114 Signatories to the Convention !

Reminder

We invite submissions and more photos for our next issue of Disability International on the theme Indigenous Peoples with disabilities. If you attended the World Assembly, describe your experiences networking with other Indigenous groups. If not, then we still want your stories, your thoughts and ideas. Please mail contributions, plus photos, by 1 November 2007 to Dr. Cassandra Phillips at info@dpi.org.

Around the world this week is further evidence of violence against persons with disabilities. Accordingly, we must not only build on the momentum of the activities of DPIs World Summit in Korea, but also move to action in lobbying governments on all aspects of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Human Rights

As anticipated, as a follow up to last weeks E-news, this weeks Annual Treaty Event at the United Nations has garnered a lot of attention regarding the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. To date there are 114 Signatories to the Convention, with Bulgaria, Comoros, Estonia, Japan, Philippines, Romania, and Trinidad and Tobago joining this past week. There are 64 signatories on the Optional Protocol. Swaziland and Slovakia signed both the Convention and the Optional Protocol on 25 and 26 September 2007 respectively.

A total of 64 countries have signed the Optional Protocol, including Gabon, Madagascar, Malawi, and Mauritius on 27 September 2007.

However, more work still needs to be done as there are only five Optional Protocol Ratifications: Croatia, Cuba, Hungary, Jamaica, and Panama. Ten are needed to bring the Optional Protocol into force.

India signed the Convention on 30 March 2007 but has yet to sign the Optional Protocol and Ratification. It was announced in New Delhi this week that members of the Disabled Rights Group (DRG), along with other nongovernment organisations (NGOs), will hold a day-long fast on 2 October (the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi) to protest against the inability of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to act on the Union Cabinets approval of the Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

For more than six months, there has been no action and no explanation from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Full story at
http://www.disabilityindia.com/html/news.html#DRG

Human Rights Newsletter

Info60, a newsletter on human rights and the UN is available online at http://www.ohchr.org/english/

Human Rights Course

Human Rights Education Associates (HREA), a member of the Global Human Rights Education Network, is calling for applications for E-learning courses on Human Rights Advocacy, Human Rights Litigation, Human Rights Monitoring (in French), Introduction to Human Rights Education (in German), Monitoring Children's Rights, Rights-Based Programming and The United Nations Human Rights System, all of which will be offered February-June 2008.

Registration deadline for these courses is 1 December 2007. Further information about each course can be found at http://www.hrea.org/courses/

Violence against Persons with Disabilities

In London, England a woman with a disability was tipped out of her wheelchair by two young adults while passers by may have been too afraid to come to her aid. Full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/6923561.stm

Also in London, England a PhD student who is both deaf and blind was returning home from work when several youths began taunting her, stealing out of her hands her cane and communication device. She was left stranded, unable to walk or communicate safely. Full story and responses to her situation can be read at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/ball_crime.shtml

A bill passed August 2007 by Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is expected to improve accessibility and pave the way for more employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The law, which will take effect next year, requires employers to hire persons with disabilities and make contributions to a fund for persons with disabilities or face fines and potential seizure of their assets.

The legislation provides tax incentives for companies where more than sixty percent of the employees have disabilities. Tax incentives also are available for accessible transport service operators and for building owners who provide facilities to persons with disabilities. This legislation comes one year after the country signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Invitation to Contribute to Database in Bangladesh

Therap (BD) Ltd. and the Department of Social Services (DSS), Ministry of Social Welfare of the Government of Bangladesh, along with the National Foundation for Development of the Disabled Persons (NFDDP) and the National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for creating a national database for the Persons with Disabilities. This database will be the first for the Persons with Disabilities in Bangladesh. For more information, please contact Ziad Hyder, Therap (BD) Ltd. At +1-203-596-7553 or email ziad@therapservices.net

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