Resolution Number SF08.19
United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities
WHEREAS, History was made on March 30, 2007, when over eighty countries signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the UN signing ceremony. The fastest negotiated international human rights treaty ever, the Convention has enjoyed unprecedented international support and record-setting numbers of signatures. The Convention not only articulates basic rights of persons with disabilities but focuses on the actions necessary to ensure that these basic rights are more than hollow declarations; and
WHEREAS, The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed on July 26, 1990, which established the U.S. as a world leader in the global fight for the rights of people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, As a result of leadership by the ADA, that wall has been crumbling, bit by bit, and the landscape for people with disabilities has experienced radical transformation here in America. Yet, for most of the more than 650 million people with disabilities worldwide, that wall is as strong as ever. Eighty percent of the world’s disabled live in developing countries, many in destitute circumstances, and they demand the liberation of a transformative law that can point the way toward true equality and full participation in society. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides an opportunity for those tides of change;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the California Democratic Party urges all of our Elected Senators and Congressmembers to use their influence in Washington to encourage President Bush to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on behalf of the United States.
Submitted by the CDP Disability Caucus
Contact: August J.P. Longo, Regional Director
Chair, Disability Caucus of the California Democratic Party
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Adopted by the Executive Board
Of the California Democratic Party
At Its Executive Board Meeting
Westin Hotel, Millbrae
June 15, 2008 | 
