Kinshasa, June 8th, 2025 (CPA) – The Minister Delegate for People Living with Disabilities of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) left Kinshasa on Saturday for New York in the United States, to take part in the 18th session of the Conference of Member States of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an official source has told us.
‘It is an honor today for people with disabilities to be taking part in the 18th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to be held from June 10th to 12th, 2025 in New York in the United States of America,’ said Irène Esambo Diata, Minister Delegate in charge of People with Disabilities and Other Vulnerable Persons (PVH-APV). ‘On this occasion, I will also be taking part in various side events, notably with the International Disability Alliance (Ida), and also with Italy, where there will be an exhibition of works by disabled people from both countries’, she added. The Minister Delegate in charge of PLHIV-APV pointed out that a portfolio has been dedicated to this social category, which has long been marginalized.
On this occasion, Minister Esambo drew up the Initial Report on the state of implementation of the CRPD, which is a guideline for government action in favour of PLHIV. On September 30th, 2015, the DRC acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol. This international legal instrument, which aims to promote, protect and ensure the dignity, equality before the law, human rights and fundamental freedoms of people with disabilities, only came into effect with the accession to power in 2019 of President Félix Tshisekedi, who has broken new ground in this sector.
The DRC has made several significant advances in terms of the social inclusion of PLHIV. These include the promulgation by the Head of State of Organic Law No. 22/003 on the protection and promotion of the rights of people with disabilities, followed by its implementation measures, namely the creation of an Administration dedicated to PLWHA, the ongoing implementation of a national policy for the social inclusion of PLWHA, and the National Strategy for Accessibility and Empowerment of this category.