This blog article was written by Mushegh Hovsepyan, Armenia’s Candidate for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2026.
Since childhood, I have often felt that I belonged nowhere. Not considered “disabled enough,” yet not “non-disabled.” Living with invisible physical and mental health conditions, and facing different barriers at different stages of my life, it was difficult to find my place and shape my identity. This is not unique to me. It is a shared experience for many persons with disabilities around the world who exist between categories, between medical labels, between social expectations.
When your body or mind does not fit clear classifications, your experience becomes blurred. And when experience becomes blurred, institutions often overlook you.
Invisibility does not always arrive suddenly. Sometimes it happens quietly, between the lines of eligibility criteria and bureaucratic forms that determine who counts and who does not.
That early experience shaped how I understand disability today. It revealed how systems organise recognition, distribute resources, and define legitimacy. It exposed a deeper question: whose autonomy is presumed, and whose autonomy must constantly be proven.
My professional life has been dedicated to advancing this paradigm shift. I belong to a generation of advocates whose work began after the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), shaped from the outset by its human rights framework rather than by medicalised approaches.
As a disability rights policy specialist and advocate from Armenia, I have spent more than a decade working to translate that framework into practice. I have contributed to aligning domestic legislation with the Convention, drafting disability laws and by-laws, conducting institutional monitoring, and engaging in strategic litigation. I have participated in most of Armenia’s reviews before UN treaty bodies, working to ensure that disability rights are addressed not only within the framework of the Convention but also across other treaties that historically overlooked persons with disabilities.
Through my work with Disability Rights Agenda, a leading advocacy organisation in Armenia, I have monitored residential institutions and other segregated settings. I have seen how systems reproduce control under the language of care. I have also collaborated with electoral authorities, international organisations, and civil society actors to promote accessibility, political participation, and meaningful consultation.
I believe deeply in international law, especially today. Not as symbolism, but as architecture. International human rights law shapes domestic reform, redistributes power, and establishes normative standards that outlive political cycles.
At the same time, law must be interpreted with sociological awareness. Formal compliance does not guarantee substantive equality. Institutions can be renamed without being dismantled. Consultation can be conducted without influencing outcomes. Rights can be recognised on paper while autonomy remains restricted in practice.
This is why the role of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
is so important.
If elected, I would approach this responsibility with four core priorities grounded in the Convention.
First, proactive engagement with organisations of persons with disabilities. I represent an organisation of persons with disabilities that understands how difficult it can be for grassroots groups to reach international mechanisms. The Committee should not only wait for submissions. It should actively seek diverse voices, especially from underrepresented regions and communities. Understanding the realities on the ground requires deliberate outreach and structural openness.
Second, safeguarding and developing underexplored provisions of the Convention. Articles such as Article 10 on the right to life, Article 17 on protecting the integrity of the person, Article 18 on liberty of movement and nationality, and Article 22 on respect for privacy deserve deeper normative development. This is particularly urgent in the context of rapid technological expansion and artificial intelligence. States increasingly seek broader data access, surveillance tools, and digital governance mechanisms, often without sufficient safeguards. Persons with disabilities are frequently among the first affected. The Committee must articulate clear standards that prevent regression, especially during times of crisis and technological transformation.
Third, strengthening coherence between the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the broader UN system. Bridging the gap between the Committee and UN agencies would enhance consistency, avoid fragmentation, and strengthen the human rights foundation of disability-related initiatives.
Fourth, deepening intersectional analysis within the Committee’s work. The Committee must remain attentive to persons with diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous persons, LGBTQI+ persons with disabilities, religious groups, stateless persons, refugees, and older persons with disabilities. Intersectionality should inform the Committee’s questions, recommendations, and interpretative guidance.
My candidacy is grounded in a simple conviction: the Convention must remain a living instrument, interpreted consistently, independently, and courageously.
I bring lived experience as a young person with disabilities, extensive monitoring practice, engagement with international mechanisms, and a commitment to dialogue. I also bring the perspective of someone who understands how easily exclusion becomes normalised when it is embedded within systems.
If entrusted with this role, I will serve guided by the text, object, and purpose of the Convention, and by a clear commitment to dignity, autonomy, and equality.
Because the CRPD is not about fitting people into existing systems.
It is about reshaping those systems so that no one remains between the lines.