Human Rights and Disability: The Current Use and Future Potential of United Nations Human Rights Instruments in the Context of Disability

This report examines international human rights in the context of their application to disabled persons. The authors report that disabled mothers and women with intellectual impairments are discriminated against in terms of access to family programs and reproductive rights. The United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the General Assembly in 1993, is used to interpret provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) relating to marriage and family life. [Descriptors: Marriage - International]