US influences, but won't sign, Disability Rights Treaty

From The New Standard:

"Despite having a heavy hand in negotiations, the United States says it will not sign a global treaty codifying the rights of people with disabilities.

The United Nations has been working on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities since December 2001, when it formed ad-hoc committees to study the issue. Five years later, UN delegates are in a final week of negotiations over provisions of the draft convention, which aims to promote respect, autonomy, non-discrimination, inclusion, accessibility and equal opportunity for people with disabilities."

"Our view is that the US actually already has in existence on the federal level, the state level and the local level a very good framework of laws and practices to assist citizens with disabilities," Paul Denig, with the US State Department, told The NewStandard, referring to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). "In our view, this treaty would not add to that."

[RJ]