Morris elected to UN disabilities committee

Opposition Senator Dr Floyd Morris has been elected to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The election was held Monday afternoon.

The committee is a body of independent experts who monitor the implementation of the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the states who are signatories.

“I am really humbled and honoured,” Morris said on Radio Jamaica’s ‘Beyond the Headlines’.

Morris, a lecturer and director of the Centre for Disability Studies at The University of the West Indies, was among nine people elected to the committee to replace those whose terms are due to expire on December 31.

According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities comprises 18 independent experts.

It says each member must be a person of high moral character and recognised competence in the field of human rights.