Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

participation of persons with disabilities and their 
organizations in the process. 
At the international level, the Convention establishes 
a treaty monitoring body, the Committee on the 
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in Geneva), 
as well as a Conference of States parties (in 
New York). As is the case for other human rights 
treaty bodies, the Committee will be made up of 
independent experts, receiving secretariat support 
from the Office of the High Commissioner for 
Human Rights. The Committee will consist initially 
of 12 members elected by secret ballot from a list 
submitted by States parties. Each ratifying country is 
expected to provide an initial comprehensive report 
to this Committee on progress over a two-year 
period to implement the Convention, and to report 
subsequently every four years. The Committee will 
also take into account the representations of NGOs 
and members of civil society. The reports of the UN 
Committee will be in the public domain and available 
on the internet. The Optional Protocol to the CRPD 
introduces additional procedures to strengthen the 
implementation of the Convention and the monitoring 
role of the Committee.
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Within the UN system, each agency involved in the 
disability field will play a distinctive role. In respect 
of children and women, UNICEF is particularly well 
placed to provide support to government and civil 
society partners, especially organizations of persons 
with disabilities, in the promotion of the implemen-
tation and monitoring of the Convention. The UN 
Division of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) 
has been called upon to lead the establishment of an 
inter-agency group that will support the development 
of a UN system-wide strategy to advance the imple-
mentation of the Convention. 
The CRPD process has represented an unprec-
edented opportunity for civil society and the non-
governmental sector. For the first time in history, 
the United Nations General Assembly attributed a 
leading role to non-governmental organizations in 
the elaboration of an international convention by 
specifically involving them in its working structures. 
This partnership between organizations of persons 
with disabilities and development and human rights 
actors will be maintained throughout the implemen-
tation and monitoring process.