The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and entered into force in 2008. The main objective of the Convention is to ensure that the human rights of persons with disabilities are fulfilled.
All of the Nordic countries have ratified the Convention. In Finland, human rights have been incorporated into Finnish legislation. In the other Nordic countries, the Convention is included as a relevant source of law used by courts and in other work on legislation.
Once a country has ratified, legally endorsed, the convention, the process of reporting about how the country lives up to the tenets of the convention is initiated.
Two years after ratification, the country submits an initial report on what it has done to make the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities a reality.
At the same time, civil society, and in particular the disability organisations, is given an opportunity to write what are known as shadow reports.
After reporting, the country is given time for examination by the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The committee provides the country with a list of areas that the committee wishes to know more about at a hearing, which is conducted at the UN in Geneva.
Some time after the hearing, the country receives a number of summary observations on what the country should focus on improving before the next report. This also specifies when the next report is to be produced.
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