...... 58 REVIEW OF LAWS, IMPLEMENTATION OF TREATIES AND OTHER.......... informed by the overarching principle that all persons with disabilities, without exception, are entitled to the full benefit and enjoyment of all fundamental human rights and freedoms on the basis of equality, dignity and without discrimination.
Further stressed that the situation of all disability groups and the diverse conditions related to gender, race, colour, age, ethnicity and other considerations must be taken into account when elaborating the Convention. 5.34 Based on the common understanding of the National Human Rights Institutions regarding the nature, type, scope, purpose and key elements of a disability convention, the Commission submitted a proposal to the UN Ad Hoc Committee in its second session at New York in June 2003. 5.35 Subsequent to the international meeting of NHRIs at New Delhi, the Commission provided inputs to a series of regional meetings and seminars convened by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific. The expert group meeting in June 2003 at Bangkok harmonized a proposal, which heavily draws on the report of international meeting at New Delhi. 5.36 Similarly, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Disability serviced the Women’s Workshop of ESCAP (18th – 22nd August 2003), which outlined a set of recommendations for strengthening the gender dimension in the proposed disability Convention. She also contributed to another Expert Group Meeting under the aegis of UNESCAP on Oct. 14-17, 2003, which evolved a concrete text of the Convention. 5.37 In November 2003, the Commission participated in the inter-governmental seminar jointly hosted by Government of China and ESCAP. In this seminar certain contentious issues pending from the earlier meetings could be resolved, which included the issue of right to development vis-à-vis, rights based development. The provision of international cooperation and monitoring mechanisms, both international and national, were also thrashed out and the text could be fine-tuned. Working Group 5.38 The Commission not only shared its expertise with the Asia Pacific Disability Forum but also mobilized support to facilitate the participation of the nominee of APDF in the Working Group, which met between January 5th -16th 2004 at the UN Headquarters in New York. The Asia Pacific Disability Forum approached the Commission for assistance of our Special Rapporteur on Disability in the UN Working Group for harmonizing the draft text based on proposals received by the UN Ad Hoc Committee. The Commission was pleased to make available the services of its Special Rapporteur on Disability. NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION