UN CRPD 35th Session 2026, Twenty Years of Disability Rights

Written by Editor

Disclaimer: This article is published for educational, informational and disability-rights awareness purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is based on information publicly available from the United Nations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Treaty Body Database and related official sources.

The Global Fight to Turn Rights Into Reality

As the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reaches its 20th anniversary year, its 35th Session is examining whether promises of equality have translated into everyday reality – from independent living, mental health and legal capacity to accessible buildings, inclusive education, digital inclusion and protection from violence.

The 35th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities runs from 12–27 August 2026 and was still ongoing at the time of writing on 22 August 2026. References to issues raised during individual country reviews concern matters discussed by Committee experts and State delegations and should not be interpreted as final findings of wrongdoing or final legal conclusions. Formal concluding observations may be published following the Committee’s consideration of the relevant State reports.

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) opened its landmark 35th Session in Geneva on 12 August 2026, with proceedings scheduled to continue until 27 August 2026.

This is no ordinary session.

The year 2026 marks 20 years since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006. The Convention subsequently entered into force on 3 May 2008 and has developed into one of the world’s most important international human-rights frameworks for disabled people. According to UN treaty records, it has 193 States Parties.

The anniversary therefore provides an opportunity not merely to celebrate legislation, policies and progress, but to ask a much more difficult question:

Have the rights promised by the Convention actually become a lived reality for disabled people?

That was one of the central themes raised when the Committee opened its 35th Session.

What Is the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, commonly referred to as the UN CRPD, represented a fundamental change in the way disability was approached within international human-rights law.

Historically, disabled people were frequently viewed primarily through medical, charitable or welfare-based models, in which decisions might be made for disabled people rather than with them.

The CRPD helped reinforce a human-rights model of disability.

Disabled people are not passive recipients of charity.

They are rights holders.

The Convention covers areas including:

Equality and non-discrimination.
Accessibility.
Equal recognition before the law.
Liberty and security.
Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse.
Independent living and inclusion in the community.
Education.
Health.
Employment.
Political participation.
Access to justice.
Personal mobility.
Privacy.
Family life.
Participation in cultural and public life.
Reasonable accommodation.

Its philosophy also reinforces the importance of disabled people’s participation in decisions that affect them, widely associated with the disability-rights principle:

“Nothing about us without us.”

At the opening of the 35th Session, speakers reflected on how the Convention helped move international thinking away from viewing disabled people as objects of medical intervention or charity and towards recognising disabled people as full holders of human rights.

Which Countries Are Being Reviewed at the 35th Session?

The Committee is examining the implementation of the Convention in:

Chile
Lithuania
Qatar
Slovakia
Sri Lanka

The session runs from 12–27 August 2026.

The Committee’s work extends beyond these five State reviews. Its programme also includes lists of issues relating to Burundi, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Romania; lists of issues prior to reporting involving Gabon and San Marino; and a list of issues in the absence of a report concerning Guinea.

This illustrates an important feature of the treaty-monitoring system: international disability-rights scrutiny does not begin and end with a single hearing.

States are expected to continue reporting, answering questions, providing evidence and demonstrating what they are doing to implement their obligations.

Qatar: Digital Progress but Serious Questions About Liberty and Mental Health

The Committee concluded its dialogue with Qatar on 13 August 2026.

Committee experts praised developments relating to digitalisation and technology, while also raising important questions concerning emergency planning, the rights of disabled people during conflict-related crises and the deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities.

Qatar highlighted Law No. 22 of 2025 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which it said introduced a rights-based framework centred on principles including:

Non-discrimination.
Accessibility.
Reasonable accommodation.

The country’s National Human Rights Commission nevertheless emphasised that legislative progress must be converted into effective implementation and supported through appropriate regulations and monitoring.

One particularly important issue concerned mental health and deprivation of liberty.

Committee experts questioned provisions allowing people with disabilities to be deprived of liberty under mental-health legislation and raised concerns surrounding practices including isolation and forms of physical or chemical restraint.

This goes to the heart of an increasingly important disability-rights debate.

Mental-health legislation cannot automatically be separated from human-rights law simply because an intervention is described as medical treatment.

Questions of consent, autonomy, liberty, dignity and safeguards against abuse remain fundamental.

Sri Lanka: Disability Legislation, Residential Care and Sign Language

On 14 August 2026, the Committee concluded its consideration of Sri Lanka’s initial report.

Committee experts welcomed legislative and policy frameworks and institutions established to advance disability rights but raised questions regarding oversight of residential care centres and the prevalence and recognition of sign language.

Residential institutions are an especially important issue under the CRPD.

Article 19 of the Convention establishes the right of disabled people to live independently and be included in the community.

This does not simply mean ensuring that an institution is clean or adequately staffed.

The wider human-rights question is whether disabled people have genuine opportunities to:

Choose where they live.
Choose who they live with.
Receive appropriate support within their communities.
Participate in society.
Make decisions about their own lives.
Avoid unnecessary segregation.

Communication accessibility is equally important.

Without appropriate recognition and availability of sign language, Deaf people can face barriers across education, healthcare, employment, government services and access to justice.

Accessibility is therefore much broader than ramps and lifts.

It includes communication, information and participation.

Lithuania: Accessibility, Independent Living and Violence Against Disabled Women

The Committee completed its review of Lithuania on 18 August 2026.

Experts welcomed reviews of disability-related legislation but raised concerns and questions about the accessibility of public buildings and gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities.

Other significant issues identified during the dialogue included:

Independent living and inclusion within communities.
Legal capacity.
Accessibility.
Inclusive education.
Non-discrimination.
Reasonable accommodation.
Emergency preparedness.
Availability of reliable disability data.

The focus on violence against disabled women and girls is particularly significant.

Disability discrimination does not exist in isolation.

People may experience discrimination through the interaction of disability with gender, age, poverty, ethnicity or other circumstances.

Someone who depends upon another person for personal care, communication assistance, finances, transport or accommodation may also face additional barriers to reporting violence or escaping abuse.

Safeguarding systems therefore need to be accessible, independent and capable of listening directly to disabled people.

Chile: Psychiatric Institutions and Legal Capacity Under Scrutiny

Chile’s review concluded on 19 August 2026.

The Committee welcomed developments including disability institutions established within the country but raised important questions about reported ill-treatment within closed psychiatric units and laws relating to the removal or restriction of a person’s legal capacity.

Legal capacity is one of the most significant – and sometimes controversial – areas of the Convention.

At its simplest, legal capacity concerns whether a person is recognised by the law as somebody capable of holding rights and making legally recognised decisions.

For disabled people, this can affect decisions concerning:

Money.
Healthcare.
Housing.
Relationships.
Contracts.
Property.
Legal proceedings.
Personal welfare.

International disability-rights law increasingly challenges systems in which a disability or diagnosis automatically results in another person assuming control over an individual’s decisions.

The focus instead is increasingly upon supported decision-making, autonomy and safeguards.

The Chile dialogue also demonstrates why psychiatric and mental-health institutions remain central to international disability-rights scrutiny.

People do not lose their fundamental human rights when they enter a psychiatric hospital or other care environment.

Slovakia: Psychiatric Restraint and Inclusive Education

The Committee concluded its review of Slovakia on 20 August 2026.

Experts commended the involvement of Slovak organisations representing persons with disabilities while raising questions concerning the use of restraints in psychiatric institutions and inclusive education.

Both issues illustrate the difference between recognising a right in legislation and delivering that right in practice.

Inclusive education, for example, requires considerably more than allowing a disabled child to enrol in a mainstream school.

True inclusion may require:

Accessible buildings.
Appropriate teaching methods.
Reasonable adjustments.
Assistive technology.
Communication support.
Accessible learning materials.
Disability awareness.
Properly trained staff.
Protection from bullying and discrimination.
Adequate support services.

Without these measures, physical attendance does not necessarily equal inclusion.

The Wider Disability Rights Developments of 2026

The opening of the 35th Session also highlighted several international developments extending beyond the five countries undergoing review.

These developments demonstrate where global disability-rights policy may be heading over the coming decade.

Disability Inclusive Digital Technology

The UN Human Rights Council has addressed the importance of disability-inclusive digital technologies and accessible infrastructure.

This is becoming increasingly important as governments, employers, healthcare providers, banks and businesses shift services online.

Digitalisation can dramatically increase independence.

But poorly designed technology can also create new forms of exclusion.

Disabled people may face barriers involving:

Inaccessible websites.
Incompatible screen-reader technology.
Captchas.
Online-only government services.
Biometric verification.
AI-powered decision-making.
Automated recruitment.
Digital identification.
Inaccessible banking applications.
Lack of captions or transcripts.
Complex authentication procedures.

Accessibility therefore needs to be designed into technology from the beginning, rather than treated as an optional adjustment after discrimination has already occurred.

The UN highlighted disability-inclusive digital technologies and accessible infrastructure among the significant developments discussed during the Committee’s opening session.

Mental Health Is a Human Rights Issue

Another major development highlighted at the opening concerned mental health and human rights.

This is particularly significant because people with psychosocial disabilities have historically experienced practices including:

Involuntary detention.
Forced treatment.
Restraint.
Seclusion.
Institutionalisation.
Restrictions on legal capacity.
Decisions made without meaningful participation.

Medical necessity and human-rights protection can create difficult legal and ethical questions.

However, the underlying principle remains important:

A diagnosis does not erase a person’s human rights.

Questions surrounding consent, dignity, proportionality, safeguarding, autonomy and access to independent advocacy must remain central when states design mental-health legislation.

The Human Rights Council addressed mental health and human rights during its March 2026 session, a development specifically noted when the CRPD Committee opened its 35th Session.

The Special Rapporteur’s Mandate Has Been Extended

The opening of the session also noted that in June 2026, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities for a further three years.

This is significant because the Special Rapporteur can help investigate emerging disability-rights issues, engage with governments, contribute to international debates and draw attention to systemic discrimination.

Disability rights are constantly evolving alongside technology, healthcare, employment practices, social security systems, artificial intelligence and demographic change.

Independent international scrutiny therefore remains essential.

Disability Rights and the Rights of Older People Are Converging

Another emerging international issue concerns discussions about a potential legally binding international instrument concerning the human rights of older persons.

The UN highlighted this as an area in which disability rights intersect significantly.

The overlap is obvious.

Older people may acquire disabilities later in life and encounter barriers involving:

Social care.
Institutionalisation.
Dementia.
Legal capacity.
Accessible housing.
Mobility.
Healthcare decisions.
Financial abuse.
Digital exclusion.
Loneliness and social isolation.

Any future international framework for older people’s rights must therefore avoid creating a separate system that ignores principles already developed through disability-rights law.

A Serious Threat: The UN Treaty System Is Facing Financial Pressure

Perhaps one of the most concerning developments raised at the opening of the 35th Session had nothing directly to do with an individual country’s disability legislation.

It concerned money.

The United Nations’ financial and liquidity difficulties have already affected the human-rights treaty-body system.

The UN reported that the CRPD Committee’s meeting time in 2026 had been reduced to five weeks, leading to delays and cancellations of State reviews and pre-sessional working groups. The High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that the treaty-body system could reach a “breaking point” if the situation continues.

This matters.

International rights are only meaningful if somebody is capable of monitoring whether governments comply with them.

If disability-rights committees cannot meet frequently enough, consequences can include:

Longer delays between State examinations.
Growing reporting backlogs.
Delayed recommendations.
Reduced scrutiny.
Less opportunity for disabled people’s organisations to engage internationally.

For disabled people waiting for systemic discrimination to be recognised, years of delay are not an administrative inconvenience.

They can represent years of inaccessible education, inadequate care, institutionalisation, poverty or exclusion.

Twenty Years After the CRPD: Rights on Paper Versus Rights in Reality

The 20th anniversary presents an uncomfortable but necessary question.

Has international disability law advanced faster than the everyday lives of disabled people?

Many countries now have equality legislation.
Many have accessibility standards.
Many officially support inclusive education.
Many prohibit discrimination.

Yet disabled people across the world continue to encounter:

Poverty.
Unemployment.
Inaccessible healthcare.
Institutionalisation.
Violence and abuse.
Barriers to education.
Digital exclusion.
Inaccessible public transport.
Inaccessible housing.
Benefit insecurity.
Discrimination.
Restrictions on autonomy.
Lack of appropriate social care.

This is why the words used by CRPD Committee Chairperson Miyeon Kim at the opening of the session are so significant.

Twenty years after the Convention created what she described as a profound normative transformation, the challenge is ensuring that transformation becomes a lived reality.

That should arguably become the defining question for the next decade of disability-rights policy.

Nothing About Us Without Us

One of the greatest legacies of the CRPD is not simply the legal rights contained within its articles.

It is the recognition that disabled people themselves must be involved.

Governments should not design disability policies solely through politicians, administrators, medical professionals and consultants.

Disabled people and their representative organisations must be included.

The Committee’s opening discussions specifically recognised the crucial contribution of persons with disabilities and organisations representing them.

Consultation, however, must be meaningful.

It should not become a process in which disabled people are invited to meetings after decisions have effectively already been made.

Co-production means involvement from the beginning.

Why the 35th Session Matters Beyond the Five Countries Being Reviewed

Chile, Lithuania, Qatar, Slovakia and Sri Lanka may be the States currently under direct examination, but the issues raised during their reviews are universal.

The same questions can be asked of almost every country:

Can disabled people genuinely live independently?
Are public buildings accessible?
Are websites and digital services accessible?
Are children receiving genuinely inclusive education?
Are disabled women protected from violence?
Do people with psychosocial disabilities retain meaningful autonomy?
Are psychiatric institutions respecting human rights?
Are disabled people protected during emergencies?
Are governments collecting accurate disability data?
Is reasonable accommodation available in practice?
Are disabled people involved when policy is created?

The United Kingdom is also a State Party to the CRPD, even though it is not one of the States being examined during this particular session.

Developments within the Committee therefore remain highly relevant to UK disability-rights campaigners, policymakers, academics, lawyers and disabled people’s organisations because they contribute to the evolving international interpretation of disability rights and provide benchmarks against which national systems can be questioned.

What Happens Next?

The 35th Session is scheduled to conclude on 27 August 2026.

The final day is also expected to include a special symposium marking the Convention’s twentieth anniversary, examining the Committee’s journey, what has been achieved, what remains unfinished and what priorities should guide the next decade.

Formal concluding observations arising from State reviews will be particularly important.

These documents can identify:

Positive developments.
Areas of concern.
Legislative shortcomings.
Policy failures.
Recommended reforms.
Areas requiring monitoring and follow-up.

They should therefore be read not merely by governments but by journalists, lawyers, academics, charities, human-rights organisations and, most importantly, disabled people and organisations of persons with disabilities.

Conclusion

The 35th Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities arrives at a defining moment.

Twenty years after the Convention was adopted, the world has developed a far stronger language of disability rights.

The principle that disabled people possess the same inherent dignity and human rights as everyone else should no longer be controversial.

The challenge now is implementation.

A right to independent living means little without accessible housing and community support.
A right to education means little if classrooms remain inaccessible.
A right to employment means little if recruitment systems discriminate.
A right to healthcare means little if communication barriers prevent patients from accessing it.
A right to equality means little when reasonable adjustments exist only on paper.

And an international Convention means little unless governments can be independently scrutinised when those promises are not delivered.

The CRPD’s 20th anniversary should therefore be both a celebration and a warning.

There has been extraordinary progress in recognising disabled people as rights holders.

But recognition is only the beginning.

The next twenty years must be about turning those rights into measurable, enforceable and everyday reality.

Because equality cannot simply be written into legislation.

It must be experienced.