Bridging the Gap: Harnessing the Synergies Between the CRPD and the SDG Monitoring Frameworks

Since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the recognition and advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities at the international level has grown exponentially, thanks to the work of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) and other stakeholders. The rise of the disability agenda is also reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes explicit references to persons with disabilities, including in its indicators framework, meaning that action taken for persons with disabilities should be tracked, measured, and reported on to the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. The SDG-CRPD resource package, recently launched by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), came to offer additional guidance to promote SDGs implementation under the CRPD. Against this background, the purpose of this chapter is to explore the complementarity of the monitoring frameworks of the CRPD and SDGs, and how to harness those synergies to advance the rights of persons with disabilities. To do so, the chapter compares CRPD- and SDG-based frameworks and processes for monitoring and explores the SDG-CRPD resource package developed within the EU-funded project, Bridging the Gap I, offering tools to ensure that all actions for the SDGs are inclusive of persons with disabilities and informed by the CRPD, including human rights indicators on the CRPD and data sources guidance to guide data collection and monitoring efforts.