemorations of the historical benchmarks in the global agenda this year).”

Provisional agenda and programme

30 November: Opening, Elections of members of the Committee and Decisions by Conference of States Parties.
Special Note: To All delegates registered to attend the in-person meetings on 30 November “Thank you for all delegations who have successfully registered your designated main delegate and an alternate for the in-person meeting and election on 30 November 2020. Please remind your sole representative to bring his/her UN Ground Pass and the original copy of the credentials to the meeting venue. No special confirmation notification will be sent to the submitters or registered delegates. Thank you for your attention .”
1 December 2020 - 10.00 am to 12.00 pm (Virtual)
Round Table 1: Disability and business: realizing the right to work in open, inclusive and accessible environments for persons with disabilities. Bios of the Co-chairs and panelists
1 December 2020 - 3.00 to 5.00 pm (Virtual)
Round Table 2: Addressing the rights and needs of older persons with disabilities: ageing and demographic trends. Bios of the Co-chairs and panelists
3 December 2020 - 10.00 am to 12.00 pm (Virtual)
Round Table 3: Promoting Inclusive environments for the full implementation of the CRPD. Bios of the Co-chairs and panelists
3 December 2020 - 3.00 to 5.00 pm (Virtual)
Interactive dialogue with the United Nations system on the implementation of the Convention.

Election of the Members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Note by the Secretary-General on "Election of 9 members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" (CRPD/CSP/2020/CRP.1)

Note by the Secretary-General on “Election of 9 members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” (CRPD/CSP/2020/CRP.1.Add.1)

For more information, please visit the website of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Elections 2020.

Background Documents

Disability and business: realizing the right to work in open, inclusive and accessible environments for persons with disabilities. English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语
Addressing the rights and needs of older persons with disabilities: ageing and demographic trends
English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语
Promoting Inclusive environments for the full implementation of the CRPD
English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语

Statements

Opening of the Conference of States Parties

Video of the opening session

13th Session of Conference of States Parties to Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities

H. E. Mr. Luis Gallegos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador (video message) | Statement in Spanish
H.E. Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General
H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the General Assembly
Mr. Danlami Umaru Basharu, Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (video message) | Statement
Mr. Gerard Quinn, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (video message) | Statement
Ms. Maria Soledad Cisternas, Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility (video message) | Statement in Spanish
[Presentation of video “Accessibility: Pillar and bridge for the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms]
Mr. Idriss Alzouma Maiga, Civil Society Representative (video message) | Statement

Round Table 1. Disability and business: realizing the right to work in open, inclusive and accessible environments for persons with disabilities. Co-chaired by H. E. Ms. Ambassador Katalin Annamária Bogyay of Hungary, and Mr. Edwin Osundwa of Sense International

Video of Round Table 1

Round Table 2. Addressing the rights and needs of older persons with disabilities: ageing and demographic trends. Co-chaired by Mr. Israel Choko Davies, Deputy Permanent Representative and Charge d'affaires of Liberia, and Ms Samridhi Rana Thapa, Disability Inclusion Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Video of Round Table 2

Round Table 3: Promoting Inclusive environments for the full implementation of the CRPD. Co-chaired by H.E Ambassador Mr. Jukka Salovaara, Finland, and Mr. Juan Angel De Gouvei, RIADIS
Opening remarks: H.E Mr. Pekka Haavisto, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finland (video message)

Video of Round Table 3

Ms. Rocío de Moreno, First Lady of Ecuador and President of the Technical Secretariat of the “Toda Una Vida” Plan (video message) | Statement in Spanish
Mr. Paweł Wdówik, Government Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Family and Social Policy, Poland
Mr. Santiago Velasquez, Founder of EyeSyght and Hailo, Australia
Ms. Frances West, former Chief Accessibility Officer, IBM, and founder of Frances West Co. USA
Ms. Bhargavi Davar, Bapu Trust for Research on Mind & Discourse, India
Mr. Mark Mapemba, Vice President of Inclusion International, Malawi
Ms. Yeni Rosa Damayanti, Chair of Indonesian Mental Health Association

Interactive dialogue with the United Nations system on the implementation of the Convention chaired by H. E. Ambassador Mr. Cristian Espinosa, President of the Conference, Ecuador

Video of the Interactive dialogue

Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General, UNDESA
Mme. Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner, OHCHR (video message) | Statement
Ms. Sanda Ojiambo, Executive Director, UN Global Compact
Ms. Beate Andrees, Special Representative to the UN and Director, International Labour Organization(ILO)
Ms. Roxana Widmer-Iliescu, Senior Coordinator, Digital Inclusion, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Mr. Danlami Umaru Basharu, Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Mr. Gerald Quinn, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Ms. Maria Soledad Cisternas, Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility
Ms. Sue Swenson, Civil Society Representative

Technical Guidance

The virtual platforms that will be used for the thirteenth session of the COSP are WebEx and Interprefy audio application.

If you experience further difficulties during the Conference, please send an email to unvc@un.org or call +1-212-963-8648.

Civil Society Participation

Virtual Civil Society Forum: The Civil Society Coordination Mechanism, facilitated by the International Disability Alliance (IDA) will host a Civil Society Forum to leverage the opportunity to amplify the voice and facilitate the adequate and active participation of persons with disabilities. The Civil Society Forum will be held ONLINE on 2 December 2020, from 10 am to 1 pm. Registration is now open! To register, please click here.

Registration for NGOs with ECOSOC status and NGOs Accredited to the Conference of State Parties is now OPEN. The deadline is 25 November 2020.

Application for New NGO accreditation: The deadline is now CLOSED.
Please read carefully the instructions and consult the List of NGOs Accredited to the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD before applying.

Soliciting civil society nominations for joining/speaking at various meetings of the COSP13
The active participation of the broad-based civil society, including in particular Organizations of persons with disabilities and other stakeholders, has become a critical element in the work of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP) since its inception in 2008. For the forthcoming COSP13, the Bureau and the Secretariat will continue this practice. Processes are currently underway in order to consult and proactively involve and engage civil society especially representative organizations of persons with disabilities for their participation in the work for the 13th session, in line with the Rules of Procedure of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD ( CSP/CRPD/2008/3). The bureau encourages members of the civil society community to consult each other among yourselves, including through existing civil society coordination mechanisms, and to submit nominees for participating in various meetings during the COSP13. Please consult the detailed instructions contained in each of the below weblinks before making nominations.

Nominate a CSO panelist for a round table: Deadline is now CLOSED
Nominate a CSO co-chair for a round-table: Deadline is now CLOSED
Nominate a CSO speaker for the Opening Session or the Interactive Dialogue: Deadline is now CLOSED
For questions, please contact directly the secretariat of the civil society coordination mechanism, via email to Ms. Bethany Brown at: bbrown@ida-secretariat.org.

National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)

Registration for the NHRIs. The deadline is now CLOSED.

Side Events

Side events provide an excellent opportunity for Member States, UN entities, and NGOs to discuss the themes of the COSP and other critical issues related to persons with disabilities.
Side events are for COSP attendees and registered participants as well as invited registered external guests.
All questions on side events should be directed to socialngo@un.org and copy enable@un.org.

View the Draft List of Side Events (as of 27 November 2020)