The 14th session of the Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 15th through Thursday, June 17th at the UN headquarters in New York. 

The COSP14 will be held largely online.  15 June 2021 (in-person meetings: Opening of the conference and matters related to the implementation of the Convention, General debate). 16 and 17 June 2021 (virtual meetings: roundtable discussions, the interactive dialogue with the UN system, and the closing). 

For more information on the 14th session of COSP, please click here to be directed to the UN DESA webpage. 

On this page:

• Themes and background
• Follow the Conference LIVE!
• Written statements
• Civil Society Forum
• Side Events
• Additional information

Themes and background

Building back better: COVID-19 response and recovery; Meeting the needs, Realizing the rights and Addressing the socio-economic impacts on persons with disabilities.

• Sub-theme 1: Protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies.
• Sub-theme 2: Living Independently, being included in the community.
• Sub-theme 3: Right to education; challenges with inclusive education and accessibility during COVID-19.

Bureau of the COSP14

• President-elect: Finland (Western European and Others Group)
• Vice-Presidents-elect: Republic of Iraq (Asia-Pacific Group), Poland (Eastern European Group), Guatemala (Latin American and Caribbean Group), and Zambia ( African Group).

Background Documents

1. Protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语
2. Living independently, being included in the community
   English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语
3. Right to education: challenges with inclusive education and accessibility during the coronavirus disease pandemic English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语

Follow the Conference LIVE!

You can follow the conference live via: http://webtv.un.org/

Written statements

Written statements of accredited civil society organizations can be emailed (in both PDF and Microsoft Word formats, whenever possible) to estatements@un.org, with copy to enable@un.org.

The name of the meeting (COSP 14) and the organization, as well as the agenda item, should be clearly indicated in the subject line of the email and in the heading of the statement. Download the COSP Agenda here, for your ease of reference in finding the agenda item numbers for each part of the conference.

Statements submitted in advance of COSP are encouraged, and those submitted during COSP will appear in the UN Journal on the day following submission, if not sooner.

Submissions are encouraged to follow the limitations of a 5-minute presentation.

Civil Society Forum

The Civil Society Coordination Mechanism is hosting the Civil Society Forum! This Forum will be an opportunity to highlight current issues relevant to the disability movement and realization of the CRPD in response to and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It will provide additional space for civil society to make its own contributions, and allow civil society to share and capture important issues.

• When: Monday, 14 June 2021
• Time: 9am to 12pm EDT/3pm to 6pm CET.
• Please Register for the Civil Society Forum Here.
• Download the Agenda for the forum.
• Captioning, International Sign, French and Spanish simultaneous translation will be provided.

The forum will be presented in three sessions:

• Session 1: The Covid-19 Pandemic: What do we know and what is being done?
• Session 2: Our Communities Online: How are we adapting to this online world?
• Session 3: Our Communities “IRL” In Real Life: The right to live independently in the community.

Side Events

• Click Here to view All COSP14 Side Events
• List of side events with IDA Participation

Additional information

• All questions on side events should be directed to socialngo@un.org and copy enable@un.org. 
• To learn more about the Conference of States Parties to the UN CRPD, please click here.
• More information is posted on the UN DESA webpage.