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Convention, Psychiatric abuses, éducation and disasters |
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Human Rights
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) earlier this week launched a handbook on the newly adopted Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. The handbook not only aims to raise the awareness of this new legal instrument among parliamentarians, but also provides legislators with the tools to facilitate its ratification and subsequent implementation. For contact names to obtain the report at no cost, please go to http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/DDBDEA42CA8DB485C125736E0032A2A4?opendocument India and the Convention The Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Network (South Asia), Bangalore invites participation from person with disabilities, particularly women, governments, non-government organizations, and other interested parties at a workshop and discussion forum on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be held 1-2 December 2007 in Bangalore. The theme of the workshop is to “make the vision of the Convention a reality in the lives of persons with disabilities” in India. For information, please email cbrnet@airtelbroadband.i New Website on the Convention The Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has launched a new website. The website in English is complete, while the new website in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Russian will be launched in early 2008. Please go to http://www.un.org/disabilities/ Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) and “Ruined Lives” Report
Argentina is among countries with the most psychiatrists per capita in the world, yet people detained in the country's public psychiatric institutions are subject to serious human rights violations. “Ruined Lives”, MDRI's joint report with the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), exposes serious human rights abuses against nearly 25,000 people locked away in Argentina's psychiatric institutions, where the average length of institutionalization is 9 years. Seventy-five percent of the people detained in state-run institutions are warehoused in asylums of 1,000 beds or more. Links to this revealing report in English and Spanish is available at http://www.mdri.org/
Established in 1993, MDRI documents conditions, publishes reports on human rights enforcement, and promotes international oversight of the rights of people with mental disabilities. Drawing on the skills and experience of attorneys, mental health professionals, human rights advocates, people with mental disabilities and their family members, MDRI trains and supports advocates seeking legal and service system reform and assists governments to develop laws and policies to promote community integration and human rights enforcement for people with mental disabilities. UNESCO and Education for All (EFA) Report After meeting with representatives from around the world in Senegal in September 2007, UNESCO released its “Midway to 2015: Reaching the Unreached” Report earlier this week. The Report notes that reaching EFA goals is particularly difficult in West and Central African countries. Outcomes include the need “to reinforce the relations between education and other development sectors; to improve administrative and pedagogical management; and to increase the mobilization of financial resources.” For full report, please go to http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001537/153794e.pdf Disaster Awareness Training to Help Persons with Disabilities The World Institute on Disability (WID) and the American Red Cross announced this week the creation of an innovative national training, awareness and action program to help Red Cross staff and volunteers better serve people with disabilities during disasters. For goals and further information, please go to http://tinyurl.com/2xj6j3 |
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Copyright Disabled Peoples' International - 2007 - All rights reserved |