A/HRC/49/52
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
28 December 2021
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-ninth session
28 February–1 April 2022
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Rights of persons with disabilities
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with
disabilities
Summary
The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council
resolution 44/10 by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gerard
Quinn. It provides an overview of the activities undertaken in 2021 and contains a thematic
study on artificial intelligence and the rights of persons with disabilities.
The world is undergoing unprecedented and rapid growth in the use by States of
artificial intelligence, automated decision-making and machine-learning technologies. These
new technologies can be of enormous benefit to persons with disabilities and drive the search
for inclusive equality across a broad range of fields such as employment, education and
independent living. However, there are many well-known discriminatory impacts. While
there is a growing awareness of the broad human rights challenges that these new
technologies can pose, a more focused debate on the specific challenges of such technology
to the rights of persons with disabilities is urgently needed. In his thematic study, the Special
Rapporteur intends to initiate and inform such a debate. In it, he describes the risks that this
technology constitutes to the enjoyment of the human rights of persons with disabilities, as
provided by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He maintains that the
human rights of persons with disabilities should be placed at the centre of the debate about
these technologies. Once these risks are addressed, then the practical benefits of artificial
intelligence might be realized. To that end, practical recommendations as to how this can be
achieved are set out in the final section of the report.
GE.21-19753(E)