30 March 2007

Hon Ruth Dyson Media Statement

Disability Issues Minister Ruth Dyson is in New York representing New Zealand at the signing of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The signing ceremony will take place in the UN General Assembly Hall at 2am Saturday New Zealand time (10am Friday in New York). The Minister will be accompanied by Gary Williams, the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Disabled Persons Assembly, who has been involved in the Convention's negotiations for several years. A webcast of the ceremony can be seen at www.un.org/webcast

"New Zealanders can be proud of the leadership our country showed in the successful negotiation of the Convention," said Ms Dyson.

"The opening of this Convention for signature is the end of a negotiating process which began more than five years ago. It is also the end of a much longer process undertaken by the international disabilities community, in persuading the world that a new human rights convention was required. We all owe the disability community a lot in bringing us to this point."

The Convention will be the first new comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century and has the potential to make a difference in the lives of approximately 650 million people with disabilities around the world. New Zealand joins 52 other countries signing the Convention in New York. The Convention will enter into force when ratified by 20 countries.

New Zealand's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Don MacKay, chaired the difficult concluding sessions of the negotiations, and successfully steered delegates towards agreement on many previously unresolved issues.

Members of New Zealand's disability community were also closely engaged in the drafting and negotiations, alongside officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Office for Disability Issues.

"The Convention sets out a code of practice consistent with New Zealand's own Disability Strategy, and covers a full range of issues from access to justice, liberty of movement, education, health and living independently in the community through to participation in society generally."

For more information visit www.un.org/disabilities/convention/ and for background on New Zealand's involvement visit www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/un-convention.html

ENDS

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