Promoting rights of Persons with Disabilities; An insight to UN Convention on State parties

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share an insight to UN Convention on State Parties (COSP) on rights of persons with disabilities. It is an annual event, taking place at the UN Headquarters in New York, that brings all member states together to discuss their reports and up to date activities in relation to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a treaty that was established in 2006 and ratified by Finland in 2016.

The COSP also brings together a number of other stakeholders like representatives of civil society, academics and activists. It is a mixture of official and unofficial meetings, workshops and other side events, where persons with disabilities are both the experts and the focus of discussions. As Laurea University of Applied sciences became a member of Rehabilitation Finland, or RIFI ry., in 2023, it had an opportunity also to participate in this event at the UN.

This paper shares some experiences of the COSP 17 that took place in June 2024. It also provides an overall view to the current topics of the meeting; How to promote inclusion through technology innovations, how to protect persons with disabilities in humanitarian crises and how to provide equal opportunities in the labour market for persons with disabilities.

In connection to the latter topic, RIFI ry. organized a side event called My Inclusion. My Inclusion is a website that provides training and awareness raising materials on inclusion in education. Inclusion in education is a gateway to more inclusive working life and indeed an important theme to higher education institutions like Laurea.