A/HRC/RES/37/22
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
6 April 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-seventh session
26 February–23 March 2018
Agenda item 3
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 23 March 2018
37/22.
Equality and non-discrimination of persons with disabilities and the
right of persons with disabilities to access to justice
The Human Rights Council,
Recalling the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional
Protocol thereto,
Recalling also the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness
of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and the need for persons with disabilities to
be guaranteed the full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms without discrimination,
Reaffirming all of its previous resolutions on the rights of persons with disabilities,
the most recent of which was resolution 31/6 of 23 March 2016 on the rights of persons
with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, and welcoming the
efforts of all stakeholders to implement those resolutions,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 72/162 of 19 December 2017 on the
implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the
Optional Protocol thereto: situation of women and girls with disabilities,
Reaffirming that discrimination against any person on the basis of disability is a
violation of the inherent dignity and worth of the human person,
Recalling in particular that article 5 of the Convention reaffirms that all persons are
equal before and under the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal
protection and equal benefit of the law, and provides that States shall prohibit all
discrimination on the basis of disability, guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and
effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds and, in order to promote
equality and eliminate discrimination, shall take all appropriate steps to ensure that
reasonable accommodation is provided,
Recalling in that regard that specific measures that are necessary to accelerate or
achieve de facto equality of persons with disabilities shall not be considered discrimination,
Mindful that any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability that
has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise,
on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political,
GE.18-05245(E)