ESSEX PAPER 3: INITIAL GUIDANCE ON THE INTERPRETATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN NELSON MANDELA RULES experts emphasized the requirement of reasonable accommodation (or reasonable adjustments) that underpin the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.55 Article 9 provides: To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities, access on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communication, including information and communication technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. In the first Essex paper, the experts noted that, ‘[t]he principle of reasonable accommodation is defined in Article 2 of the CRPD as ‘necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden, where needed in a particular case, to ensure to persons with disabilities the enjoyment or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms’. This therefore requires that the state ensures that it reasonably accommodates a particular individual’s needs. This must be done in consultation with the individual, as in accordance with the principle of established in Article 3(a) of the CRPD’. The experts underscore that the principle of reasonable accommodation must also apply to sanctions and systems of reward and privilege. First Report of the Essex Group of Experts, at 35 – 36. 55  Penal Reform International and the Essex Human Rights Centre | 20