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Journal of International Special Needs Education

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Print ISSN: 2159-4341
Online ISSN:
2331-4001
Frequency: Bi-annually

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Article Citation:
Margret Winzer and and Kas Mazurek (2014) The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Notes on Genealogy and Prospects. Journal of International Special Needs Education: May 2014, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 3-12.
https://doi.org/10.9782/2159-4341-17.1.3

Feature Articles

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Notes on Genealogy and Prospects

Margret Winzer and Kas Mazurek

The UN Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1964); the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979); the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984); and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). (For full descriptions see Quinn & Degenes, 2002). The International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted a week after the CRPD.

Margret Winzer, Professor Emerita

Kas Mazurek, Professor

University of Lethbridge
4401 University Drive,
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 4M4
Abstract

The dense and complex Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is both a human rights treaty and a development tool. It supplements the web of existing human rights instruments insofar as they relate to disability. Schooling is enshrouded as a rights-based case; inclusive education as a development tool for all persons with disabilities. The human rights agenda that informs the CRPD is intimately related to, and erected upon, earlier ideas and histories; education links to a series of world conferences that identified broad development goals and targets. This paper addresses the genealogy of the CRPD. It elaborates these two interlinked perspectives- the intersection of human rights and disability and the education-related positions. It finds that the CRPD may indeed exert a powerful influence in positively affecting the lives of persons with disabilities but, so far, prospects remain limited. The rights protections and education directions have not yet advanced to robust equality measures.

Keywords: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Education for All, Millennium Development Goals, Inclusive Schooling

Received: May 28, 2013; Revised: Oct 31, 2013; Accepted: Oct 31, 2013;