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fyi. ----- Original Message ----- From: janjira To: Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 10:33 AMSubject: 2nd regional leadership training seminar of WWDs ends with positive results (from TNA) 2nd regional leadership training seminar of WWDs ends with positive results BANGKOK, Apr 26 (TNA) - The Second Leadership Training Seminar of Women with Disabilites (WWDs) in Asia and the Pacific ended successfully yesterday, with participants expressing their strong determination to foster their networking and to continue to work hard for the better quality of life of WWDs in their countries and in the region. Participating leaders of WWDs in the region who were interviewed by TNA reporter on the random basis, including those from India, Vietnam and Thailand, said that they had gained broader knowledge on human rights, rights of WWDs, independent living of persons with disabilities (PWDs), and the development of efforts and movements to improve conditions and better life of PWDs and WWDs. They said that they had been enlightened and had been determined to strengthen their networking, and to seek every mean possible in upgrading the status with better quality of life of WWDs in their respective countries and in the region. The seminar, organized by the Disabled Peoples' International Asia-Pacific (DPI-AP) at the Eastin Lakeside Hotel in Muang Thong Thani of Nonthaburi province between April 21 and 25, was attended by leaders of WWDs from 12 countries in the region, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand. Its opening ceremony was honourably presided over by Ms. Pavena Hongsakul, secretary-general to the Chat Pattana Party, who is also advisor to Labour Minister and chairperson of the Pavena Hongsakul Foundation for Children and Women; while its closing ceremony was honourably chaired by Ms. Surapee Vasinont, director-general of the Office of Children, Youths, the Disadvantaged Persons with Disabilities, and Older Persons. During the four-day seminar, the participants also discussed following issues with concerns, and wanted them to be included and addressed in the proposed United Nations Convention on Person with Disabilities. They include poverty, insufficient access to societal structures and activities of WWDs, insufficient access to such key sectors as education and employment in the mainstream, double discrimination against WWDs--as being women and being disabled--, and violence against children and WWDs. Among its efforts and mandate to develop and improve the status and quality of life of PWDs, DPI-AP, which has national disabled persons' organizations from over 150 countries worldwide as its members and whose regional office is in Thailand, has included issues of WWDs in its policies and movements since it was incepted in 1981. WWDs also becomes a main target of development in the Second Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 2003-2012, declared by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), through the implementation of the Biwako Millennium Framework of Action, which outlines priorities of issues, action plans, and strategies towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for PWDs in the region. An "inclusive society" is a society for all; while a "barrier-free society" refers to a society which is free from institutional, physical, as well as attitudinal, social, economic, and cultural barriers, and a "rights-based society" means a society based on human rights of all individuals, where PWDs are also valued and included in all decision-makings and activities in the society. The main objective of the new decade of PWDs in the region is to shift from a charity-based approach to a rights-based approach to protect the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of PWDs and WWDs. (TNA)--E002 ________________End of message______________________ Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List are now located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.