International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability: Disability Inclusive Development and International Development Cooperation

The adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a historical momentum for disabled persons and their associates, as well as ODA workers in the development cooperation field all over the world. For the last two decades, persons with disabilities, their associates and professionals working in this field have promoted their human rights, equality, nondiscrimination and full participation. This Convention is beyond the concept of non-discrimination, and it is very comprehensive in its structure, scope and coverage, promoting developmental activities too in order to realize disabled people’s socio-economic rights. Furthermore it calls for international and regional development cooperation. Prior to its adoption, in September 2000 at the Millennium Summit the Member States of the Untied Nations issued the Millennium Declaration, committing themselves to a series of development targets, most of which are to be achieved by 2015. Known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they represent a framework for achieving sustainable and "just" human development through broadening the benefits of development for all categories individuals, women and men, the poor and the rich, the disabled and the non-disabled. The very first goal of the MDG is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Poverty is both a cause and consequence of disability. Poverty and disability reinforce one another. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that persons with disabilities be an integral part of efforts to achieve MDGs, particularly in the areas of poverty alleviation, primary education, gender, employment and international development cooperation. In the Asian and Pacific region, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has proclaimed two decades of disabled persons 1993-2002, and 2003-2013 (to which Iran became a signatory in 1994), and promoted the inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities, together with a regional guidelines composed of several priorities and implementation mechanisms (including poverty alleviation of persons with disabilities, and regional and inter-regional cooperation).This article describes, form development cooperation perspective, the developmental characteristics of the Convention and highlights the convergence among the Convention, MDGs and the ESCAP decade’s goals contained in the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action (BMF).