A/72/128 ignoring the needs of persons with disabilities. It affirms that dignity, autonomy, independence and participation rely on not only freedom from institutionalization and State control but also positive measures by Governments to support the right to live in the community as one chooses. 4. The incorporation of the human rights-based approach to disability into the understanding of the right to adequate housing is a work in progress. In the formative years of international human rights development, persons with disabilities were often invisible and their right to adequate housing often neglected. Disability was not listed as a ground of discrimination in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Disability began to receive more attention during the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981 and the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), but a normative framework was not developed until 1993, when the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities were adopted by the General Assembly. 5. In 1994, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made an important advance with the adoption of general comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities. The Committee noted that an estimated 70 per cent of persons with disabilities worldwide lacked access to the services that they required and that “there is no country in which a major policy and programme effort is n ot required”. 4 It emphasized that States were required “to take positive action to reduce structural disadvantage … in order to achieve the objectives of full participation and equality within society for all persons with disabilities” and that that includ ed the right to support services for living in the community and to housing that was accessible, with additional resources made available. 5 6. The negotiation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, however, brought about a transformative approach to disability, placing the economic, social and cultural rights and the civil and political rights of persons with disabilities within a unified framework. In the Convention, the right to adequate housing is recognized on an equal basis without discrimination, including through the provision of reasonable accommodation. Furthermore, a substantive right to adequate housing for persons with disabilities is affirmed outside an “equal enjoyment” framework and without comparison to the mainstream population. It is thus recognized in the Convention that the right to adequate housing has a particular meaning for persons with disabilities and imposes distinct obligations upon States. 7. In the light of the extreme conditions of inadequate housing, institutionalization and homelessness experienced by persons with disabilities around the world and the commitment made by States in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to ensure access to adequate and affordable housing by 2030, the Special Rapporteur considers the incorporation of the disability human rights paradigm into the right to adequate housing to be a matter of the highest priority for States and the international community. __________________ 4 5 17-11724 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 5 (1994) on persons with disabilities, para. 8. Ibid., para. 9. 5/23