On 13 March 2014, Georgia became the 34th country in Asia and the Pacific, and the 143rd in the world, to join the group of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 December 2006, through its resolution 61/106, and came into force on 3 May 2008, upon the 20th ratification.
Although the Asia-Pacific region was instrumental in drafting the Convention, it did not keep the expected pace for signature and ratification after the CRPD was open for signing in 2007.
However, since the adoption, on 2 November 2012, of the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities, calling for regional acceleration of the CRPD ratification, eight additional Governments ratified the Convention in merely a year and half.
Since Target 9.A of the Incheon Strategy requires a total of 37 ratifications by 2017, the mid-point of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, it is encouraging that the region is well on track.
For more information about CRPD ratifications in ESCAP member States, check the link: http://www.unescapsdd.org/make-the-right-real.