The Conference of State Parties is an annual event organised by the United Nations. During the Conference, participants discuss the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Participants include representatives of the State Parties (countries and regional organisations that ratified the Convention), civil society organisations (such as organisations of persons with disabilities) and disability rights experts (such as the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities and academics).

The 16th session of the Conference of State Parties to the UN CRPD (COSP16) will take place from 13-15 June 2023. The overarching theme: Harmonizing national policies and strategies with the CRPD: achievements and challenges

Three subthemes:

• Sub theme 1: Ensuring equal access to and accessibility of sexual and reproductive health services for persons with disabilities
• Sub theme 2: Digital accessibility for persons with disabilities
• Sub theme 3: Reaching the under-represented groups of persons with disabilities

The COSP16 will be held in in-person, with its opening meetings in the General Assembly Hall. The General Debate will be organized and will begin on the first day of the conference. Roundtables and side events will be also held. 

Side event 1 –Ending forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities and promoting sexual and reproductive rights

13 June 2023 | UN Headquarters – Conference Room C | 9:45-11.00 AM EST

Side Event COSP 16 on Forced Sterilisation – Concept note and Programme (Word document)

Reproductive autonomy is a core human rights principle enshrined in a range of national constitutions and in regional and international legal instruments. It reflects a universal commitment to the promotion and protection of the dignity, safety, health and well-being of people linked to their sexual and reproductive health and rights, including the choice to found a family (or not to).

Despite this commitment and the obligations created by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), there is a lack in the provision of accessible sexual education and measures for awareness raising as well as services for sexual and reproductive health.

Furthermore, forced and coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities is a human rights violation that has been and continues to be protected as a matter of law, policy and custom throughout the world.

This event aims to: 

1. Shed light on the issue of coerced and forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities and provide a global picture on where we stand
2. Analyse the progress made in introducing laws eliminating forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities. 
3. Discuss further measures on protecting and promoting the sexual and reproductive rights of persons with disabilities through innovative strategies, including necessary follow-up steps.
4. Agree on new commitments, including global actions such as a UN resolution on ending forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities, to eliminate coerced and forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities and protect their sexual and reproductive rights.

Agenda

Moderator – Anastasia Holoboff, Senior Legal Advisor, Women Enabled International

Opening remarks

• E. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, Permanent Representative of Malta
• Representative of UN ESCWA (video message)

State of Play: what we know about forced and coerced sterilisation today

• Nadia Hadad, Executive member, European Disability Forum
• Sara Rocha, European Council of Autistic People
• Rosemary Kayess, Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Existing measures to combat coerced and forced sterilisation and protect the reproductive autonomy of persons with disabilities

• Spain: Jesús Martin Blanco, General Director of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030
• Sweden: Maria Melin, National expert, Swedish Agency for Participation
• Malta: Alistair De Gaetano, Directorate for Disability Issues

Interventions from State Parties and civil society, including organisations of persons with disabilities. (10 minutes)

Looking forward

• Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, European Commission

Side event 2 – Developing Skills for Employment

13 June 2023 | UN Headquarters – Conference Room C | 11:30-12:45 AM EST 

Side Event COSP 16 – Developing Skills for Employment – Concept note and Programme (Word document)

Qualified workers are essential for the health of economies and wealth of societies. However, companies consistently report difficulties finding the employees that they need. There is a mismatch between the demands from economic operators and the skills of workers. At the same time, the employment levels of persons with disabilities remain low and have been stagnated for years. In addition, access to education and vocational training by persons with disabilities remain a challenge.

Many countries around the world already have legislation forbidding discrimination and requiring reasonable accommodation, quotas, and other legal measures. While these are necessary, they seem to be insufficient to close the employment and skill gaps between persons with and without disabilities. All this underlines the need to reinforce the skills and competence of persons with disabilities to be better equipped to participate in the open labour market on equal basis with others, as stated by the UNCRPD.

This workshop will address the advantages that society and economy can gain by investing in the skills of persons with disabilities, thus opening up their employment opportunities while simultaneously supporting employers in finding the workers they require.

Moderator: Katarina Ivankovic-Kenezevic, Director Social Rights and Inclusion European Commission.

 Speakers/topics:

• H.E. Helena Dalli, EU Commissioner for Equality: The European Years of skills and persons with disability including AccessibleEU, skills for accessibility
• Nina Pineau, Attaché, Belgian Ministry of Social Security: Goals and targets on employment for persons with disabilities and improving skills
• Dragos Pislaru, Member of the European Parliament: Improving digital skills for persons with disabilities
• Christophe Lefevre, Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC): The role of social partners fostering skills development and employability 
• Gunta Anca, Vice President European Disability Forum (EDF): Unlocking talents of persons with disabilities through skills development and inclusive policies
• Matthieu Cognac, International Labor Organization (ILO): Skills for employment ILO

Closing remarks: Alison Crabb, Head of Unit Disability and Inclusion, European Commission

You can read below the activities that will take place during the conference.

General Debate

The General Debate will begin on the first day of the conference, 13^th June. Inscription to speakers list will be open from 22 May at 10am, and close on 5 June at 6pm (New York time). The speaking limit for each statement will be 3 minutes which will be strictly enforced with the speaker’s microphone be cut off automatically. Individual reasonable accommodation will be granted for persons with disabilities and needs must be clearly indicated in the inscription and communicated in advance. A Guidance Note will be posted online in the UN prior to the opening of the inscription process.

The general debate will be live-streamed via UN Web TV. 

Find more information on the general debate

Roundtable Interventions

At the COSP16 there will be 3 roundtables on the 14th and 15th June.

During COSP16 there will be numerous side events both in person and online. You can see the full list on the UN website.

Registration

Registration for NGOs with ECOSOC status and NGOs Accredited to the Conference of State Parties is open. The deadline is now 1 June 2023. For questions related to your indico registration, please contact socialngo@un.org.

1. You can follow the General Debate live 
2. You can attend the side events in person
3. You can tweet using the official hashtags: #COSP16 and #CRPD.

• You can learn more about the Conference.
• You can also read the International Disability Alliance’s webpage to the Conference.