By IDA

 - April 20, 2018

IN THIS EDITION:

1. Highlights
2. Treaty Bodies Review, Geneva 2017-2018
3. UN System, Agencies and Mechanism
4. Activities in the Past Weeks
5. Upcoming Activities
6. IDA Members
7. Other
8. Job Offers

1. HIGHLIGHTS

BRIDGE CRPD-SDGS FIRST MODULE UGANDA, UGANDA, 12-18 APRIL 2018

  • From 12 to 18 April 2018, Uganda hosted the first Module of the Bridge CRPD-SDGs training initiative. The workshop was organised by ADF and the National Union of Disabled Persons Uganda (NUDIPU), with the support of IDA, IDDC and their members and the financial support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) and CBM. The event gathered 23 participants representing a wide range of DPOs and other activists, including persons with intellectual disabilities, psychosocial disabilities, deaf-blindness, physical disabilities, albinism, leprosy, vitiligo, people with cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairments as well as multiple impairments. Sessions covered detailed analysis and examination of the key concepts and structure of the CRPD and an introduction to the SDGs. More information available on IDA’s website.   

2. TREATY BODIES REVIEWS, GENEVA 2017-2018

IDA ONLINE CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT GENERAL COMMENT NO.7 OF THE CRPD COMMITTEE

  • The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has endorsed a draft general comment on Articles 4.3 and 33.3 of the CRPD (you may access it by clicking here), which will be discussed in the upcoming session. Its purpose is to provide further guidance to States on their obligations to consult and involve organisations of persons with disabilities in CRPD implementation and monitoring. IDA is launching an online consultation to receive your insights on such a relevant topic for us, and overall for the future of CRPD implementation worldwide (c.f. Newsletter No. 18). The CRPD Committee are also looking forward to collect examples of good practices, including legislations, regulations, and policies in your countries. Please provide your inputs before 30 April 2018. Learn more about this process and complete the online consultation here. The consultation can also be completed in six languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

CRPD COMMITTEE'S VIEWS ON INDIVIDUAL COMMUNICATIONS UNDER THE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL

  • To date, the CRPD Committee has adopted 21 views on individual communications under the Optional Protocol to the CRPD, addressing different procedural and substantive issues. Together with the concluding observations, the general comments and the reports on inquiry procedures, these views constitute an important part of the CRPD Committee jurisprudence. To facilitate access, IDA produces summaries of the views adopted by the CRPD Committee. Brief descriptions of the cases are available on IDA’s website in reverse chronological order.

3. UN SYSTEM, AGENCIES AND MECHANISM

  • UNDP Kuwait: UNDP Kuwait is looking for a consultant to develop inclusive education guideline for mainstream schools (click here to read description and application instructions). Application deadline is 24 April 2018.
  • UNESCO: UNESCO Institute for Statistics produced a Handbook on Measuring Equity in Education (click here to read it), in collaboration with the FHI 360 Education Policy Data Centre, Oxford Policy Management and the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge. The report shows how countries can measure the educational progress of the most marginalized populations to ensure no one is left behind. It provides practical guidance on the calculation and interpretation of indicators designed to target the most disadvantaged groups. More information available here.

4. ACTIVITIES IN THE PAST WEEKS

  • Empower Us self-advocacy training: On 26-27 March 2018, Inclusion International held a two day Empower Us self-advocacy training event in Kathmandu, Nepal in partnership with its member PFPID. The training was supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) through the NOLB grant, NFU Norway, IDA and IHC New Zealand. Twenty-five self-advocates from 8 countries took part in the training with their supporters, which covered self-advocacy, good support, how to work as a group, their rights and how to advocate and take action for change. The training was followed by a regional discussion. More information on II’s website.
  • CSW: The 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held from 12-23 March 2018 at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, USA. This year’s event focused on the “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”. IDA supported the participation of a representative from WNUSP and contributed to development and organisation of four parallel events. More information on those side events is available on IDA’s website. Through advocacy and partnership with the Member States and the Women’s Rights Caucus (NGO coordination group), the Agreed Conclusions of the CSW include two stand-alone paragraphs on the urgent need for States to promote and protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities in rural areas. In addition, the Agreed Conclusions ask for the strengthening of data collection and disaggregation, including disability, and uses inclusive and accessible language throughout.
  • IAEG- SDGs: The 7th Meeting of the IAEG- SDGs took place on 10-12 April 2018 in Vienna, Austria. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) hosted the meeting. The aims or the meeting were: to review the tier classification, to discuss the implementation of the guidelines on data flows and global data reporting and the development of a document on best practices in global data reporting, to review proposals for additional indicators, to discuss progress made on the work stream on data disaggregation, and to share experiences on implementing monitoring of the SDGs. Orsolya Bartha participated in the meeting on behalf of IDA. More information will be disseminated in the next newsletter.
  • COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT: The People's Forum at the Commonwealth Summit was held on 16-18 April 2018, in London, United Kingdom. The mainstream forums offered an opportunity for Commonwealth dialogue and provided a platform for wider debate on some of the key issues and challenges, in advance of discussions by leaders at CHOGM. 
  • PARTNERS FOR REVIEW MEETING: The German initiative Partners for Review held a meeting from 11-12 April 2018, in Tbilisi, Georgia. ASEAN Disability Forum represented IDA.
  • LATIN AMERICA FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2018: The Latin America Forum on Sustainable Development 2018 (APFSD 2018) was held on 16-17 April 2018 in Santiago, Chile. Salam Alexis Gomez Motta, WNUSP and Otto Amilcar Mazariegos, RIADIS attended the event.

5. UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

APRIL

  • EU PROJECT BRIDGING THE GAP II/SECOND WEBINAR: The third Pillar of the Knowledge Management Strategy - Learning Spaces to LEARN and TRAIN - is launching a 2nd session of the webinar cycle, dedicated to the topic of “The Sustainable Development Goals and their references to the inclusion of persons with disabilities” (click here to read the concept note in English). The webinars will be held according to the following schedule:  
  • 25 April 2018, 4:30pm CET: Spanish (Facundo Chavez Penillas, OHCHR) – (click here to read the concept note in English)
  • 26 April 2018, 2:30pm CET: English (Marion Steff, EDF) – To register click here
  • 27 April 2018, 2:30pm CET: French (Lars Bosselmann, CBM International) – To register click here
  • INDIGENOUS WORKSHOP: An indigenous workshop will take place in Quito end of April 2018.

MAY

  • INDIGENOUS WORKSHOPS: An indigenous workshop will take place in Narok Town, Kenya from 2 to 5 May 2018. Another one will take place in Thailand from 29 May to 1 June 2018.
  • WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION: The Second World Conference on Disability and Disaster Risk Management will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 15 – 17 May 2018.

JUNE                                                                                                                            

  • 2018 Helen Keller World Conference: The 11th Helen Keller World Conference will take place on 19-27 June 2018 in Benidorm, Spain. With the main topic: “Our rights; Our Voice; We lead the Way”, the 11th HKWC 2018 will focus on strengthening human rights, democracy and equality through the full and equal inclusion of persons with deafblindness in all aspects of the global, regional, national and local society in which we live. Registration forms are available for download on WFDB’s website.
  • COSP: The 11th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD will take place on 12-14 June 2018, at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA. Among other agenda items, the session will expect to feature an election of 9 members of the CRPD Committee.

JULY

  • 2018 UK DISABILITY SUMMIT: IDA will be co-hosting the first UK global disability summit with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on 24 July 2018, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in London, United Kingdom.  The objectives of the Summit are to: raise global attention and focus on a neglected area; to bring in new voices and approaches to broaden engagement; to mobilise new global and national commitments on disability, and to showcase good practices and evidence from across the world.

AUGUST

  • CRPD: The 20th Session of the CRPD committee will take place from 20 August 2018 to 7 September 2017, in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

OCTOBER

  • UN WORLD DATA FORUM: The UN World Data Forum 2018 will take place in Dubai, UAE from 22-24 October 2018. The event will bring together data leaders from diverse stakeholder groups, including national and international statistical systems, academia, business community and civil society. The aim of the forum is to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, identify solutions, discuss future strategies, and provide mutual learning opportunities on a wide variety of topics. More information available on the website of the UN World Data Forum.

6. IDA MEMBERS

European Disability Forum

  • EDF is recruiting a Social Policy Officer based in Brussels. Deadline for receipt of applications is 20 April 2018. More details and how to apply here.

Inclusion International

World Federation of Deaf

  • From 31 March 2018 to 2 April 2018 took place the 5th International Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The WFD President Colin Allen was one of the keynote presenters. He addressed Full Access to Deaf Education through Sign Language. After the conference, Allen also led a workshop on Deaf Leadership for the members of the Saudi Deaf Community. More information available on WFD’s website.
  • On 15-16 February 2018 took place the WHO consultative meeting on the forthcoming World Report on Hearing in Geneva, Switzerland. The WFD Board Member Kasper Bergmann participated in the meeting and raised awareness for the communication barriers that deaf and hard of hearing people are facing. The report is expected to be launched in March 2020. More information available on WFD’s website.
  • WFD is seeking a new Executive Director available from September 2018. To download the application package, go to the WFD Careers Page. Closing date for receipt of applications is 21 May 2018

 7. OTHER

  • The 5th Women Deliver 2019 Conference on the health, rights, and wellbeing of women and girls, will take place from 3-6 June 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. Applications for scholarships to the Conference are open until the 19 April 2018. Click here to apply.
  • DPI: The first Deputy Chair (Human Rights), Mrs. Henreitta Davis-Wray from Jamaica has been appointed as the DPI Acting Chairperson until a new Chairperson has been appointed in 2019. Mrs. Davis-Wray is also the Regional Chair of DPI North America and the Caribbean, and the President of DPI Jamaica (Combined Disabilities Association). You can get in touch with Mrs. Davis-Wray at hdaviswray [at] yahoo.com.
  • EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF SMART TOURISM 2019 AWARD: The European Commission launched the competition to award the title of European Capital of Smart Tourism 2019 to two European cities that have developed the smartest, most innovative and inclusive approaches in their tourism development. Please also feel free to reach out to your city administration directly and encourage them to apply. More information available here.

 8. JOB OFFERS

  • ALZHEIMER EUROPE: Alzheimer Europe is looking to recruit a new policy officer. This is a Luxembourg-based position. Deadline for applications is 1 May 2018. Click here for more information.

In other news