Foreword We both, separately and together, warmly welcome this publication. We wholeheartedly endorse its central theme which has to do with national human rights institutions working in partnership with civil society to bring about meaningful change to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in every corner of the world. The paradigm shift in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities away from charity and welfare towards human rights needs champions – people and institutions that understand the nature of the changes at the level of ideas and who are able to translate these ideas into practicable blueprints for legal and policy reform. It is these reforms that transform lives. National human rights institutions have evolved considerably since the early 1990s. In many corners of the world they let in the fresh air of international law to inform the domestic process of change. In this way, they both honour international human rights law and add value to local democratic processes. Just as important, they interact extremely effectively with international mechanisms, including the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This fruitful interaction not only assists international mechanisms to appreciate the complexity of change and to arrive at a better informed and more nuanced understating of the circumstances of the relevant State party, it also helps to move the process of domestic change forward. NHRIs are now active contributors to the international monitoring system and they are also avid consumers of the jurisprudence of the CRPD Committee and other treaty monitoring bodies. The UN system is increasingly receptive to the active engagement of NHRIs, as demonstrated by the landmark General Assembly Resolution 70/163 of December 2015. This is as it should be. Indeed, the CRPD Committee adopted Guidelines on its interaction with NHRIs in August 2016 (see Part II of this Manual). These Guidelines have been crafted to get the very best out of the interaction between NHRIs and the treaty monitoring body. Indeed, the Guidelines serve as a model for other treaty monitoring bodies to follow. The level of NHRI engagement is already impressive. With this Manual, it should increase and grow in effectiveness. The real winners are people with disabilities, who are sometimes invisible and voiceless in their own communities. Eleanor Roosevelt said that human rights begin in small places. This Manual will play its part in helping us reach those small places. We welcome the publication of this Manual and commend it as a source of insights into effective engagement of NHRIs to the mutual advantage of civil society, international treaty monitoring mechanisms and persons with disabilities in their communities. Kieren Fitzpatrick Director Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes Former Chair Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities iii