DPI Disability Convention Daily Update - September 3, 2009
Second Conference of States Parties of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities
http://v1.dpi.org/lang-en/resources/topics_detail?page=976
September 3, 2009 marked the second day of the Second Conference of States
Parties of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The day began with a pre-session morning event on meeting the needs of
children and youth with disabilities, sponsored by the Mission of Australia.
The formal morning session began with a second round table addressing equal
recognition before the law, access to justice and supported decision-making.
The session was co-chaired by Ms. Noluthando Agatha Mayendesibiya, Minister
of Women, Youth, Children and Persons with Disabilities of South Africa, and
Ambassador Don McKay of New Zealand. The session included presentations by
Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes and Edah Wangechi Maina (CRPD Committee
members), Tina Minkowitz (World Network of Users and Survivors of
Psychiatry), and Tirza Leibowitz (Survivor Corps), followed by responses
from
States Parties. Many States indicated that they considered these issues of
great importance, and that they would approach implementation carefully. A
number of speakers noted that in many countries there is much that needs to
be done in order to achieve the paradigm shift articulated in the CRPD.
DPI received very positive feedback following the success of the first day's
lunchtime session on monitoring, co-sponsored by DPI, the ICC, the Canadian
Human Rights Commission and HPOD. The event explored opportunities for
collaboration between NHRIs and DPOs for effective monitoring and
implementation of the CRPD. Today's concurrent lunchtime sessions addressed
the topics of universal design of the built environment, the Millennium
Development Goals, HI's Making it Work Initiative, and the U.S. CRPD
ratification process.
During the afternoon there was no formal session of the Conference, but
rather there was an informal session jointly organized by the Bureau of the
Conference and the IDA CRPD Forum. The event was co-chaired by Ambassador
Don McKay of New Zealand and Catalina Devandas (RIADIS/IDA). The panelists
included Cveto Ursi; (CRPD Committee Member), Khandaker Jahurul Alam (Asia &
Pacific Disability Forum & National Forum of Organizations with the
Disabled), Nora Groce (Queen's College of London) and Aleksandra Posarac
(World Bank). The session prompted discussion of the extensive impact of
the current global economic crisis on people with disabilities, and the need
to ensure inclusion of people with disabilities in any strategies to address
the crisis. Many noted that the current crisis has exacerbated the already
dire structural socio-economic circumstances in which people with
disabilities live, especially those in developing countries. Many also
noted that there is a need to address the stereotyping and stigmatization of
people with disabilities, so that governments and private sector employers
view people with disabilities as full citizens who are capable of
contributing productively to society. It was observed that although the
current economic crisis is very challenging, it also offers a valuable
opportunity to establish principles and procedures for the inclusion of
people with disabilities in the development and implementation of domestic
economic policies and programmes.
The day concluded with a side event sponsored by the Mission of Argentina,
RI and the GPDD, focused on integrating the disability perspective in the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among other things, it was noted that
DESA will soon issue the report compiled for the April 2009 meeting of
Experts on the MDGs.
Copyright DPI 2009, all rights reserved.
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