04/02/2026
[Statement] We Strongly Concern United Nations’ Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities
The year 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the United Nations—an international commitment to the dignity and rights of persons with disabilities worldwide. As the Convention serves both as a legal foundation for advancing universal disability rights and as a framework for global solidarity among the disability community, this anniversary year carries profound significance.
Yet in this critical year, deeply distressing news has emerged. On January 31, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued a statement concerning the United Nations for committing serious discrimination against the Committee’s work by suspending the most basic and essential accessibility services—such as sign language interpretation and closed captioning— “unless the financial situation improves”.
The CRPD enshrines the most fundamental rights of persons with disabilities and urges States Parties to take concrete action and responsibility to guarantee these rights. At a time when state parties continue to treat disability rights as acts of charity and delay implementation of the Convention under the pretext of “budgetary limitations,” the United Nations’ own decision directly undermines the very raison d’être of the United Nations itself.
Ensuring accessibility and providing reasonable accommodations for the participation of persons with disabilities are not “optional considerations” or “additional favors.”
They are the most basic measures required to address a long history of discrimination and exclusion. This principle is firmly inscribed in the UN Charter itself, which reaffirms “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom”.
In light of this, we demand the following from the UN Secretary-General and all departments, units, and entities under his authority:
First, immediately implement the demands in the statement of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and publicly disclose the status of their implementation.
Second, establish concrete measures to prevent recurrence and ensure the meaningful participation of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as persons with disabilities and their representative organizations worldwide, throughout the entire process.
In these turbulent times—when hatred and selfishness appear to wield greater power than human rights and mutual respect—the United Nations must stand firm as a bastion of human rights values. This is the UN’s responsibility and its very reason for existence. It is also the banner under which we can collectively confront and overcome today’s global crises.
February 3, 2026
Korean Disability Forum
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