The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office and having met in its Sixty-ninth Session on 1 June 1983.no__159_Conventions_no__9.pdf: 193 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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C159 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983

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C159 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) 
Convention, 1983 
Convention concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) (Note: Date of coming into force: 
20:06:1985.)  
Convention:C159  
Place:Geneva  
Session of the Conference:69  
Date of adoption:20:06:1983  
Subject classification: Disabled Persons  
Subject: Employment policy and Promotion  
See the ratifications for this Convention 
 
Display the document in:  French   Spanish 
Status: Up-to-date instrument 
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, 
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office 
and having met in its Sixty-ninth Session on 1 June 1983, and 
Noting the existing international standards contained in the Vocational Rehabilitation 
(Disabled) Recommendation, 1955, and the Human Resources Development 
Recommendation, 1975, and 
Noting that since the adoption of the Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled) Recommendation, 
1955, significant developments have occurred in the understanding of rehabilitation needs, 
the scope and organisation of rehabilitation services, and the law and practice of many 
Members on the questions covered by that Recommendation, and 
Considering that the year 1981 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly the 
International Year of Disabled Persons, with the theme "full participation and equality" and 
that a comprehensive World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons is to provide 
effective measures at the international and national levels for the realisation of the goals of 
"full participation" of disabled persons in social life and development, and of "equality", and 
Considering that these developments have made it appropriate to adopt new international 
standards on the subject which take account, in particular, of the need to ensure equality of 
opportunity and treatment to all categories of disabled persons, in both rural and urban 
areas, for employment and integration into the community, and 
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to vocational 
rehabilitation which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and 
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Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention, 
adopts this twentieth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-three the 
following Convention, which may be cited as the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment 
(Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983: 
PART I. DEFINITION AND SCOPE 
Article 1 
1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term disabled person means an individual 
whose prospects of securing, retaining and advancing in suitable employment are 
substantially reduced as a result of a duly recognised physical or mental impairment. 
2. For the purposes of this Convention, each Member shall consider the purpose of 
vocational rehabilitation as being to enable a disabled person to secure, retain and advance 
in suitable employment and thereby to further such person's integration or reintegration into 
society. 
3. The provisions of this Convention shall be applied by each Member through measures 
which are appropriate to national conditions and consistent with national practice. 
4. The provisions of this Convention shall apply to all categories of disabled persons. 
PART II. PRINCIPLES OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND EMPLOYMENT 
POLICIES FOR DISABLED PERSONS 
Article 2 
Each Member shall, in accordance with national conditions, practice and possibilities, 
formulate, implement and periodically review a national policy on vocational rehabilitation 
and employment of disabled persons. 
Article 3 
The said policy shall aim at ensuring that appropriate vocational rehabilitation measures are 
made available to all categories of disabled persons, and at promoting employment 
opportunities for disabled persons in the open labour market. 
Article 4 
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The said policy shall be based on the principle of equal opportunity between disabled 
workers and workers generally. Equality of opportunity and treatment for disabled men and 
women workers shall be respected. Special positive measures aimed at effective equality of 
opportunity and treatment between disabled workers and other workers shall not be regarded 
as discriminating against other workers. 
Article 5 
The representative organisations of employers and workers shall be consulted on the 
implementation of the said policy, including the measures to be taken to promote co-
operation and co-ordination between the public and private bodies engaged in vocational 
rehabilitation activities. The representative organisations of and for disabled persons shall 
also be consulted. 
PART III. ACTION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND EMPLOYMENT SERVICES FOR DISABLED 
PERSONS 
Article 6 
Each Member shall, by laws or regulations or by any other method consistent with national 
conditions and practice, take such steps as may be necessary to give effect to Articles 2, 3, 4 
and 5 of this Convention. 
Article 7 
The competent authorities shall take measures with a view to providing and evaluating 
vocational guidance, vocational training, placement, employment and other related services 
to enable disabled persons to secure, retain and advance in employment; existing services 
for workers generally shall, wherever possible and appropriate, be used with necessary 
adaptations. 
Article 8 
Measures shall be taken to promote the establishment and development of vocational 
rehabilitation and employment services for disabled persons in rural areas and remote 
communities. 
Article 9 
Each Member shall aim at ensuring the training and availability of rehabilitation counsellors 
and other suitably qualified staff responsible for the vocational guidance, vocational training, 
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placement and employment of disabled persons. 
PART IV. FINAL PROVISIONS 
Article 10 
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of 
the International Labour Office for registration. 
Article 11 
1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour 
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General. 
2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two 
Members have been registered with the Director-General. 
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the 
date on which its ratification has been registered. 
Article 12 
1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten 
years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated 
to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation 
shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered. 
2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year 
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, 
exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period 
of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period 
of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article. 
Article 13 
1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the 
International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations 
communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation. 
2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second 
ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the 
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Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force. 
Article 14 
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-
General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of 
the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by 
him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles. 
Article 15 
At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour 
Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention 
and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of 
its revision in whole or in part. 
Article 16 
1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in 
part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides- 
(a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the 
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 12 
above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force; 
(b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention 
shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members. 
2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those 
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. 
Article 17 
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative. 
Cross references  
Recommendations:R150 Human Resources Development Recommendation, 1975  
Recommendations:R099 Vocational Rehabilitation (Disabled) Recommendation, 1955 
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C159 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983

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