The sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place from 14 to 25 March 2022.
This year's theme was "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all...
Virtual Event: List of Moderators, Speakers and Panelists
Rupsa Mallik, Director, Programs and Innovation at CREA
Rupsa Mallik is Director, Programs and Innovation at CREA. CREA is a feminist, human rights organisaiton that has since its inception in 2000 worked on issues of disability and sexuality. through its Strategic Initiative Voice and Visibility of Marginalized Women. This includes working in partnership with disability rights organizations and networks in India, Nepal, Kenya and Uganda. We also led on two Global Dialogues – Sexuality and Disability of Women with Disabilities held in 2017 and Abortion, Prenatal Testing and Disability in 2018.
Ms Gerel Dondovdorj, President, Mongolian National Federation of the Blind “MNFB”
Ms. Gerel Dondovdorj, from Mongolia, works for the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind as the president. She lost her sight while studying at the university. But she continued her studies and graduated from the Law School of the Mongolian National University as a lawyer. She did her master on international human rights at the University of Notre Dame in the USA. Gerel is a member of the National Disability policy counsel of Mongolia. She is also serving as a member of the Disability Policy Counsel at the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labor and social protection as well as at the ministry of justice. She is a first blind advocate in Mongolia and a member of the Mongolian Bar association.
Ms. Villaney Remengesau, Secretary, OMEKESANG
Ms. Villaney Remengesau is the Secretary of OMEKESANG, the national disabled person's organization to promote disability awareness and advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities in Palau and beyond. Ms. Remengesau is a Board member of the Palau Parents Empowered, an organization and resource center for parents of children and youth with disabilities. She is also now a founder and team leader for the Palau Community Based Inclusive Development and Disability Consortium. At the regional and international level, Ms. Remengesau is the current Female Co-chair of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF) Board since August 2018. Ms. Remengesau was a PDF Board Member from August 2011 to June 2015.
Panelist: Ms. Yeni Rosa Damayanti, Chairperson, the Indonesian Mental Health Association
Yeni Rosa Damayanti is a Steering Committee member of TCI Asia, a regional organization for people with psychosocial disabilities and the chair of Indonesian Mental Health Association and. Yeni introduced the issue of psychosocial disability to the cross-disability and human rights movement in Indonesia when the issue was still very much unknown and succeeded in pushing the issue into the center. She has brought a strong human rights perspective into the discourse of mental health and is at the forefront of policy formation and reform, towards ensuring all human rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities. Yeni has been working to introduce disability issues and perspectives into the agenda of women's movement as well as introducing feminist perspectives to the disability movement in Indonesia. Bridging the still existing gap between women's movement and women with disability movement is one of her priorities.
Ms. Ekaete Judith Umoh, Board Member, African Disability Forum
Ekaete Judith Umoh has over 20 years’ experience, as an International disability rights advocate and inclusive development expert with astute analysis of issues relating to gender, disability, and development. She is founder and Executive Director, FACICP Disability Plus (www.facicp.org) In 2014, she became the first elected Female President of JONAPWD (www.jonapwd.org) an umbrella body of disability organizations in Nigeria, also she is Secretary, African Disability Forum-ADF; Member, UN Women Civil Society Advisory Group, Nigeria; Member, IDA Gender Task Team and alumni of MIUSA’s Women’s Institute on Leadership and Disability. From 2010-2012, she served on the International Conference Planning Committee of the Association of Women’s Rights in Development-AWID providing insight on inclusion of women and girls with disabilities.
Panelist: Ms. Pratima Gurung, General Secretary, Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network and Nepal Indigenous Disabled Association (NIDA)
Ms. Pratima Gurung, 37, is an activist for the rights of Indigenous peoples and women with disabilities in Nepal and Asia, a member of the Steering Committee of the Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network. Born in Pokhara, Nepal, Gurung became disabled at seven years of age. Today she one of the most prominent voices in Nepal and Asia on the rights of indigenous women with disabilities and seeks their leadership, inclusion and participation in decision-making at all levels. Pratima Gurung is the General Secretary for Indigenous Persons with Disabilities Global Network and Nepal Indigenous Disabled Association (NIDA), Chair of the National Indigenous Disabled Women Association Nepal (NIDWAN) and a faculty member at Padma Kanya College in Kathmandu.
Panelist: Ms. Pirkko Mahlamäki, Secretary-General, Finnish Disability Forum
Ms. Pirkko Mahlamäki (Master of Arts, Bachelor of Laws) is the secretary-general of Finnish Disability Forum (since 2000) and was the first policy officer of the EDF (1997-1999). She is a board member of EDF (2013-2017), and represents EDF as a board member of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) since 2016, having been elected as a member of the Executive Committee in 2018. She served as an expert member of the Finnish delegation to the UN Ad hoc committee preparing the ICRPD (2003-2006). She has been active in Nordic co-operation as a member of the Nordic Co-operation organisation of disability organisations (since 2001) and vice member of The Council of Nordic Cooperation on Disability, an advisory body to the Nordic Council of Ministers (2013-2017).
Panelist: Ms. Rosario Galarza, Focal Point, the Economic Commission for the Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
In 1998 Rosario Galarza decided to found an organization called Blind Women’s Commission of Peru (CODIP) whose main goal is to advocate for the rights of women and girls with visual impairments. Since its foundation, more than 70 women with visual impairments have been trained in the knowledge of their rights recognized in the CEDAW and the CRPD. Then, from 2013 to 2016, Rosario was appointed as chair of gender and equality in the Latin American Union of the Blind (ULAC) and under this position, she promoted the realization of different blind women’s meetings in different countries of Latin America to spread the rights recognized in the CEDAW and the CRPD. In 2018, Rosario was appointed as a focal point of the group of persons with disabilities for the civil society coordinator mechanism of the Economic Commission for the Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Speaker: An-Sofie Leenknecht, EDF, Human Rights Coordinator
An-Sofie oversees EDF secretariat initiatives and projects related to human rights and equality at the European and UN level. She coordinates our work on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), equal treatment and fundamental rights, women’s rights and gender equality. She manages EDFs cooperation with universities and researchers on human rights issues. An-Sofie has been supporting EDF and IDA in influencing the global gender equality agenda and the Beijing +25 review process.
Moderator: Lucy Richardson, IDA Human Rights Advisor
Lucy Richardson joined IDA in May 2019 as a Human Rights Officer. She promotes the CRPD in her work on UN General Assembly Third Committee resolutions and the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD. Prior to joining IDA, Lucy was a consultant with UNDP and worked on child rights and welfare in Australia. Lucy has a Masters of Child and Adolescent Welfare, a Bachelor of Business and a Diploma in Community Services.