'Ambassador Kemayah Elected as Vice Chair of Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Liberia's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, His Excellency Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah, Sr. has been elected as Vice Chair of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Mandated by Article Forty (40) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Conference of State Parties convenes annually to consider any matter with regard to the implementation of the convention.

Ambassador Kemayah was elected by acclamation, by the 193 Member States of the United Nations, at the start of the Twelfth (12^th) Session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in New York. The Liberian Ambassador will serve a two-year term alongside His Excellency Luis Gallegos Chiriboga, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations who was elected as Chair of the CRPD, and other members of the Bureau.

The 12th Session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), convened at the United Nations Headquarters from May 11-13, 2019, under the overarching theme: Ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities in a changing world through the implementation of the CRPD.

Ambassador Kemayah chaired the General Debate Sessions of the conference, which provided the platform for United Nations Member States and Civil Society Organizations to report on actions to promote inclusivity and promote the welfare of persons living with disabilities.

The Vice Chairmanship of the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the second (2^nd) time that Ambassador Kemayah has been elected to the Bureau of United Nations Committees and Conferences. In September 2018, Ambassador Kemayah was elected as  Chair of the United Nations Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee, for the Seventy-Third Session (73^rd ) of the United Nations General Assembly.