CRPD/CSP/2018/CRP.1
United Nations / CRPD/CSP/2018/CRP.1/ Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities / Distr.: General
20 April 2018
Original: English
Conference of the States Parties
10th meeting
New York, 12-14 June 2018
Item 4 of the provisional agenda
Election, in accordance with articles 34, paragraphs 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 9 members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to replace those whose terms are due to expire on 31 December 2018
Election of 9 members of the Committee on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities under article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Note by the Secretary-General
1. In conformity with article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the 11th Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention will be convened by the Secretary-General at United Nations Headquarters from 12 to 14 June, 2018, for the purpose of electing 9 members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from a list of persons nominated by States parties, to replace those whose terms are due to expire on 31 December 2018 (see section I). The names of persons nominated by States parties appear in section II. The names of the other 9 members who will continue to serve on the Committee until 31 December 2020 appear in section III.2. In accordance with the procedure set out in article 34, of the Convention, the Secretary-General, in a Note Verbale dated 12 February 2018, invited the States parties to submit their nominations for the election of 9 members of the Committee within 2 months. All the curricula vitae received by
12 April 2018 are included in the present document. Addenda to the present note will be issued for nominations received after the deadline of 12 April 2018.
3. In compliance with the provisions of article 34 of the Convention, the Secretary-General has the honour to list below, in alphabetical order, the names of 29 persons nominated for election to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, indicating the States parties which have nominated them. Biographical data of the persons nominated, as furnished by the States parties concerned, are contained in the annex to the present document.
4. In addition, in compliance with paragraph 12 of General Assembly resolution 68/268, the current situation with respect to the composition of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, reflecting the balance in terms of geographical distribution and gender representation, professional background and different legal systems, as well as the tenure of current members, is contained in sections I and II of the present document along with the biographical data of current members found on the webpage of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (
5. In its resolution 68/268 (para. 13), the General Assembly encouraged States parties, in the election of treaty body experts, to give due consideration, as stipulated in the relevant human rights instruments, to equitable geographical distribution, the representation of the different forms of civilization and the principal legal systems, balanced gender representation and the participation of experts with disabilities in the membership of the human rights treaty bodies.
- In its current composition one expert of the Committee is a woman, and 17 are men; with their geographical distribution as follows: one expert from Latin America and the Caribbean, five from Africa, five from Asia-Pacific, four from Eastern Europe, and three from Western Europe and other States.
- Of the nine experts whose mandates expire on 31 December 2018, one expert is a woman and eight are men; one is from Latin America and Caribbean, two from Africa, two from Asia-Pacific, two from Eastern Europe, and two from Western Europe and other States.
I.List of the nine members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities whose terms expire on
31 December 2018
The professional backgrounds, legal systems, and further biographical data of the members may be found on the webpage of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities "Membership" by clicking on the name of the individual members:
Member / Country of nationality / Member sinceMr. Danlami Umaru BASHARU / Nigeria / 01.01.2015
Ms. Theresia DEGENER / Germany / 01.01.2011
Mr. Hyung Shik KIM / Republic of Korea / 01.01.2011
Mr. Stig LANGVAD / Denmark / 01.01.2011
Mr. Carlos Alberto PARRA DUSSAN / Colombia / 01.01.2015
Mr. Coomaravel PYANEANDEE / Mauritius / 01.01.2015
Mr. Jonas RUSKUS / Lithuania / 01.01.2015
Mr. Damjan TATIC / Serbia / 01.01.2011
Mr. Liang YOU / People's Republic of China / 01.01.2015
II.List of persons nominated by States parties
Candidate / Nominated byMr. Jean-Claude ADZALLA / Togo
Ms. Rosa Idalia ALDANA SALGUERO / Guatemala
Mr. Danlami Umaru BASHARU / Nigeria
Ms. Rehab Mohammed BORESLY / Kuwait
Mr. Tambo Demba CAMARA / Mauritania
Mr. Michael DEBATTISTA / Malta
Mr. Rigoberto ESCALANTE / El Salvador
Mr. Yatma FALL / Senegal
Ms. Mara Cristina GABRILLI / Brazil
Ms. Amalia Eva GAMIO RÍOS / Mexico
Ms. Maruja GORDAY DE VILLALOBOS / Panama
Ms. Héba HAGRASS / Egypt
Ms. Kerryann IFILL / Barbados
Ms. Rosemary KAYESS / Australia
Ms. Nahid Mohamed KHAIRY / Sudan
Ms. Kim MIYEON / Republic of Korea
Mr Joseph NDAYISENGA / Burundi
Ms. Gertrude OFORIWA FEFOAME / Ghana
Ms. Rayisa PANASYUK / Ukraine
Mr. Carlos PARRA DUSSAN / Colombia
Mr. Coomaravel PYANEANDEE / Mauritius
Mr. Jonas RUSKUS / Lithuania
Ms Wajdan Micheal Shamo SALIM / Iraq
Mr. Markus SCHEFER / Switzerland
Mr. Jonathan TAPSOBA / Burkina Faso
Ms Dobroniega TRAWKOWSKA / Poland
Ms. Risnawati UTAMI / Indonesia
Ms. Marina VUJACIC / Montenegro
Mr. Liang YOU / China
The curricula vitae of the persons nominated, as provided by the States parties concerned, are contained in the annexes.
III.List of the nine members who will continue to serve on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities until
31 December 2020
The professional backgrounds, legal systems, and further biographical data of the members may be found on the webpage of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities "Membership" by clicking on the name of the individual members:
Member / Country of nationality / Member sinceMr. Ahmad AL SAIF / Saudi Arabia / 01.01.2017
Mr. Monthian BUNTAN / Thailand / 01.01.2013
Mr. Imed Eddine CHAKER / Tunisia / 01.01.2017
Mr. Jun ISHIKAWA / Japan / 01.01.2017
Mr. Samuel Njuguna KABUE / Kenya / 01.01.2017
Mr. Lászlo Gábor LOVASZY / Hungary / 01.01.2013
Mr Robert George MARTIN / New Zealand / 01.01.2017
Mr. Martin Babu MWESIGWA / Uganda / 01.01.2013
Mr. Valery Nikitich RUKHLEDEV / Russian Federation / 01.01.2017
Annex
Curriculum Vitae of candidates
Mr. Jean-Claude ADZALLA (Togo)
• Date and place of birth: 18th December 1978
• Place of residence: Nairobi, Kenya
• Nationality: Togolese
• Email address:
• United Nations working languages: English, French.
Current position/function: (Five lines maximum)
• Currently Regional Director of Deaf Aid for Africa.
• Deaf Aid is a Norwegian NGO working for an African Society more inclusive of the deaf, with focus on children and youth.
• Jean-Claude’s work involves program design, planning and coordination of the organization’s interventions across Africa.
Other main activities on the rights of persons with disabilities: (Ten lines maximum)
• Jean-Claude Adzalla is the initiator and immediate past Chairperson of the Action for Children with Disabilities -Kenya- (ACD). The ACD is the National Platform for Children with disabilities and brings together CSOs, private sector and Government institutions with the purpose of improving the circumstances of children with disabilities.
• Has organized two major national events on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Education Reforms (2014) and The Inclusive Youth Employment Conference (2013) both widely attended by participants drawn from a diverse national audience.
• Member of the Education Donors’ Coordination group Kenya and has played a substantial role for provisions for learners with disabilities in the current Kenya Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Primary Education Development Project agreement that has enshrined inclusion of student with disability.
• Has organized and hosted a networking event on the thematic of The Convention on the Right of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and the Right to the City at the 5th World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• E-learning Africa Disability Inclusion Advisor where he has helped create the disability track for e-learning Africa in line with the CRPD provisions on learning environments.
Educational background, in particular on the rights of persons with disabilities (Five lines maximum)
• PHD Candidate in Management (Open University of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam), Jean-Claude Adzalla is currently researching referral, management and access to assistive technologies in decentralized administrative systems for persons with disabilities in East Africa.
• Applied Research Training: Disability Data Disaggregation, Nairobi, Kenya
• Gender and Disability Mainstreaming Policies (Training of trainers), Nairobi, Kenya
• Disability Equality Training (DET), Nairobi, Kenya
Please indicate whether you identify yourself as a person with disability or elaborate on your lived experience related to persons with disabilities. (Three lines maximum)
While Jean-Claude Adzalla is does not identify as a person with disability, he is a proud father of an 11 years old daughter with bilateral hearing loss. Improving the circumstances of children like his daughter all over the world has been central to his engagement with disability issues. If elected, Jean-Claude Adzalla intend to insure that situation of children with disability is awarded due attention in the Committee’s agenda.
Relevant expertise on the rights of persons with disabilities
Please elaborate on your areas of expertise under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and related experience. (Five lines maximum)
• Consultant with the I Hear You Project: providing low cost hearing aid to children with hearing impairment in Africa (SINTEF)
• Accessible and Inclusive Youth Information with OCYI and the Ministry of Information, Youth Culture and Sport of the United Republic of Tanzania.
• Authored the Report on the Right to the City (UNHabitat) and the CRPD (With UN Habitat)
• Led the Accessibility and Inclusiveness track at the Promoting Accessibility and Inclusiveness within a Regional Collaboration for Youth Empowerment, Conference in Livingstone, Zambia (December 2-5)
• Member of the Research Steering Group Kenya National Special Needs Education Survey 2014
List of most recent publications in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities: (Five lines maximum)
• I have authored the following publications:
• Bridging the digital divide: Inclusive IT as a service for youth with hearing impairment in Kenya (Presented at the E-learning Africa 2010, 5th International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training).
• Inclusive Education Guidelines, a practical manual for school inclusion (Deaf Aid Publication)
• Youth-led Project Management Manual and workbook (affirmative action for youth with disability – UN Habitat Publication)
• Project Management Guidelines for UN Habitat Youth Funds Grantees (providing an inclusive approach to project management and youth-led community engagement).
• The Convention on the Right of Persons with Disability (CRPD) and the Right to the City
• A paper presented by Elizabeth Karuga (Disabled Child Monitor - Kenya) and Jean-Claude Adzalla (Deaf Aid - Kenya) At the 5th World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro
Ms. Rosa Idalia ALDANA SALGUERO (Guatemala)
• Date and place of birth: 17 September 1975.
• Izabal, Guatemala
• Place of residence: Guatemala
• Nationality: Guatemalan
• Email address:
• United Nations working languages: Spanish and English
Current position/function: (Five lines maximum)
President of Association Small People of Guatemala and of the Ibero-American Net of Achondroplasia; Coordination of the National Net of People with disability, of the Observatory in disability and of the Net of Women with disability in Guatemala; Professor and Coordinator of Planning in the School of Sciences of the Communication, University San Carlos from Guatemala.
Please indicate whether you identify yourself as a person with disability or elaborate on your lived experience related to persons with disabilities. (Three lines maximum)
I am a little woman (achondroplasia) my size is 1.07 centimetres, a disability not recognized in public policies and socially stigmatized as comical objects. There are not many references to make us visible.
Other main activities on the rights of persons with disabilities: (Ten lines maximum)
Ma. Aldana founder of Small People from Guatemala and promoter of the rights of people with Achondroplasia from the Ibero-American Net of Achondroplasia promote the rights of people with disability, the independent life of people with disability. Ma. Aldana Promoter of the rights of the students with disability in the Superior Education and instigator of the Politics in disability of the University of San Carlos from Guatemala and of the Observatory in disability. Ma. Founder of the National Net of People with Disability (RENADISGUA), responsible Net of elaborating two projects in people's favor with disability and promoter of the same ones in the Congress of the Republic. Ma. Teacher and planning in the University of San Carlos from Guatemala.
Educational background, in particular on the rights of persons with disabilities (Five lines maximum)
Student of PHD in Strategic and Social Communication with specialty in disability. University of San Carlos from Guatemala; Ma. In Equality of Gender in the Social Sciences, University Of Alcalá de Henares of Madrid; Ma. Administration of the Human Resource, University Mariano Gálvez; Graduate in Sciences of the communication, University of San Carlos from Guatemala.
Relevant expertise on the rights of persons with disabilities
Please elaborate on your areas of expertise under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and related experience. (Five lines maximum)
Exchange of experiences has more than enough Rehabilitation with community base, RBC in the Latin American region. Oaxaca, Mexico. May, 2010. Participation in the Promotion of the Rights of people with disability in the Central American region and Panama, Costa Rica 2012. From the Ibero-American Net of Achondroplasia we promote the rights of people with Achondroplasia and see to people of small size. Instigator of the Politics in disability in the Superior Education. Activist of the rights of the women and the girls with disability, from the Net of Women and from RENADISGUA.
List of most recent publications in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities: (Five lines maximum)
In the Re-skilled Magazine, Advance and pursuit to the recommendations of the CRPD of the International Convention on the Rights of people with disability, 2017. School of Communication, Imaginary social reproduced in the means on the disability. 2017. In the Re-skilled Magazine of the National advice for the Attention of People with disability, 2004. I dream or Reality, in that the difficulties and the exclusion are evidenced which people live with disability.
Mr. Danlami Umaru BASHARU (Nigeria)
• Date and place of birth: 18th June, 1959, Bantaje, Taraba State, Nigeria
• Place of residence: 11, Vincent Street, off Odunlami Street, Shomolu, Lagos, Nigeria
• Nationality: Nigerian
• Email address: ,
• United Nations working languages: English
Current position/function:
• Member, UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Vice Chair of the Bureau of the Committee. Supports the Chair at meetings of the Bureau, attend external meetings on behalf of the Chair, and actively participates in drafting of General Comments and Statements.
• Director, Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind.
Other main activities on the rights of persons with disabilities:
• Former National President, Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, and Currently Director, Anglo-Nigerian Welfare Association for the Blind.
• Create a Suitable Environment for Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities, and work towards alleviating and eventual eradication of poverty among human race in general, and Persons with Disabilities in particular;
• Create Enlightenment Programmes through the Media that will bring about awareness and understanding of the difficulties faced by Persons with Disabilities, especially the blind. Help to find Education and employment opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Promote the setting up of organizations of Persons with Disabilities. Work towards the passage of National Disability Law in Nigeria for Persons with Disabilities.
• In September, 2010, represented Persons with Disabilities as part of Nigerian delegation to the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York, leading to Nigeria’s ratification of the Convention and its Optional Protocol.
Educational background, in particular on the rights of persons with disabilities:
First and Masters Degrees in Law at Cambridge University in 1986 and 1994 respectively. Called to the Nigerian Bar in October, 1987.
Please indicate whether you identify yourself as a person with disability:
I am a person with disabilities, blind from the age three (3).
Relevant expertise on the rights of persons with disabilities:
I have been working in the area of disabilities rights since 1980s. I have succeeded in establishing various organizations of persons with disabilities, especially in my country Nigeria. As former President of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, I placed on the front burner the issue of disabilities in Nigeria. During the National Political Conference in Nigeria, I successfully promoted the use of sign language for the deaf persons.
List of most recent publications in the field of the rights of persons with disabilities:
• Inclusion and Full Participation of Persons with Disabilities and their Representative Organizations in the Implementation of the Convention;
• Promoting Inclusive Urban Development (Statement of the UNCRPD Committee);
• Translating Policy into Practice: Implementing Disability-Inclusive Development to Realize the Vision of Agenda 2030 – Paper Presented at 10th COS, New York.
Ms. Rehab Mohammed BORESLY (Kuwait)
• Date and place of birth: 16 April 1964, Kuwait city – Kuwait.
• Place of residence: Kuwait City – Kuwait.
• Nationality: Kuwaiti.
• Email address: .
• United Nations working languages: Arabic (fluent), English (good), French (beginner).
Current position/function:
Member of the Public Authority for the Disabled Higher Council since 2014, Founder and Chairperson of the Kuwaiti Society for Guardians of the Disabled since its inception in 2005, Founder and Chairperson of Al-Tomooh Kuwaiti Sport Club for the intellectual disability 2018.
Other main activities on the rights of persons with disabilities:
• Chaired and acted as active member of several non-profit organizations and various associations within and outside Kuwait, including: