Art.50 Authentic Texts

Abstract

This chapter examines Article 50 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which states that the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish texts of the present Convention shall be equally authentic. These languages are all official languages of the United Nations and it is standard practice for all of these to be designated as equally authentic in treaties adopted under its aegis. That all six languages are authentic entails that all texts are authoritative when determining the meaning of any provision in the CRPD. Consequently, it is crucial that the language in all texts is precise and the terminology corresponds to the greatest possible degree in all languages.