The Convention sets out general principles, including respect for inherent dignity and freedom of choice and independence; non-discrimination; participation and inclusion; respect for difference and diversity; equality of opportunity; accessibility; equality between men and women; and respect for the evolving capacities of children. It recognizes that all persons with disabilities enjoy civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights on an equal basis with others. In this sense, it does not recognize new rights for persons with disabilities but states that persons with disabilities should enjoy rights without discrimination. In addition, the Convention sets out a series of obligations on States to enable persons with disabilities to enjoy their rights, in diverse areas such as access to justice, awareness-raising, accessibility, data and statistics and international cooperation. It also has specific provisions on women with disabilities and children with disabilities. The Convention establishes the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which State parties report periodically on the measures they have taken to give effect to the Convention. The Optional Protocol to the Convention entered into force in 2008. It gives the Committee the authority to receive communications from individuals alleging violations of any of the provisions of the Convention. It also allows the Committee to undertake inquiries when it receives reliable information indicating grave or systematic violations of the Convention. I. International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006) The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted by the General Assembly in December 2006 and entered into What is enforced force four years later. The Convendisappearance? tion is unique in that it combines traditional human rights provisions “The arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty with international humanitarian by agents of the State or by persons and criminal law provisions. or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law” (art. 2). In article 1, the Convention defines the non-derogable right not to be subjected to an enforced disappearance and affirms the prohibition of enforced disappearance as a non-revocable provision: 16

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