(--> The Rapporteur met the disability focal point members of UNICEF)
The Rapporteur visited New York and
Washington DC between 5th and 13th February. One of the
primary reasons for this mission was his speech in the Commission of Social Development. The Rapporteur’s speech was well received that was followed by
positive feedback from Mexico, European Union, Republic of Korea and Ireland.
He supports the report created by the Secretary General (A/66/128), that of
Special Rapporteur of Violence against Women, and acknowledged great and continuous
efforts of the UNICEF disability focal point. He presented development in
Africa including experts meeting held in Addis in November that led to a number
of important inputs from African DPOs to the forthcoming High-level Meeting on
Disability and Development to be held on 23rd September this year.
The process of the High-level Meeting has
finally become clearer with a concrete timeline. The co-facilitators, Spain and
the Philippines, have sent out questionnaire to the member states by now. Between
now and April, regional consultations are to be held in five different regions:
Africa, America, Arab Region, Europe and Asia Pacific. By 20th
February, an on-line consultation will start at the UN Enable website for four
weeks. UN experts group will be formed for the High-level Meeting to produce
concrete recommendations for the outcome document of the Meeting. By 15th
May, zero draft will be distributed, which opens for negotiations until the end of
May. After the 6th Conference of State Parties to the CRPD, we
welcome the High-level Meeting.
The Rapporteur discussed with a
representative of the African Union that the Rapporteur’s office will analyse
filled questionnaires of the African states to consolidate African voices.
Based on this analysis as well as the Rapporteur’s vast global experiences, he
will prepare an input/positioning paper by April. The Rapporteur consulted with
many important stakeholders to promote disability inclusive development to be
included into the post-MDGs with indicators to regularly measure progress.
During this mission, he had altogether 24
meetings and speeches 1) to address the importance of the High-level Meeting
for mainstreaming disability and 2) to present African development in the field
of disability including the forthcoming launch of the African Disability Forum.
The Rapporteur met a number of African Ambassadors as well as Missions of the
global Northern countries to the UN in New York. He was also one of the panelists in the panel on "the rights of persons with mental [sic] disabilities in Africa".
In Washington, USAID invited the Rapporteur
as the guest of honor for a roundtable discussion on disability, which was also participated by the USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, Judy Heumann
(State Department), David Morrissey (USICD), Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo (USAID)
among others. The key message of the Rapporteur remained the same two as above.
In all meetings during this Mission, the
importance of the High-level Meeting was reconfirmed if participation of DPOs
is ensured and the outcome document would lead to disability inclusive
development agenda for the post-2015. At the same time, the establishment idea
of the African Disability Forum has been supported and welcomed as a great
initiative of African DPOs. This year is going to be very interesting indeed
for the global disability movement.
