The GANHRI Bureau issued its decision to establish the Working Group at the GANHRI Bureau meeting held in Marrakech, Morocco in 2018. This followed the recommendation to establish the Working Group made by the caucus meeting of NHRIs participating at the 11th Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP) that took place on 14 June 2018 in New York, USA.
The NHRI attendees at the caucus meeting agreed that a framework for cooperation and coordination among NHRIs on the rights of persons with disability would add value to their and other NHRIs’ work on disability at the domestic level. In addition, the rights of Persons with Disabilities is one of the priority areas of the current GANHRI Strategic Plan and of the UNDP-GANHRI-OHCHR Tripartite Partnership.
The Working Group facilitates the exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices among NHRIs across all regions as regards:
1. their work promoting the implementation of the Convention at the national level;
2. the monitoring of the Convention at the national level, including the role of NHRIs appointed as Independent Monitoring Mechanisms under article 33(2) of the Convention; and collaboration between IMM and NHRI that are not appointed as IMM and
3. their work collectively promoting the implementation of the Convention at an international level where opportunities for collaboration and influence exist.
4. GANHRIs specific commitments and work priorities regarding the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Working Group is composed of 8 GANHRI members; namely two members from each of the four GANHRI regional networks, and a representative of the GANHRI Chairperson designated by him or her, supported by the GANHRI HO.
The GANHRI Working Group on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities launches the findings of the survey conducted in the summer of 2019 on NHRIs and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), particularly the ongoing implementation and monitoring under Article 33 (2) of the Convention.
The GANHRI Working Group on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities presented a statement at the Opening Session of the 23rd session of the Committee on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
