The exploration for tools and approaches that will make the UN human rights treaty system more impactful has been ongoing for over thirty years. The UN Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities continues to represent the most innovative approach to effecting human rights implementation at the domestic level, through placing obligations on States to designate a Disability Focal Point within government and an Independent Monitoring Mechanism outside of government. This article examines the role of Disability Focal Points and considers in particular how the current drive for the establishment of National Mechanisms for Follow-Up and Reporting may have unintended consequences for their development. The article utilises the UK as a case-study to assess the potential benefits of allocating responsibility for international reporting and follow-up to a Disability Focal Point.

The article finds that the role performed by Disability Focal Points at the domestic level makes them best placed to coordinate reporting and follow-up relating to the CRPD. Furthermore, the fact that Disability Focal Points are fully integrated into domestic national policy mechanisms means that they ought to be well positioned to harness the transformative potential of the treaty body examination process.

三十多年来，一直在探索使联合国人权条约体系更具影响力的工具和方法。联合国《残疾人权利公约》仍然是国家在政府内部指定残疾人事务联络点和在政府外部设立独立监测机制的义务，这是在国内实现人权实施的最具创新性的方法。本文研究了残疾人联络点的作用，并特别考虑了当前建立国家跟进和报告机制的驱动力如何对其发展产生意想不到的后果。

该文章发现，残疾问题联络人在国内一级所发挥的作用使他们最适合协调与《残疾人权利公约》有关的报告和后续行动。此外，残疾问题联络人已完全纳入国内国家政策机制这一事实意味着它们应处于有利位置，以利用条约机构审查过程的变革潜力。