OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ON THE  
RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES  
The States Parties to the present Protocol have agreed as follows  
:
Article 1  
1.  
A State Party to the present Protocol (“State Party”) recognizes the  
competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“the  
Committee”) to receive and consider communications from or on behalf of  
individuals or groups of individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be  
victims of a violation by that State Party of the provisions of the Convention.  
2.  
No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a  
State Party to the Convention that is not a party to the present Protocol.  
Article 2  
The Committee shall consider a communication inadmissible when:  
(a)  
(b)  
The communication is anonymous;  
The communication constitutes an abuse of the right of  
submission of such communications or is incompatible with the  
provisions of the Convention;  
(c)  
(d)  
The same matter has already been examined by the Committee or  
has been or is being examined under another procedure of  
international investigation or settlement;  
All available domestic remedies have not been exhausted. This  
shall not be the rule where the application of the remedies is  
unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to bring effective relief;  
It is manifestly ill-founded or not sufficiently substantiated; or  
when  
(e)  
(f)  
The facts that are the subject of the communication occurred prior  
to the entry into force of the present Protocol for the State Party  
concerned unless those facts continued after that date.  
Article 3  
Subject to the provisions of article 2 of the present Protocol, the  
Committee shall bring any communications submitted to it confidentially to  
the attention of the State Party. Within six months, the receiving State shall  
submit to the Committee written explanations or statements clarifying the  
matter and the remedy, if any, that may have been taken by that State.  
Article 4  
1.  
At any time after the receipt of a communication and before a  
determination on the merits has been reached, the Committee may transmit to  
the State Party concerned for its urgent consideration a request that the State  
Party take such interim measures as may be necessary to avoid possible  
irreparable damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violation.  
2.  
Where the Committee exercises its discretion under paragraph 1 of this  
article, this does not imply a determination on admissibility or on the merits of  
the communication.  
Article 5  
The Committee shall hold closed meetings when examining  
communications under the present Protocol. After examining  
a
communication, the Committee shall forward its suggestions and  
recommendations, if any, to the State Party concerned and to the petitioner.  
Article 6  
1.  
If the Committee receives reliable information indicating grave or  
systematic violations by a State Party of rights set forth in the Convention, the  
Committee shall invite that State Party to cooperate in the examination of the  
information and to this end submit observations with regard to the information  
concerned.  
2.  
Taking into account any observations that may have been submitted by  
the State Party concerned as well as any other reliable information available to  
it, the Committee may designate one or more of its members to conduct an  
inquiry and to report urgently to the Committee. Where warranted and with the  
consent of the State Party, the inquiry may include a visit to its territory.  
3.  
After examining the findings of such an inquiry, the Committee shall  
transmit these findings to the State Party concerned together with any  
comments and recommendations.  
4.  
The State Party concerned shall, within six months of receiving the  
findings, comments and recommendations transmitted by the Committee,  
submit its observations to the Committee.  
5.  
Such an inquiry shall be conducted confidentially and the cooperation of  
the State Party shall be sought at all stages of the proceedings.  
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Article 7  
1.  
The Committee may invite the State Party concerned to include in its  
report under article 35 of the Convention details of any measures taken in  
response to an inquiry conducted under article 6 of the present Protocol.  
2.  
The Committee may, if necessary, after the end of the period of six  
months referred to in article 6, paragraph 4, invite the State Party concerned to  
inform it of the measures taken in response to such an inquiry.  
Article 8  
Each State Party may, at the time of signature or ratification of the  
present Protocol or accession thereto, declare that it does not recognize the  
competence of the Committee provided for in articles 6 and 7.  
Article 9  
The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of  
the present Protocol.  
Article 10  
The present Protocol shall be open for signature by signatory States and  
regional integration organizations of the Convention at United Nations  
Headquarters in New York as of 30 March 2007.  
Article 11  
The present Protocol shall be subject to ratification by signatory States  
of the present Protocol which have ratified or acceded to the Convention. It  
shall be subject to formal confirmation by signatory regional integration  
organizations of the present Protocol which have formally confirmed or  
acceded to the Convention. It shall be open for accession by any State or  
regional integration organization which has ratified, formally confirmed or  
acceded to the Convention and which has not signed the Protocol.  
Article 12  
1.  
“Regional integration organization” shall mean an organization  
constituted by sovereign States of a given region, to which its member States  
have transferred competence in respect of matters governed by the Convention  
and the present Protocol. Such organizations shall declare, in their instruments  
of formal confirmation or accession, the extent of their competence with  
respect to matters governed by the Convention and the present Protocol.  
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Subsequently, they shall inform the depositary of any substantial modification  
in the extent of their competence.  
2.  
References to “States Parties” in the present Protocol shall apply to such  
organizations within the limits of their competence.  
3.  
For the purposes of article 13, paragraph 1, and article 15, paragraph 2,  
of the present Protocol, any instrument deposited by a regional integration  
organization shall not be counted.  
4.  
Regional integration organizations, in matters within their competence,  
may exercise their right to vote in the meeting of States Parties, with a number  
of votes equal to the number of their member States that are Parties to the  
present Protocol. Such an organization shall not exercise its right to vote if any  
of its member States exercises its right, and vice versa.  
Article 13  
1.  
Subject to the entry into force of the Convention, the present Protocol  
shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the deposit of the tenth  
instrument of ratification or accession.  
2.  
For each State or regional integration organization ratifying, formally  
confirming or acceding to the present Protocol after the deposit of the tenth  
such instrument, the Protocol shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the  
deposit of its own such instrument.  
Article 14  
1.  
Reservations incompatible with the object and purpose of the present  
Protocol shall not be permitted.  
2.  
1.  
Reservations may be withdrawn at any time.  
Article 15  
Any State Party may propose an amendment to the present Protocol and  
submit it to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-  
General shall communicate any proposed amendments to States Parties, with a  
request to be notified whether they favour a meeting of States Parties for the  
purpose of considering and deciding upon the proposals. In the event that,  
within four months from the date of such communication, at least one third of  
the States Parties favour such a meeting, the Secretary-General shall convene  
the meeting under the auspices of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted  
by a majority of two thirds of the States Parties present and voting shall be  
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submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly of the United  
Nations for approval and thereafter to all States Parties for acceptance.  
2.  
An amendment adopted and approved in accordance with paragraph 1 of  
this article shall enter into force on the thirtieth day after the number of  
instruments of acceptance deposited reaches two thirds of the number of States  
Parties at the date of adoption of the amendment. Thereafter, the amendment  
shall enter into force for any State Party on the thirtieth day following the  
deposit of its own instrument of acceptance. An amendment shall be binding  
only on those States Parties which have accepted it.  
Article 16  
A State Party may denounce the present Protocol by written notification  
to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The denunciation shall become  
effective one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-  
General.  
Article 17  
The text of the present Protocol shall be made available in accessible  
formats.  
Article 18  
The Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts of the  
present Protocol shall be equally authentic.  
IN WITNESS THEREOF the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly  
authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present  
Protocol.  
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