The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century, and the first legally binding international instrument to protect the globe’s six hundred and fifty million individuals with disabilities. Ratified by nearly one hundred countries, and in operation since May 2008, the CRPD is effectuating global change. People with disabilities have been transformed from the objects of charity to the subjects of rights, and are claiming their human rights in all corners of the world based on the theme of the CRPD negotiations: “Nothing about us without us.” At the same time, some countries are actively resisting the notion of legal capacity–the human right by which persons with disabilities make decisions about their own lives. Professor Stein, who was active in the CRPD negotiations and has worked on disability issues in dozens of countries, will discuss the CRPD generally. Stein also will discuss recent developments from around the world, including what the UN Disability Committee in Geneva is doing, and how the CRPD is being implemented and monitored in different countries where the Harvard Law School Project on Disability (www.hpod.org) has been active.