Mayor's Disability Council
City and County of San Francisco

Resolution

In Support of a the Mexican proposal for the Adoption by the United Nations of an International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

Resolution 2001-06

November, 2001

WHEREAS:

The people with disabilities are, and have a right to be, an integral part of the successful functioning this City and of any society, and

WHEREAS:

The City and County of San Francisco has a long history of support for the human rights and civil liberties of its own people and of peoples around the world, and

WHEREAS:

The City and County of San Francisco is the birthplace of the United Nations, and has from its beginning supported human rights through the activities and instruments of United Nations, and

WHEREAS:

The rights of people with disabilities are only imperfectly or inadequately addressed in the laws and constitutions of many nations, and scarcely enforced in many others, and

WHEREAS:

The approval, from the United Nations, of an International Convention to protect such rights will have momentous importance in achieving those rights, and

WHEREAS:

In 1999, in Guatemala, the Organization of American States adopted the Inter-American Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against People with Disabilities, and

WHEREAS:

In October, 2001, the government of Mexico presented to the United Nations a proposal in support of the adoption, by the UN, of an International Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities, and

WHEREAS:

The UN High commission for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is currently seeking public comment on measures to strengthen the protection and monitoring of the human rights of persons with disabilities, and

WHEREAS:

This presents an opportunity for the disability rights movement, and others in society, to strengthen all the initiatives by international organizations to develop the rights of people with disabilities;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The Mayor's Disability Council urges the Mayor to communicate to Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, and Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the support of the people of the City and County of San Francisco for the adoption, by the UN, of an International Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities