13 August 2006 — Negotiators from around the world will convene at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday to resume talks aimed at completing a new convention that would protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

Delegates from all 192 Member States and representatives of more than 90 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will spend two weeks trying to hammer out the remaining differences in the 33-article draft convention.

The chair of this latest session, the eighth such round of negotiations, said he is optimistic that a deal is close. “There are many indications that the international community wishes to conclude the work of the convention,” said Don MacKay, who is New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. Mr. MacKay nevertheless cautioned that two weeks was a short time in which to reach agreement on so many complex issues. “No one is going to get their own way,” he said. “People are going to have to start compromising.”

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would mark a major shift in the way the world’s 650 million people with disabilities are treated.

“Persons with disabilities are one of the most marginalized groups in society,” said Mr. MacKay. It is estimated, for example, that 90 per cent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not go to school.

“Only about 45 countries have legislation that deals with persons with disabilities,” said Thomas Schindlmayr of the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “As a result, persons with disabilities are less likely to go to school, get a job or have a shot at pursuing their dreams and potential than other people.”

In a recent letter to all UN Member States, General Assembly President Jan Eliasson urged countries to finalize the convention. He said that significant progress had been made at the seven previous negotiating sessions and “an agreement is now within reach.”

Persons with disabilities remain among the most marginalized of all populations and are barred by a wide range of physical, legal and social barriers from achieving their full potential. But officials say the convention could lead the way to legislation that reshapes the public’s thinking about persons with disabilities, in everything from building and civic design to transportation, education, employment and recreation.

The pact would obligate countries, among other measures, to gradually include disability-friendly features into the construction of new facilities, promote and improve access to education and information and introduce measures that eliminate discriminatory practices against persons with disabilities.

UN News Service

The Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment is pleased to invite you to attend the 8th Conference of the European Union of Supported Employment in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland from 13 to 15 June 2007.

For Expression of Interest or further information email: info@euseconference2007.org

Looking forward to seeing you all in Belfast!

Northern Ireland Union of Supported Employment
58 Strand Road, Derry, Co Londonderry
Northern Ireland, BT48 7AJ
Tel: ++44 (0)28 71 377709
Fax: ++44 (0)28 71 360125
Textphone: ++ 44 (0)28 71 372077
Email: info@euseconference2007.org
Web: www.euseconference2007.org

Priya Kotecha, August 2006 A cross-government review looks set to put independent living (IL) for disabled people at the heart of the political agenda. A review of government policy on IL was announced during the second reading of Lord Ashley’s Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill, in the Lords. Led by the Office for Disability Issues, the review will gather views from local and central government and disabled people and their organisations, on how the government can use IL to develop “imaginative new solutions in health, social care, transport, employment and housing”.The review, to be chaired by Dame Jane Campbell – co-founder of the National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL) – comes in response to recommendations in the the Improving Life Chances report, produced by the prime minister’s strategy unit in January 2005.Announcing the review, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, a government health spokeswoman, said: “IL is a reality for some disabled people in spite of the disabling barriers that still exist. However, in its fullest sense, IL is still a dream for too many.” But disabled people voiced their frustrations at an IL conference organised by the NCIL. Sue Bott, national strategic director for NCIL, said afterwards: “Disabled people are asking, ‘how many reviews do we have to have? We only have one chance of living our life. How long can we realistically wait until things are put right and disabled people have the chance to a full life?'”But she said the review should be welcomed if it “helped to increase government understanding of what IL means”. Delegates hoped the review would trigger government support for the bill. But Anne McGuire, minister for disabled people, reportedly told the conference the government had reservations about how much the bill would cost to implement. Simone Aspis, parliamentary and campaigns worker for the British Council of Disabled People, said she looked forward to a review being carried out “in line with what disabled people want and what is in the IL bill”. The DRC is preparing a “cost-benefit analysis” of the bill, which should be available in time to be considered for the government’s comprehensive spending review next year.Meanwhile, NCIL and the Association of Directors of Social Services signed a revised protocol aimed at encouraging local authorities to understand the contribution made by centres for independent living and user-led organisations. It also urges councils to create a level playing field for local user-led organisations that bid for contracts to provide services.

UNITED NATIONS, 26 July — Improving access to new information technology for persons with disabilities will be the focus of this year’s International Day of Disabled Persons, the United Nations announced today.

The Day, which is marked on 3 December, seeks to promote the integration of people with disabilities into society.

Although access to information and communication technology (ICT) has created opportunities for everyone, these advances have been particularly meaningful for persons with disabilities, allowing them to overcome the societal barriers of prejudice, infrastructure and inaccessible formats that stand in the way of participation.

But, many persons with disabilities remain unable to take full advantage of the Internet, because most websites are inaccessible to the blind and visually impaired, heavily dependent on using the mouse, and because training is often conducted in inaccessible formats and venues.  Most persons with disabilities do not have access to new information technology at all.

“The new computer-based information technologies have the potential for opening up a world of new opportunities for persons with disabilities,” said Sarbuland Khan, Executive Coordinator of the Secretariat of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development.  “The problem is that new obstacles are preventing many of these people from reaching their potential.  We want to promote good website design that allows all people to benefit from the new technology, and we want product developers to consider the needs of the disabled in their new designs.”

Governments, at the first World Summit on the Information Society in 2003 in Geneva, committed themselves to building a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge.  By focusing on e-accessibility, this year’s Day of Disabled Persons is intended to mobilize action to allow persons with disabilities to participate in that global vision.

Persons with disabilities are at a considerable disadvantage by not being able to access information technology.  For instance, as education becomes increasingly dependent on information technology, not being able to access the Internet limits the learning potential of persons with disabilities.

Several places already have legislation and regulations requiring websites to be fully accessible.  Global standards and guidelines on website accessibility are being developed.  Once adopted and ratified, the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will require that persons with disabilities can access information technology.  It specifies that certain measures should be introduced to eliminate obstacles and barriers to information and communication, and to promote access for persons with disabilities to ICT, including the Internet.

“Making information technology available to persons with disabilities is not only a matter of human rights — it also makes good business sense,” Mr. Khan said.  “Studies suggest that accessible websites appear higher up the page rankings of search engines and can save costs on web maintenance.”

But many websites remain inaccessible for the visually impaired and the blind.  A recent study of the FTSE 100 companies in the United Kingdom showed that around three quarters of company websites did not achieve basic levels of accessibility.  By not making their websites accessible, British companies are forfeiting £80 million a year ($147 million) in lost revenue.

For further information, please contact Edoardo Bellando at the Department of Public Information, 212-963-8275, bellando@un.org.

During July and August national and international consultants will work with the representatives of civil sector and the Team for PRS implementation on defining methodology and mechanisms for more active involvement of NGOs into the process of promotion, monitoring and implementation of the recommendations of Poverty Reduction Strategy.This is a step forward in defining the mechanisms of cooperation between NGOs and the Team of Vice-president of Serbian Government for Poverty Reduction Strategy.On 26th of July the Focus group meeting was held in Serbian Government and CIL has been represented by Borivoje Ljubinkovic.

CIL representatives Gordana Rajkov and Borivoje Ljubinkovic are in visit to Albania.

Actually, they have been invited to held a seminar on Independent Living for representatives of DPOs in Tirana, which will be held on 27/28^th of July.

The aim of the seminar is to inform PWDs from Tirana about the history of independent living movement, the philosophy of independent living, the independent living network in Europe, CIL Serbia work and its experience with the project of Personal Assistants Service.

CIL Serbia hope that this seminar could be the starting point first of all for the Associations of MD and Paraplegics to meet the concepts of incependent living and personal asistance, develop the services, exchange experiences in the region, fundraising and apply for this services at the government.

Centar for Independent Living Serbia widened its network with one more branch.
On 29th of June 2006 new CIL branch was established in Cacak.
Borivoje Ljubinkovic, CIL Serbia President and Dusko Savic, member of Executive Board of Smederevo branch participated at this event.

Centar for Independent Living Serbia is going to organise the First sport competition within the CIL network on 1st of July 2006 in Jagodina.

This competition will have following disciplines: shooting, picado, chess and table tennis.
All CIL branches will have their representatives and we are expecting the representatives from the newly established brandh in Cacak.
The host of these first Sport Competition is CIL branch from Jagodina.

For the first time, the United Nations will be able to print material directly in Braille. The credit goes to a donation of a state-of-the-art printer by the non-profit organisation, Services for the Visually Impaired, (S.V.I.), U.S.A., along with the World Blind Union (W.B.U.).

Harold Snider, Executive Director, S.V.I., said the high-speed, heavy-duty embosser would provide the U.N. with Braille production capacity in all six of the organisation’s official languages.

The equipment was used at the seventh session of the General Assembly Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, at the United Nations’ headquarters from January 16 to February 3, 2006.

Don MacKay, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee and Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, declared this as a positive step towards accessibility by the United Nations.
The equipment will ensure the full participation to the session of visually impaired participants, both from governments and disability organisations.

Centre for Independent Living of Serbia and Handicap International South East Europe, with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs France, organised the seminar on „Social services for persons with disabilities in the Republic of Serbia – the challenges of the reform process”. The seminar was held on 15th of June 2006.

A system of social services should respond to the expressed needs of persons with disabilities, in order to promote inclusion and provide equal opportunities for full participation in society. Social services should also comply with quality and efficiency requirements. In order to achieve these goals, each country implements a set of regulatory mechanisms, like: the needs assessments (the mapping of needs and services at a local level), the sets of quality standards, the procedures of licensing/authorization, the contracting and funding procedures, the monitoring and evaluation of the service.

These regulatory mechanisms can be adjusted in relation with the national policies of social welfare, but also with the stage of development of the system of services. That’s why, in a system which is in transition, their role is crucial: they are one of the levers to work towards a universal access of persons with disabilities to qualitative and sustainable services.

Most of the countries of the region are facing a similar transition phase: the open market and the new paradigm of rights based approach to services delivery require a diversity of providers, from the public, private and non-profit sector. Since in the Republic of Serbia the National Strategy for Development of Social Welfare was already elaborated, the need for developing new types of services as well as framing and ensuring the quality and sustainability of these services have been acknowledged. The State develops currently operational plans and regulatory procedures in order to increase the access of people with disabilities to social services.

This seminar targets the difficulties and challenges of this ambitious reform process in Serbia, and brings concepts and experiences from EU and other South Eastern Europe countries.

Participants of the seminar will be the representatives of central and local authorities, service providers, representatives of NGOs, DPOs and parents’ organizations, together with representatives of international agencies and organizations, which are active in the field of social services sector.

Main presentations from the seminar:

CRC_Lj_Peakovic_en.ppt
HI-D_Chiriacescu.ppt
MINRZS_V_Ilic.ppt
MINRZS_S_Markovic.pdf

Initiative will be launched on MTV, the world’s largest youth channel. The 30-second TV spot, a film collage of the best photographs submitted for the EU/MTV Diversity Photo Competition, will be shown for four weeks across the entire MTV Europe Network.
With this spot, the anti-discrimination campaign is reaching out to young people to raise awareness about the importance of embracing diversity. The spot celebrates diversity as a valuable and exciting part of our everyday lives

In the framework of EDF project “Supporting disabled people’s umbrella organizations and networks throughout the CARDS region”, delegations of disabled people’s organisations from Albania, FYROM, Kosovo, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina will visit Brussels on 27-29 June for delegates

This visit aim at providing participants with an insight of the EU decision-making process, with a particular focus on disability issues and the Stabilisation and Association Process of the European Union. Participants will meet Members of the European Parliament, officials from the European Commission work and representatives of diplomatic missions of their countries.

On the first day, they will have an information session delivered by EDF on the functioning of the institutions and lobbying. The objective is also to meet with representatives of European specific impairment organisations to share views and experiences.