ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including a discussion around some of the implementation challenges that it faces. It reviews a series of other important international agreements in relation to disability, from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Sustainable Development Agenda, a framework built around the Sustainable Development Goals that is designed to guide mainstream development objectives and priorities until 2030. Various regional agreements have reinforced the international legal framework in relation to disability, while also drawing attention to the importance of local issues and contextual differences. The UN Decade of Disabled Persons culminated in the introduction of the 'UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities'. The 1995 World Summit for Social Development was attended by 117 'heads of states' or governments, making it the largest gathering of world leaders that had ever taken place up until then.
