On February 23rd 2004, Assistant Minister Shen Guofang met with Louis Gallegos, visiting Chairman of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The two sides exchanged views on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the protection of rights and interests of the disabled in China.
Shen Guofang said there are about 600 million disabled people around the world, among whom 60 million are Chinese. As a disadvantaged community, they deserve care from the society.
Shen stressed that existing UN international instruments have played a vital part in protecting and promoting the rights of disabled people, but those instruments are not enough. It is an important step for the international community to draft the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and should be highly prioritized and appropriately funded.
Shen said China has been consistently supporting the formulation of a Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. China holds that formulation of conventions has to adhere to relevant UN resolutions and must take into full consideration the social development, the protection of human rights and the opposition of discrimination. In forming specific provisions, we have to note that different countries have different history and culture as well as different level of socio-economic development. We need to work out universal and effective regulations and measures with a pragmatic attitude by addressing different concerns, especially the concerns of developing countries.
Shen also introduced the protection of the disabled people in China. He said the Chinese government has formulated the Law on the Protection of the Disabled and other laws and regulations, incorporated the development of the disabled into the overall national development plan and adopted a series of effective measures in terms of health recovery, education, employment and barrier-free buildings. The conditions for disabled Chinese have improved dramatically and the protection of the disabled has witnessed considerable progress, which has been broadly recognized by the international community.
Mr. Gallegos said that after a few days in China he has had a deep understanding of the development of the disabled in the country and that he thought highly of the achievements China has made in the protection of their rights. As chairman of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, he pledged to cooperate closely with relevant parties to accelerate the formulation of the convention. Mr. Gallegos deeply appreciated the support of the Chinese government for the United Nations in working out the Convention on the Rights of the Persons Disabilities.
