Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Concludes Thirty-Third Session After Adopting Concluding Observations on Reports of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Finland, Kiribati, and Maldives

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this afternoon closed its thirty-third session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Finland, Kiribati, and Maldives.  During the session, it also considered the situation of persons with disabilities affected by war in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Before closing the session, the Committee heard remarks from two speakers.

Vincenzo Grassi, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, said article 11 of the Convention played a crucial role in linking disability rights with international humanitarian law and other obligations under international law.  Yet, despite this solid normative framework, persons with disabilities, who represented more than 16 per cent of the global population, remained disproportionately affected by armed conflicts, natural hazards and climate-induced disasters. Italy strongly encouraged the Committee and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to bring to completion the work on the general comment on article 11, with the purpose of clarifying the obligations of State parties.

Italy strove to mainstream disability across all humanitarian programmes while supporting targeted initiatives to empower persons with disabilities and their representative organizations. There had been several concrete steps taken to illustrate this commitment, including the adoptions of the Solfagnano Charter in October 2024 and the Operational Guidelines for Civil Protection Interventions in Support of Persons with Specific Needs in March 2025. Furthermore, at the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in October 2024, Italy submitted an open pledge to enhance the protection and inclusion of persons with disabilities during armed conflicts and disasters, among other public interventions.  Looking ahead, promotions on the rights of persons with disabilities remained a key priority in Italy’s candidacy to the Human Rights Council for the term 2026 to 2028.

Juan Ignacio Pérez Bello, International Disability Alliance, said the Alliance appreciated the work of the Committee and would endeavour to support their work.  He said he appreciated the Committee’s work with organizations of persons with disabilities, including those from Kiribati, Finland and Maldives and in the context of the war of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. International Disability Alliance had supported colleagues to participate in dialogue with the Committee.  The organization looked forward to continuing its close partnership with the Committee.

In closing remarks, Miyeon Kim, Committee Chairperson, said the Committee had engaged with four States parties to the Convention and engaged with organizations of persons with disabilities, national human rights institutions and independent monitoring mechanisms to enrich its work.  The Committee had also considered the situation of persons with disabilities affected by war in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and addressed other important issues, such as the impact of the liquidity crisis on its work and planned activities related to the twentieth anniversary of the Convention in 2026.  Ms. Kim then thanked all those who had made the session possible.

Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.  The programme of work of the Committee’s thirty-third session and other documents related to the session can be found here.

Subject to the availability of funding, the Committee’s thirty-fourth session is scheduled to be held in Geneva from 9 to 25 March 2026.

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