Dec. 13 was a historic day for people with disabilities around the world. That was the day the U.N. General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This comprehensive human rights treaty, the first of the 21st century, details the areas in which citizens with disabilities are entitled to equal protection under law.

The United Nations estimates that, globally, 650 million people have disabilities and that about 80 percent of them live in developing countries. Currently, only 45 countries have legislation protecting their rights.

Countries may begin ratifying the U.N. treaty in March. Once 20 of them have done so, the treaty will enter into force. Countries that adopt it would have to eliminate laws that discriminate against people with disabilities and establish new laws that affirm their rights.

This is a tremendously positive development.

In one form or another, most every country in the world has victimized people with disabilities.

Sometimes it’s blatant, such as in Romania, where investigators from the watchdog group Mental Disability Rights International found children with disabilities abandoned and starving in adult psychiatric facilities.

Sometimes it’s more subtle, as in India, where some people with disabilities have not had the same rights as others to own or transact private property.

The Vatican and the United States have stated their intention not to sign on.

Vatican representative Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Holy See objected to the provision that allows people with disabilities to have a right to “the same range, quality and standard of free or affordable health care and programs as provided to other persons, including in the area of sexual and reproductive health.” He said that this could be construed to compel states that adopt the treaty to legalize abortion. That’s a stretch of logic.

As for the Bush administration, it says the United States already protects the rights of disabled people with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act. But the ADA is no panacea, and the treaty is more comprehensive. For example, the treaty prohibits discrimination in the provision of health and life insurance. Currently, it’s commonplace for Americans with disabilities to be denied insurance coverage.

What’s more, in the United States, thousands of people with disabilities are involuntarily institutionalized.

The treaty declares that people with disabilities have the right, among many other things, to own or inherit property; to control their own financial affairs; to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live; to obtain quality mobility aids at affordable cost; to retain their fertility and decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children; to not be excluded from the general education system; and to vote by secret ballot in elections.

The treaty is a resounding victory for equality and justice. The United States should get on board.