Newsletter from IDA Secretariat | 30 January 2018

By IDA

 - February 6, 2018

Logo of all the Members of IDA

IN THIS EDITION:

  1. Highlights
  2. Treaty bodies review, Geneva 2017-2018
  3. Activities in the past weeks
  4. Upcoming activities
  5. IDA members
  6. Other

1. HIGHLIGHTS

OHCHR-ACCESS TO JUSTICE

  • The UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published its annual study on the rights of persons with disabilities with focus on article 13 CRPD ‘access to justice’. You can read it here. 

 2. TREATY BODIES REVIEWS, GENEVA 2017-2018

  • TREATY BODIES: An updated calendar of the treaty bodies reviews can be downloaded here. 
  • CRPD: The CRPD Committee will hold its 19th session from 14 February 2018 to 9 March 2018. It will be followed by the CRPD committee 9th pre-sessional working group from 12-16 March 2018.  The Committee will examine the following countries: Haiti, Nepal, Oman, Russian Federation, Seychelles, Slovenia, Sudan (States Parties Reports) and Costa Rica, New Zealand, Paraguay, Republic of Korea (Lists of Issues Prior To Reporting). In this framework, IDA will support the participation of DPO representatives from Sudan, Nepal, Oman, the Russian Federation and Haiti. Registration to attend the public meetings is open until 9 March 2018. More information and instructions here.  (download the informative note issued by the CRPD Secretariat).
  • The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) has opened our 2018 Round 1 funding with a Letter of Interest (LoI) for Disabled Persons’ Organizations in Haiti and Indonesia who are not currently DRF (or DRAF) grantees. Interested organizations are urged to review the full eligibility criteria and LoI details posted on the Fund’s website. The deadline for the LoI is 5 February 2018. Any questions on the LoI process should be directed to info [at] disabilityrightsfund.org.

3. ACTIVITIES IN THE PAST WEEKS

  • IASC PACIFIC CONSULTATION: PDF, in partnership with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Team on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action and IDA (co-chair of the Task Team), held a two-day regional multi-stakeholder workshop for the Pacific to input into the development of the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. The consultation was held on 24 –25 January 2018 in Nadi, Fiji. The event brought together a wide range of experts that have complementary knowledge such as: humanitarian workers with general or sectoral expertise (i.e. WASH, health, shelter, camp management, etc.) necessary to ensure relevance of the guidelines; disability in humanitarian action experts; governments; and DPOs. Read more on IDA’s page.

4. UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

JANUARY

  • GLAD NETWORK: The Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network will hold its second meeting in Helsinki, Finland, from 31 January to 2 February 2018. The meeting will be an opportunity to further develop a firm, coherent and practical commitment to disability-inclusive development and humanitarian action in line with the CRPD, through meaningful engagement with DPOs, and capitalizing on the collective voice, role and resources of GLAD Network members. More information available on IDA’s website.
  • CRPD ELECTIONS PROCESSES: The Group of Friends is hosting a breakfast meeting on 31 January 2018, at the Permanent Mission of New Zealand, in New York, USA. The aim of the meeting is to promote gender balance, quality and independence in the nomination and elections processes for the CRPD Committee. The meeting will gather elections officers of the States Missions in New York. IDA will be represented by its Treaty Body Unit (To view IDA TB Unit’s tentative agenda for its advocacy week in New York click here). More information will be provided in next week’s newsletter to the Board.

FEBRUARY-MARCH

  •  TRAINING OF TRAINERS: From 11 to 16 February 2018 will take place IDA-IDDC BRIDGE CRPD-SDG Training of Trainers 2018 Module A in Geneva, Switzerland. The Training is organised by IDA with financial support from DFID, Ford Foundation, DRAF, TCI Asia and the Art 11 Initiative (IDA, CBM and HI). The trainees include 15 leaders with disabilities from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Sessions cover topics such as CRPD compliance, key issues in a CRPD training, equality and non-discrimination, equal recognition before the law and inclusive facilitation, among others. The training will have a strong focus on the Article 11 of the CRPD on Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies and will support preparation of trainers for future BRIDGE CRPD-SDG cycles. During the week, trainees from around of the world will have also the opportunity to meet representative of Humanitarian and Human Rights organisations working on the Art 11, including Red Cross, ISDR, OCHA and UNHCR, as well as to meet DPOs from Haiti following the CRPS Cttee review. Agenda and list of participants will be available soon at IDAs webpage.
  • BEIRUT ADVOCACY WEEK: A series of meetings will be held in Beirut late February-early March 2018, in the frame of the Beirut Advocacy Week. While more information on each event will be provided at a later stage, please see below the suggested dates:
    • 25 - 26 February: Executive Committee Meeting
    • 27 February - 2 March: DFID Programme Committee Meeting
    • 2 - 3 March: Combined BRIDGE CRPD-SDG Art11 and BRIDGE CRPD-SDG MENA Region technical workshop
    • 4 - 5 March Individual workshop days for BRIDGE CRPD-SDG Art11 and BRIDGE CRPD-SDG MENA Region 
    • 6 - 7 March: IASC Task Team MENA Region Consultation 

APRIL

  • COMMONWEALTH SUMMIT: The People's Forum at the Commonwealth Summit will be held on 16-18 April 2018, in London, United Kingdom. The mainstream forums will offer an opportunity for Commonwealth dialogue and provide a platform for wider debate of some of the key issues and challenges, in advance of discussions by leaders at CHOGM. Click here to register for the Summit. 

MAY

  • BOARD MEETING: It is suggested to hold IDA Committee meetings on 30 April 2018 and the Board meeting on 1 and 2 May 2018 (and optional 3 May 2018) in Quito, Ecuador. Dates are still to be confirmed.

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 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) in July 2018 (c.f. newsletter No.11). Dates are still to be confirmed.

AUGUST

  • CRPD: The 20th Session of the CRPD committee will 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.
  • The United Nations Statistics Division (UN World Data Forum Secretariat) informed the Programme Committee of the conference invited anyone interested to submit proposals for sessions to be considered for inclusion in the programme. The deadline for submission is 31 January 2018. Proposed programme will be approved by the UN Statistical Commission’s High-level Group for Partnership, Coordination and Capacity-Building (HLG-PCCB). The Programme Committee or the HLG-PCCB may request revisions to some proposals. All applicants will be informed about the status of their application by 31 March 2018.

5. IDA MEMBERS

AFRICAN DISABILITY FORUM

  • The Africa Disability Protocol has been approved for the AU Executive Council and Summit meeting Agenda on 28 and 29 January 2018.

EUROPEAN DISABILITY FORUM

WORLD FEDERATION OF THE DEAF

  • The XVIII World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf will take place in Paris from 23-27 July 2019. The overarching theme of this year’s Congress is "Sign Language Rights for All". With up to 3,000 delegates attending the World Congress in Paris, it is expected to be the largest gathering of deaf and hard of hearing people ever held in France and Europe. More information available on the WFD Congress’s website. The World Federation of the Deaf published a call for abstracts to contribute to ensuring sign language rights for all. To contribute, submit an abstract on the WFD’s website, by 15 June 2018, in one of the six Commissions:
  • Sign Language and Deaf Studies
  • Deaf Education
  • International Cooperation and Development
  • Technology and Accessibility
  •  Health
  • Employment

More information and guidelines in International Sign, English and French here.

  • Participants from developing countries interested to present at the World Congress in Paris may be eligible for a travel scholarship. The deadline for application is 15 June 2018. More information available here.
  • To receive updated information about the XVIII World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, please click "Register to the Newsletter" at the bottom of the Wfd Congress’ webpage.

6. OTHERS

  • HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL: In order to communicate more effectively on the diversity of its activities, Handicap International is changing its international network’s operating name from Handicap International to Humanity & Inclusion (HI) and adopting a new logo. These changes will come into effect on 24 January 2018. This will of have no effect on the nature of its missions and activities. More information and logo on HI’s website.
  • CIL-KATHMANDU: The 2018 International Conference on Accessible Adventure (ICAA 2018) will be held on 29-31 March at Hotel Shangri-La in Pokhara, Nepal. The event is organized by CIL-Kathmandu in collaboration with the International Development Institute in Washington D.C. and the National Federation of Disabled Nepal in partnership with the Nepal Tourism Board and Four Seasons Travel and Tours. The 3-day conference will promote international best practices in inclusive tourism for senior travellers and travellers with disabilities, focusing on improving tourism facilities and services to attract and provide new opportunities for people with disabilities in tourism employment and exploration of Nepal. More information on the conference available here.
  • ACTION4SD: Action for Sustainable Development (Action4SD) is a partner to the upcoming Unleash Sustainable Development Goals Innovation Lab. The event will take place from 30 May 2018 to 6 June 2018 in Singapore. A full sponsorship is offered for up to 20 civil society innovators from the Action4SD community to participate in the 8-day innovation lab to co-create high-impact SDG implementation programs. At the end of the event, winning ideas will receive pro-bono technical support and be eligible for financial-backing to implement their sustainable development solutions. Click here to apply. The application deadline is 3 February 2018 (17:00 GMT). More information available here.
  • INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S PEACE PRIZE: Every year, KidsRights Foundation awards the International Children’s Peace Prize to a brave boy or girl, regardless of race, place of birth or social standing, who has demonstrated the skill and determination necessary to personally improve the rights of children. The nomination process for the International Children’s Peace Prize 2018 has started.KidsRights calls upon individuals and organizations across the globe to nominate eligible children. The nomination form (English and Spanish) and the full list of criteria can be found on the website of the International Children’s Peace Prize.

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