The Civil Society Mandate: Articles 4 and 33 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities represents a major innovation in international law by integrating civil society into the development and monitoring of the convention’s implementation. Articles 4 and 33 obligate States Parties to “consult and actively involve” persons with disabilities through their representative organizations in the development of laws and policies implementing the treaty and to ensure “civil society, in particular persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, shall be involved and participate fully in the monitoring process [of the CRPD’s implementation].” Together, Articles 4 and 33 constitute a “civil society mandate” that promotes the disability rights movement’s motto “Nothing about us, without us” by ensuring organizations of persons with disabilities’ involvement in laws and policies that directly affect persons with disabilities. It also reflects the history of the disability rights movement in the West, which has centered on legal advocacy. As the convention has been implemented, it has had varied effects on civil society representing persons with disabilities in non-Western contexts. It has either successfully empowered persons with disabilities at the local level, replicated hierarchies within organizations to favor the prioritize the elites, or internationalized civil society so that it reflects international priorities rather than local ones.