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EUD Members News |
UN CONVENTION - Joint ITU and G3ict Forum 2008 on “The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Challenges and Opportunities for ICT Standards" (Geneva, 21 April 2008) |
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is one of the fastest human rights treaties ever adopted. It was developed with the active participation of country delegations and NGOs representing persons with disabilities, includes a number of detailed mandates related to accessible and assistive Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Today, ICT devices such as personal computers, fixed and mobile telephones and television are widespread, with over one billion people, globally, having access to the Internet. An increasing number of applications and services for e-commerce, e-government, transportation, public services, health services, cultural life and leisure are delivered electronically. However many of these services are developed without consideration of the needs of the 10 per cent of the world population with disabilities. This directly impacts the rights of these persons.
The Forum explored the likely impact of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the evolution of ICT standards with the active participation of industry, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), NGOs, and other interested parties. It was addressed to leaders overseeing accessibility standards issues, representatives from the industry, SDOs, NGOs representing persons with disabilities, research institutions, assistive technology developers, governments and academia.
(Left to right – Mark WHEATLEY (EUD), Roland HERMANN (Switzerland), Beat KLEEB (WFD representative) & representatives from Viable Italy)
Mark WHEATLEY (EUD) attended the Forum along with Beat KLEEB (WFD Representative), Roland HERMANN (President of Switzerland Deaf Federation) and representatives from VIABLE (France & Italy). There were significant Deaf representatives at the Forum.
They took part in reviewing existing and in-progress technology standards and standardisation of product development methodologies. Discussed the role of public policy and procurement in support of standardisation and the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities And identified follow-up actions to facilitate the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. |
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90th WFD Board Meeting – Ede, The Netherlands |
Mark WHEATLEY attended 90th WFD Board Meeting at Ede, The Netherlands during April. The board members of the WFD held their working group meetings beforehand to prepare documentation for the Board Meeting. There were discussions concerning the roadmap of the WFD administrative and management structure. The Board also received an excellent presentation from Wilma NEWHOUDT-DRUCHEN about the preparations for the General Assembly and Congress at South Africa in 2011.
(Left to right – Markku JOKINEN, Liisa KAUPPINEN, Mark WHEATLEY, Robert ADAM (minute taker), Knud SØNDERGAARD and Tomas HEDBERG) |
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EUD News |
Mr. Jokinen travelled to New York to celebrate the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol |
Mr. Markku Jokinen, President of the WFD, participated as WFD’s representative in the festivities organized to commemorate the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The event was held in the beautiful UN General Assembly Hall. Also the UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon honoured the event with his presence and held a speech.
Right before the festivities Mr. Ban Ki-moon met representatives of the IDA CRPD Forum. IDA is an international alliance formed by eight international organisations of persons with disabilities. Also WFD was represented in this meeting, this time by a former WFD Board Member, Ms Martha Lucia Osorno Posada from Columbia. According to Ms. Osorno Posada the short gathering went well. The group handed over a paper to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon where was among other things mentioned the need to make the UN system accessible to Deaf people. It was important to be able to share the concerns of the Deaf community on sign languages and the linguistic rights of deaf people also with Mr. Ban Ki-moon.
Moreover the event itself was very visible for sign languages. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Office (UN DESA) organised two ASL interpreters that were shown in the big screens above the speakers. Two Finnish SL interpreters and one Columbian SL interpreter were also sitting in the first rows. Thus, there were three sign languages visible all along the event. There will be UN Webcast about the event in www.un.org where you will be able to see the whole programme.
Furthermore some speakers talked about sign languages and even about the next WFD World Congress in Durban! In the end of her speech Ms. Sue Van der Merwe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, mentioned shortly about the Congress. She has been invited to be a member of the organising committee of the Congress.
Panama government had a deaf female member as part of the delegation. Mr. Jokinen told thanked the delegation representative for sending a deaf delegate and told them that they set a very good example to other governments and to the UN in general.
A representative of New Zealand told about recognition of NZSL in their legislation and the Hungarian representative informed about their government's translation of the Convention into Hungarian SL, Braille and other means of communication.
At the end Ms. Martha Lucia Osorno Posada (WFD) and Mr. Robert Martin (Inclusion International) held a speech on behalf of IDA and the disability movement. It was great that one of the speeches was held by a deaf person and in sign language.
New UN stamps were also shown to the audience by the UN Postal Administration. This collection includes 6 different stamps and one of them is devoted to sign languages, with a person in red background showing the sign of "amour", love.
While being in New York, Mr. Jokinen is participating in the IDA CRPD Forum and Steering Committee meetings. The IDA CRPD Forum will continue the work done by the International Disability Caucus (IDC), created during the AdHoc meetings of the Convention. The idea is to change the IDC to a CRPD Forum that would continue the work of the international disability movement for ratification, implementation and monitoring of the Convention. |
Source: WFD News
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The Progress Report of the Global Education Pre-Planning Project on the Human Rights of Deaf People |
Is now available on the WFD website, please click the following link: http://www.wfdeaf.org/
On the left hand side of the WFD website, you can click to download the report. |
Source: WFD News
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EDF News |
EDF meets with European Commissioner on Transport, Jacques Barrot – “Disabled passengers at the core of EU’s agenda” |
Guaranteeing full accessibility of disabled passengers to the transport system and overcoming the existing barriers in Europe remain a priority for the European disability movement, but also for the European Commissioner Jacques Barrot, as he expressed on 4 March during a meeting with EDF President, Yannis Vardakastanis : “I can guarantee you my full commitment to advance access of disabled people the transport system’, said the Commissioner.
Referring to the recent entering into force of the European Regulation on Air Passengers’ Rights, Barrot highlighted the importance of a proper implementation of this key text: "adopting the Regulation was only the first step; we will now use all our means to make sure that it is also correctly implemented, but most important, we need disabled users’ support to do it well”.
Yannis Vardakastanis welcomed Barrot’s commitment to disability issues and stressed the important role of 50 million disabled people in the European integration process: “By securing access of disabled people to all forms of transport, the European Union is responding to the needs of citizens at the very grass root level, contributing to the improvement of their daily lives” said Vardakastanis to the Commissioner.
The discussion also focused on the forthcoming European Regulations on maritime and coach passenger rights, currently in preparation. “The Regulations will be proposed in the course of 2008; we will particularly make sure that the discrimination of passengers with disabilities will be addresses in these texts through a series of specific measures”, promised the European Commissioner. Barrot also thanked the European Disability Forum for the numerous cases of discrimination reported in the field of maritime transport and agreed on the need to simultaneously address the rights of disabled passengers and the accessibility requirements to be applied to this sector.
During the meeting, EDF President presented to the Commissioner the proposal for a comprehensive European disability Directive, tackling disabled people’s discrimination in all fields of life, including transport. Welcoming the proposal and congratulating the EDF for the success of its campaign “1million4disability” in favour of the disability Directive, Barrot recognised the specificities of the discrimination faced by disabled people, “made of prejudges and stereotyped , but also of structural barriers”. |
Source : EDF Press Release
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EDF participated as observer to the second meeting of the European Co-ordination Forum for the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan 2006-2015 (CAHPAH) |
EDF participated as observer to the second meeting of the CAHPAH (European Co-ordination Forum of the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan) at the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strasbourg, on 10-11 April 2008, and was represented by EDF Vice President, Donata Vivanti. The meeting focused the implementation of the Disability Action Plan as well as the state of the ratification of the UN Convention by the member states. The CoE Disability Action Plan was recognised to be a key instrument to support the member states in the implementation of the UN Convention. The delegate of the European Commission, Mr. Ten Geuzendam, head of Unit for the inclusion of persons with disability, also attended the meeting. He reported the commitment of the European Commission in drafting an EU directive covering all fields and forms of discrimination. He also stressed the coherence among the EU and the CoE Disability Action Plans, expressing the interest of its Unit in creating synergies with the CAHPAH in order to maximise their efforts and outcomes.
Moreover, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas HAMMARBERG attended the 2nd meeting of the European Co-ordination Forum for the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan 2006-2015 (CAHPAH) on 11 April 2008. In opening the second day meeting he stressed in his speech the disability to be a rights issue, as well as the relevance of the UN Convention in fostering a rights based approach to disability.
An overview of ratification of the UN Convention by the member states was presented. Some delegates, among whom Slovenia, announced that their national Assembly ratified the Convention a few days ago. EDF stressed the involvement of persons with disabilities in all the policies and actions which may concern them as the main new aspect of the Convention, in line with the social approach of disability, and expressed the consequent need to develop a structured co-operation with persons with disabilities and their representative organisations in the implementation and follow-up of the Disability Action Plan.
Community Living was recognised to be a key aspect of the UN Convention. According to the request of the CAHPAH Bureau, Mr. Howard LEIGH, United Kingdom delegation, gave a brief presentation of the UK Independent Living Strategy. Several delegates of Member states took the floor in order to inform the Forum orally about relevant activities related to the implementation of the Disability Action Plan in their countries. EDF welcomed the commitment of the member states and expressed appreciation to the Estonia representative and those other CAHPAH delegates who referred the involvement of the organizations of persons with disabilities in the implementation and follow-up of the DAP.
A more detailed data gathering to evaluate progress on the implementation of the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan will be conducted at a later stage based on the questionnaire and criteria currently being elaborated by CAHPAH-DCEC.
At its first meeting, CAHPAH noted that, according to Recommendation Rec(2006)5, member states have the primary responsibility for the follow-up of the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan at national level, whereas at European level, the follow-up should focus on strengthening co-operation, exchange of information, experience and best practices in a structured way. In this perspective, the secretariat therefore presented a sample website aimed to compile information provided by member states and other stakeholders on the current situation and existing national legislation, policies, strategies or action plans. The web-site should be used to re-group data under the following main headlines: data by member state, data by action line, by cross-cutting aspect, events, and main links. Member states are responsible for providing information and links for the website, including a brief description of the link in one of the two official Council of Europe languages (E/F). The Written contributions should be submitted in English or French, be not longer than 10 pages and follow the structure of the Disability Action Plan (15 action lines, 5 cross cutting issues). Electronic links to existing texts or web sites can be provided. A part of the website will be kept public, while another part will have password-restricted access to CAHPAH members, according to the same criteria adopted of access to documents adopted for the former restricted web-site.
The Secretariat provided the CAHPAH with an up-to-date list of forthcoming Council of Europe Conferences of Specialised Ministers (Ministerial Conferences) that may be of particular interest to CAHPAH in order to ensure that the disability perspective is taken into account in other policy sectors, thus promoting the approach of mainstreaming and sector responsibility. Since the participation in those conferences is governed by certain administrative and budgetary procedures, the preparation of any possible contribution will need to start well before the conference. The CAHPAH members (Member States) were therefore invited to consider at which Conferences CAHPAH should be represented and/or provide written contributions in order to assure that disability-relevant issues are adequately taken into account.
Several member States expressed their interest in attending and contributing to all the Ministerial conferences, and agreed that a CAHPAH delegate will be in charge of drafting a written contribution to each conference. Moreover, one of the CAHPAH members representing member States will be in charge to represent CAHPAH at each Ministerial conference. The candidatures proposed by the CAHPAH members to draft the CAHPAH contribution and to attend the conference were agreed by the Forum. |
Source : Report by Donata Vivanti, EDF Vice President
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EU News |
SUBTITLING - Written Declaration 0099/2007 on the subtitling of all public-service television programmes in the EU |
Having collected 427 signatures (with 393 required as minimum), the European Parliament written declaration on the subtitling of all public-service television programmes in the EU was adopted by the Members of the European Parliament on 13 March 2008. The declaration calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal requiring public-service broadcasters in the EU to subtitle all of their programmes to make TV accessible to 83 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people and the growing ageing population in the EU.
Although EP written declarations do not have a binding force, they can be effectively used to put political pressure on governments of the EU Member States, the Commission and the Council. EDF members are encouraged to use the adopted written declaration on subtitling in their workings with their respective national authorities on accessibility of audiovisual media services. |
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FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - Morten Kjærum becomes first Director of Fundamental Rights Agency |
Morten Kjærum from Denmark has been designated as new Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Meeting on 6/7 March 2008, the Agency’s Management Board decided to appoint him according to his extensive experience in the field of fundamental rights. The Board thus followed the opinion of the Council and the European Parliament that Morten Kjærum best fulfilled the conditions for this post, based on his personal merit, experience in the field of fundamental rights and administrative and management skills.
“It is an inspiring challenge and a great privilege to have been selected as the first director of this new institution”, said Morten Kjærum upon his election. The Agency has a strong foundation on which to build a modern network organisation, strengthening human rights protection for people in Europe as well as creating a common European understanding of fundamental rights. We can be proud of our human rights heritage in the EU, but there are challenges that we must address and we cannot be complacent. The Agency will address some of those challenges - whether in the field of anti-racism, minority rights, discrimination against disabled people for example, homophobia, protection of personal data, fundamental rights education, or with regards to the rights of the child, to name only a few.
FRA’s Director has been appointed following a selection procedure, involving the EU institutions. After an open call for candidates, the European Commission placed Dario Carminati from Italy and Morten Kjærum on a shortlist of suitable candidates. Mr. Carminati and Mr. Kjærum then addressed the Council and the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which subsequently stated their order of preference. Taking these opinions into account, FRA’s Board finally elected the Director by secret vote. FRA’s Management Board consists of 27 independent persons appointed by each EU Member State, one independent person from the Council of Europe (without right to vote on the Director) and as well as two representatives of the European Commission.
Morten Kjærum is scheduled to take up his post on 1 June 2008. His term of office will be five years, which may be extended once for a period of not more than three years. |
Source : FRA Press Release
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Other News |
HUMAN RIGHTS - UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution on human rights of persons with disabilities |
The Human Rights Council, UN organ responsible for “promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner”, adopted at its 7th session a resolution entitled Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Council reaffirmed the need to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and called upon governments to prevent and prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities and to ensure their full and effective participation and inclusion.
The Council also welcomed the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, and expressed the hope that those States and regional integration organisations which have not yet signed or ratified the Convention to do so as a matter of priority. The Council further encouraged the UN bodies and the States to include the disability perspective at all stages of their work, and involve national human rights institutions and NGOs representing persons with disabilities in such consultations.
The Human Rights Council was created in 2006, replacing the Human Rights Commission. It serves as a forum for dialogue on thematic issues on all human rights, makes recommendations to the UN General Assembly for the further development of international human rights law and undertakes a universal periodic review of the fulfillment by each State of its human rights obligations.
The UN Resolution can be downloaded from the UN website at :
http://www2.ohchr.org/french/bodies/hrcouncil/7session/index.htm |
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Editorial note
EUD Update is published by EUD in English with support from the European Community – the European Union against discrimination.
The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission, nor the official policy of EUD. The publication is for information only. Readers are invited to reproduce the information provided the source is quoted.
If you wish to receive EUD Update, please send us an email at: info@eudnet.org.
Should you wish to make any contribution or notify any e-mail address modification, please do not hesitate to contact the EUD secretariat, Fax: +32 2 289 7037, E-mail: info@eudnet.org.
Editor: Mark WHEATLEY |
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