Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

CHARTERS & TREATIES

The States Parties to this Protocol have agreed on the following:

Article 1

1 - The State Party to this Protocol (the State Party) recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee) to receive communications from individuals or groups of individuals or in the name of individuals or groups of individuals within its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a State party's violation of the provisions of the Convention.

2 - The committee may not receive any communication related to any state party to the convention that is not a party to this protocol.

Article 2

The Committee considers the communication inadmissible:

(A) When the report was anonymous;

(B) The communication was an abuse of the right to submit those communications or was inconsistent with the provisions of the Convention;

(C) The same matter had previously been considered by the Commission or was, or is still under consideration, under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;

(D) All domestic remedies have not been exhausted. This rule does not apply if the use of remedies has been unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to lead to an effective remedy;

(E) Was without a clear basis or was not supported by sufficient evidence;

(F) Or when the facts that are the subject of the communication occurred before the entry into force of this Protocol for the State Party concerned, unless those facts continued after the date of entry into force.

Article 3

Subject to the provisions of Article 2 of this Protocol, the Committee shall endeavor to put forward any communication submitted to it to the State Party. The receiving State Party shall submit to the Committee, within six months, written explanations or statements clarifying the matter and clarifying any remedial measures that that State may have taken.

Article 4

1 - The Committee may, at any time after receiving a communication and before reaching a decision on its subject matter, refer to the State Party concerned for consideration, as a matter of urgency, a request that the State Party take the necessary interim measures to avoid inflicting damage that cannot be brought to the victim of the alleged violation. Or his victims.

2- When the committee exercises its discretionary power in accordance with paragraph 1 of this article, this does not imply a decision on the admissibility or the merits of the communication.

Article 5

The Committee holds closed sessions when examining communications under this Protocol. After examining the communication, the Committee shall forward its suggestions and recommendations, if any, to the State Party concerned and to the petitioner.

Article 6

1- If the committee receives reliable information indicating the occurrence of gross or systematic violations by a state party of the rights stipulated in the convention, the committee invites that state party to cooperate in examining the information and submitting observations on the relevant information for this purpose.

2 - The committee may appoint one or more of its members to conduct an investigation and submit a report urgently to the committee, taking into account any observations submitted to it by the concerned State party and any other reliable information available to it. The investigation may include a visit to the territory of the State party, whenever necessary, and with its consent.

3 - After studying the results of that investigation, the committee shall transmit these findings to the State Party concerned, together with any comments and recommendations.

4 - The State Party concerned shall, within six months of receiving the findings, comments and recommendations transmitted by the Committee, submit its observations to the Committee.

5 - That investigation shall be conducted in confidence, and the cooperation of that State Party is sought in all stages of the proceedings.

Article 7

1 - The Committee may invite the State Party concerned to include in its report submitted under Article 35 of the Convention details of any measures taken in response to an inquiry conducted under Article 6 of this Protocol.

2 - The Committee may, if necessary, after the end of the six-month period referred to in Article 4-4, invite the State Party concerned to inform it of the measures taken in response to that investigation.

Article 8

The State Party may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession to this Protocol, declare that it does not recognize the competence of the Committee provided for in Articles 6 and 7.

Article 9

The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of this Protocol.

Article 10

This protocol shall be open for signature by states and regional integration organizations that have signed the convention at the United Nations headquarters in New York as of March 30, 2007.

Article 11

This protocol is subject to ratification by signatory states of this protocol that have ratified or acceded to the convention. It is subject to formal approval by regional integration organizations that have signed this protocol and which have formally approved or acceded to the agreement. Accession to this protocol is open to any state or regional integration organization that has ratified, formally approved or acceded to the convention and has not signed the protocol.

Article 12

1 - The term “regional integration organization” means an organization formed by sovereign states in a given region to which its member states transfer competence in relation to matters governed by this agreement and this protocol. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments of formal confirmation or accession, the extent of their competence with respect to matters governed by this Convention and this Protocol. Subsequently, it informs the depositary of any material modification in the extent of its competence.

2 - References in this Protocol to States Parties shall apply to those organizations within the limits of their competence.

3 - For the purposes of paragraph 1 of Article 13 and paragraph 2 of Article 15, any instrument deposited by a regional integration organization shall not be considered.

4- Regional integration organizations, in matters falling within their competence, shall exercise their right to vote at a meeting of States Parties, with a number of votes equal to the number of their member states that are Parties to this Protocol. These organizations do not exercise their right to vote if any of their member states exercises their right to vote, and vice versa.

Article 13

1. Subject to the entry into force of the Convention, this Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.

2 - This Protocol shall enter into force for every State or regional integration organization that ratifies or formally approves this Protocol or accedes to it after the tenth of those instruments has been deposited, on the thirtieth day after the deposit of its instrument.

Article 14

1 - No reservation may be made that is incompatible with the object and purpose of this Protocol.

2 - Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.

Article 15

1 - Any State Party may propose an amendment to this Protocol and submit it to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General informs the States Parties of any proposed amendments, asking them to inform him of whether they favor a meeting of the States Parties to consider these proposals and decide on them. If it is preferable to hold the meeting at least one third of the States Parties within four months of that notification, the Secretary-General shall hold the meeting under the auspices of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall submit any amendment adopted by two thirds of the States Parties present and voting at the meeting to the General Assembly for approval and then to all States Parties for acceptance.

2 - An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the number of instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment. Then the amendment shall enter into force for any state party on the thirtieth day after depositing its instrument of acceptance. The amendment shall only be binding on the States Parties that have accepted it.

Article 16

Any State Party may denounce this Protocol by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Such denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which the Secretary-General received that notification.