IN THIS EDITION:
- Activities over the past week
- Upcoming activities and events
- In other news
ACTIVITIES OVER THE PAST WEEK
- IDA MISSION TO BEIJING: An IDA delegation consisting of Klaus Lachwitz (IDA Board Member representing Inclusion International) and Vladimir Cuk (IDA Executive Director) attended the Belt and Road Disability Cooperation High-Level Event, which was held in Beijing, 14 – 15 September 2017. The High-Level meeting was organized by China Disabled People’s Federation (CDPF), who are the national organization working on disability rights in China. During the Main Forum subsequent to the Opening Ceremony, IDA Executive Director Vladimir Cuk welcomed the Beijing Initiative for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the Belt and Road countries. In particular, IDA would be interested in working with the Belt and Road Framework and CDPF to exchange research, share experiences, and learn of examples of global practices and policies. Mr. Cuk noted how the disability movement is looking for a concrete response to the increased demand of providing technical capacities in the Asia region. IDA is committed to working with partners in the region to achieve the true concretisation of this demand. Read full report.
- WFDB: On 13-14 September 2017 took place an expert meeting to discuss the provisional structure of the Global report on situation and rights of persons with deafblindness, in Geneva. The workshop was co-organised by World Federation of the DeafBlind (WFDB) and IDA, as part of the “No One Left Behind” grant of DFID, with support from the MOFA Norway. It gathered representatives of the WFDB, Sense International, World Health Organisation, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Diseases, and staff of IDA Secretariat. During the meeting, existing tools for disability assessment and existing researches on deafblindness were presented and clarified in detail. WFDB representative were also invited by Alarcos Cieza, Coordinator on Disability and Rehabilitation at World Health Organisation (WHO), to work more closely with the WHO on the Global report but also for the reports on vision and hearing that the organisation is planning to produce. More information here.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
- TREATY BODIES: The 76th session of theCommittee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 62nd session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) will open at Palais Wilson, in Geneva on 11 September 2017 and 18 September 2017, respectively. IDA is supporting a delegation of four representatives of a Disabled persons' organization from Moldova to attend the review of their countries by both committee. Moldova will be reviewed by the CRC on 18-19 September 2017, and by the CESCR on the 20-23 September 2017. In addition to financial support provided to two representatives, IDA provided technical support to the whole delegation, including arranging meetings with Committees experts and Secretariat, as well as with the civil society working group on Moldova to the CESCR Committee.
- SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOOR: The annual Global Coalition on Social Protection Floor meeting will take place in Nairobi, on 6 - 7 November 2017. The Coalition, created in 2012, consists of more than 80 NGOs and Trade Unions from all parts of the world, including IDA. The aim of the meeting will be to review the overall advocacy strategy of the Civil Society Coalition, including the need and possibility of drafting a Global Charter for Social Protection Rights. IDA has been invited to attend the meeting. The IDA Secretariat proposes the attendance of ADF board members based in Kenya, to represent IDA at the meeting.
- ARTICLE 11: The NGO-International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Reference Group in-person meeting will take place in Amman, Jordan, on 25 - 26 September 2017, to discuss engagement in the drafting of the Global Compact on Refugees. IDA will be represented by Georgia Dominik, IDA Social Development & Human Rights Officer. More information here.
- MENTAL HEALTH: The Trieste Conference on mental health will take place on the 15-18 November 2017 in Trieste. It is organised by the Department of mental Heath of the Italian region of Trieste and supported by WNSUP, as part of the “No One Left Behind” grant of DFID. Wishing to continue the reflection undertaken during the one-day meeting in Galway held in June 2017, the conference aims to frame a global strategy to promote CRPD complaint policies for inclusion of persons with psychosocial disabilities. To discuss how to deinstitutionalize mental health services in Europe, the conference is bringing together several lead activists members of WNUSP and Beyond.
- CRPD: During its 19th Session (14 February 2018 - 9 March 2018), the CRPD Committee will adopt, under simplified reporting procedure, the List of Issues for the following countries: Paraguay, Costa Rica, New Zealand and Republic of Korea. The CRPD Committee will also adopt, at its 9th pre-sessional working group (12 - 16 March 2018), the List of Issues for the following countries: Poland, Macedonia, Malta, Cuba, South Africa, Philippines and Algeria. For more information please contact Juan Ignacio Perez Bello, jiperezbello [at] ida-secretariat.org or Silvia Quan, squan [at] ida-secretariat.org.
- HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL: The permanent mission of Bulgaria to the United Nations in Geneva will organise a side-event in parallel of the 36th Session of the Human Rights Council on 27 of September 2017. The side-event is entitled “Empowering Children with Disabilities through Inclusive Education: Building on Diversity” and is co-sponsored by IDA. The side-event aims to continue the discussion on the right to inclusive education in the Human Right Council. It will lead to a Joint Statement, to be released in September 2018, on the right to inclusive education and its impact on children with disabilities. More information here.
- UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEWS: In the lead-up of the 28th Session of the Universal Periodic Reviews (UPR), which will take place from 6 to 17 November 2017, IDA is providing support to DPOs from Guatemala and Japan in engaging in the pre-session of the UPR of their country, by organizing meetings and providing technical support in advocating with Member States who will provide recommendations during the UPR review. IDA has also been providing full substantive support in the drafting of the report of the Japanese DPO.
- Human Rights Council: On 21 and 22 September, an expert workshop will be held on Witchcraft and Human Rights. The objective of the meeting is to enable greater understanding of witchcraft related beliefs and practices, and their impact on the enjoyment of human rights, in order to prevent further abuses from taking place. A representative from the African Disability Forum, with Albinism, has been invited by the Special Rapporteur to take part in the event. IDA and ADF will jointly be supporting his participation.
IN OTHER NEWS
- CALL FOR PAPERS: The journal Disability and International Development is looking for articles for its next issue. The issue will be addressing research in the context of disability and international development - particularly research related to the Sustainable Development Goals and/or the UN CRPD. The journal is particularly looking for articles focusing on the following topics: i) Which role can research play in improving living conditions for people with disabilities in the global south?; ii) Research projects reviewing the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN CRPD.; iii) Best-practice of meaningful involvement of self-advocates with disability and other stakeholders from the Global South in research. If interested, please send your suggestion to Jana Offergeld via e-mail: janaoffergeld [at] yahoo.com at the latest on the 15 November 2017. The journal’s objective is the scholarly and practice-oriented discourse on disability in low-income countries. It is published three times a year.
- ACADEMIA: From 7 to 8 November 2017, the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria is holding a conference on advancing the right to access to justice and legal capacity for persons with disabilities in Africa. The conference will be held in Pretoria, South Africa. This year’s conference will focus on the following themes: i) the implications of the CRPD for the African region with particular reference to article 13, the right to access to justice and article 12, the right to equal recognition before the law; ii) the development of mechanisms/strategies for the effective domestication and implementation of articles 12 and 13 of the CRPD; and iii) the interplay between article 13 and article 12 of the CRPD. If interested, please register online before 20 October 2017. Further details on the conference and registration is available here.
