UN CRPD Status: Signatories and Ratifications by Country

Author: Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 22 Sep 2014 - Updated: 4 Sep 2026
Publication Type: Informative

Table of Contents:
Synopsis - Definition - Overview - FAQs - Insights, Updates - Related Content

Synopsis

This information provides authoritative documentation of international participation in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which the United Nations adopted in 2006 and opened for signature in 2007. The data tracks 163 signatories and 181 ratifications/accessions across two detailed tables covering both the main Convention and its Optional Protocol. This reference material is particularly valuable because it consolidates official UN treaty status information into an accessible format that helps disability advocates, policymakers, researchers, and individuals with disabilities understand which nations have committed to protecting disability rights under international law. The tables document each country's progression from signature to formal ratification, making it easier to identify where legal protections exist and where advocacy efforts might be needed. For people with disabilities and seniors, this information clarifies which countries have legally bound themselves to ensure equal rights, accessibility, and full participation in society under the fastest-negotiated human rights treaty in UN history.

At a Glance

• 1 - Jamaica signed and ratified the Convention on 30 March 2007, the day it opened for signature. It remains the earliest ratification recorded in the table.
• 2 - The European Union ratified as a regional integration organization by formal confirmation in December 2010. Several states, among them Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, joined by accession without signing first.
• 3 - Negotiators completed the text in eight sessions of a General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee between 2002 and 2006, the quickest turnaround for any human rights treaty. Both the Convention and its Optional Protocol entered into force on 3 May 2008.
• 4 - The Optional Protocol lags well behind the main treaty, with 94 signatories and 96 ratifications or accessions recorded. Countries that skip it accept the Convention's standards but do not allow individuals to bring complaints to the treaty committee.

Topic Definition

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a binding United Nations human rights treaty, adopted in 2006 and opened for signature on 30 March 2007, that spells out how established civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights apply to disabled people and what governments must do to make those rights usable in practice. It does not invent a separate category of rights; instead it identifies the points where law, policy and physical environments have to be adapted - accessibility, equal recognition before the law, inclusive education, employment, health care, independent living and participation in public life - and where protection has historically failed. Its approach reflects the social model of disability, which locates the problem in barriers and attitudes rather than in a person's impairment, and it deliberately uses a broad description of who counts as a person with a disability. Two steps matter when reading treaty status data: signature signals intent and an obligation not to defeat the treaty's purpose, while ratification, accession or formal confirmation is the act that legally binds a state or regional organization to the specific duties inside the text, including periodic reporting on progress. A companion agreement, the Optional Protocol, is ratified separately and is what gives individuals the ability to petition the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities once domestic remedies have been used up.

Overview

The Convention was negotiated during eight (8) sessions of an Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly from 2002 to 2006, making it the fastest negotiated human rights treaty.

"The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced." - (UN)

Jump to:

• Table I: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Table II - Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

NOTE: Both Tables I and II Current as at 26th February, 2020.

Table I: Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Current Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Figures:

• Signatories* - 163
• Ratifications/Accessions - 181

Table II - Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Current Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Figures:

• Signatories* - 94
• Ratifications/Accessions - 96

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a side-agreement to the Convention allowing parties to recognize the competence of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to consider complaints from individuals. The Optional Protocol entered into force along with the Convention on 3rd May, 2008.

* Signatories include countries or regional integration organizations that have signed the Convention and its Optional Protocol.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between accession and ratification

Ratification follows an earlier signature and confirms that the state now accepts the treaty as legally binding. Accession achieves the same binding effect in a single step for a country that never signed, which is why many entries in treaty tables are marked with a lowercase a.

What does formal confirmation mean in a treaty status table

Formal confirmation is the equivalent of ratification when the participant is a regional integration organization rather than a sovereign state. The European Union used this route because it exercises powers transferred to it by its member states in areas the Convention covers.

How does the CRPD define disability

The Convention avoids a fixed medical list and instead describes persons with disabilities as including those with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments that, in interaction with barriers, hinder full and equal participation in society. This wording deliberately puts the emphasis on the barriers as much as on the impairment.

How many articles does the CRPD contain

The Convention has 50 articles, with the substantive rights set out roughly between Articles 5 and 30 and the monitoring and procedural provisions in the later sections. The Optional Protocol is much shorter, running to 18 articles.

What reporting duties does a country take on after ratifying the CRPD

A State Party must submit a comprehensive initial report on the measures it has taken within two years of the treaty entering into force for it, then report again at least every four years or whenever the treaty body requests. Disability organizations are expected to be involved in preparing these reports and often submit their own parallel evidence.

Who serves on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Committee is made up of independent experts elected by the States Parties, serving in a personal capacity rather than as government representatives, and membership expanded to 18 members as ratifications grew. Many members are themselves disabled people, reflecting the principle that policy about disability should involve disabled people directly.

Can a country attach reservations when it ratifies the CRPD

Reservations and interpretative declarations are permitted so long as they are not incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty, and a number of states have filed them on matters such as legal capacity, employment or immigration. Other States Parties and the Committee can object when a reservation appears to hollow out a core obligation.

Can a country withdraw from the CRPD after ratifying it

Yes, the Convention allows a State Party to denounce it by written notification to the United Nations Secretary General, and the withdrawal takes effect one year after that notice is received. No country has taken this step, and denouncing the treaty would not remove obligations owed under other human rights instruments.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Editorial Note: The gap between signing and ratifying remains telling. While 163 nations have signed the Convention, only 181 have taken the binding step of ratification - and notably, the United States signed in 2009 but has yet to ratify, leaving it among a handful of holdouts. The Optional Protocol numbers tell an even starker story: just 96 ratifications compared to 94 signatures, meaning many nations that accepted the Convention's principles have declined to let individuals file complaints with the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These tables don't just track diplomatic milestones; they map where disability rights have teeth and where they remain aspirational, making them essential for anyone working to close the gap between international promises and lived reality for people with disabilities worldwide.

Author Credentials: Ian is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Disabled World, a leading resource for news and information on disability issues. With a global perspective shaped by years of travel and lived experience, Ian is a committed proponent of the Social Model of Disability, a transformative framework developed by disabled activists in the 1970s that emphasizes dismantling societal barriers rather than focusing solely on individual impairments. His work reflects a deep commitment to disability rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and accomplishments, visit his full biography.