This week, IDA participated in “The Freedom Drive 2022. 50 Years of Independent Living; Dedicated to Kapka Panavotova” organized by the European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) in Brussels. IDA is very pleased and thankful to ENIL for the invitation and the opportunity to contribute to this event that mobilizes organizations of persons with disabilities and disability activists throughout Europe.
IDA’s Human Rights Advisor for Treaty Bodies, Juan Ignacio Pérez Bello, contributed as panelist in two workshops related to the international monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), other relevant human rights treaties and the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities in Belgium, respectively.
Both workshops included highly distinguished panelists including, among others, Mr Stelios Kympouropoulos, Member of European Parliament, and Ms Karine Lalieux, Minister of Pensions, Social Integration, Fighting Poverty and Disabled Persons. Ms Karine Lalieux shared some elements on the measures adopted in the past years along with the upcoming ones, including on a national plan related to disability rights with responsibilities for the different ministries of the national government.
IDA’s Human Rights Advisor described the way the CRPD Committee functions. He highlighted the importance of having organizations of persons with disabilities engage and participate in processes by other UN Treaty Bodies, such as the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. IDA’s Human Rights Advisor also highlighted the fact that Belgium received disability related recommendations by several UN Treaty Bodies in the last years and briefly shared them with the participants. He noted that Belgium will be reviewed by the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, on 14 October 2022.
