Last week, the International Disability Alliance (IDA) held a 2-day workshop on the CRPD Committee’s review process and on the Global Disability Summit. This workshop took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, in collaboration with the Vietnam Federation on Disability. Members from the Lao Disabled People’s Association also attended. Furthermore, representatives from United Nations Development Program’s offices in Laos and Vietnam, who collaborate with national organizations for persons with disabilities (OPDs), were also part of the workshop.
This workshop was developed in the lead up to the process of the review of Laos and Vietnam by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to take place during the upcoming 27th Committee’s session (for Laos) and the 16th Pre-Sessional Working Group (for Vietnam).
This activity gathered approximately 25 participants from OPDs from Laos and from Vietnam (both from the capital city and other regions). The workshop took place in the Ballroom III of the Melia Hotel Hanoi. It was a great opportunity for all the participants to learn about the CRPD review process and the many ways in which civil society is invited to engage. The Global Disability Summit and the mechanism for stakeholders’ commitments was also presented and discussed with a forward-looking perspective.
The agenda included initial presentations on the CRPD and on the process of review by the CRPD Committee. More specific presentations addressing the rights of women and girls with disabilities (Article 6 CRPD) and the right to work and employment of persons with disabilities (Article 27 of the CRPD).
The participants actively engaged in groups and plenary discussions about the rights of persons with disabilities, addressing different key CRPD provisions and providing inputs to the draft written submission by the Vietnam Federation on Disability. The work continues from OPDs from both countries to influence the reviews by the CRPD Committee in the coming months.
