In the present report, prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 43/7, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights examines the relationship between the realization of the right to work and the enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. The report provides an overview of the main barriers persons with disabilities face in enjoying their rights to access and participate in the labour market. It highlights how targeted rights-based measures relating to disability can help overcome these barriers and create an enabling and conducive environment for the participation of persons with disabilities in the labour market.

Methodology 

For the preparation of the report, and as requested by the Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) consulted States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, in particular the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as human rights treaty bodies, special procedures, civil society and national human rights institutions. A request for inputs on challenges and best practices for the enjoyment of the right to work of persons with disabilities was sent to relevant stakeholders, to which more than 30 responses were received (see below). 

The report builds upon previous reports of the High Commissioner on the right to work, as well as on the 2012 study on the right to work of persons with disabilities. The latter, in particular, presents in detail the normative framework pertaining to the right to work of persons with disabilities. In the report, the High Commissioner provides an overview of the main barriers persons with disabilities face in enjoying their right to decent work and highlights how targeted rights based measures to disability can help overcome these barriers and create an enabling and conducive environment for the participation of persons with disabilities in the labour market.