European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) Order 2009

I am now hopelessly lost. Notwithstanding these comments, we are pleased to support this order, even though it does not in itself ratify the convention. However, many more states or groups of states will be needed to achieve that. How many are we talking about? Are we talking 30, 40, 50 or 90? I have no idea. Did I understand the Minister correctly when he talked about ratification? As I now understand, and did not when I prepared my speech, we are talking about two ratifications; that is, the EU ratification and this country’s ratification. But still, if we ratify separately, do the reservations and the statutory declaration have to be attached to the EU ratification document? In all this, I am concerned as to how the developing world, where 80 per cent of the world’s disabled people live, will be encouraged to sign up to it. What discussions have been undertaken within the Government to encourage developing countries to sign the convention? Is the Secretary of State for International Development bringing it to the attention of those countries as he and his Ministers go on their travels around the world? The Minister will be delighted to know that that is my final question.