Rights of the Disabled ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ S. No. ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Region ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Date ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Venue 1 North-Eastern & Eastern region 19-21 January 2005 National University of Juridical Sciences, NUJS Bhawan, 12 LB Block, Sector-3, Salt Lake City Kolkata-700 098 2 Central region 1-3 February 2005 National Law Institute University, Bhadbhada Road Barkheri Kalan Bhopal-462002 3 Southern region 10-12 February 2005 Cochin University of Science and Technology, Deptt. of Law, Cochin, Eranakulam, Kerala-680022 4 Western region ILS College, Law College Road Pune-411004 5 Northern region 25-27 February 2005 19-21 February 2005 ○ Deptt. of Law, University of Punjab, Chandigarh 5.11 In addition, during the period under review, the Commission provided Disability input in a number of programmes offered by Institute of Secretarial Training and Management. Likewise a series of workshops have been facilitated by the Commission to raise awareness of the disability sector about the procedure of elaborating UN Convention and its importance in the protection and promotion of rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. These workshops were organized at Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi. A set of recommendations emerging out of these workshops has also been communicated to the M/O-SJ&E, Government of India who is participating actively in the UN Ad Hoc Committee elaborating the Disability Convention. 5.12 On the global scale the debate on disability and human rights is gaining momentum, and is likely to result in a new Human Rights Treaty on the theme of disability. The very nature of disability – and the inherent systemic discrimination and social exclusion that accompanies it – means that many governments have very limited expertise in disability. In this respect, a single comprehensive treaty would enable the Governments to recognize their obligations in understandable terms and it would set clear targets for the development of disability-inclusive systems and processes. Adding a new treaty would also complement existing international standards for the rights of the disadvantaged. 5.13 Acknowledging the useful contribution by the NHRC during the second, third and fourth session of the UN Ad Hoc Committee, the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions nominated the NHRC as its global representative. During the period under review the Special Rapporteur, Disability on behalf of the Commission performed this role in fifth and the sixth session. The pre-sessional preparations involved wide consultations with the civil society organizations and preparation of technical papers on the issues, which require 86 AR-Chapter-1-19-10-6-06.p65 National Human Rights Commission Annual Report - 2004-2005 106 7/17/06, 6:29 PM