Human Rights in Ireland regular contributor Dr. Eilionóir Flynn’s book entitled “From Rhetoric to Action: Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” was launched yesterday at the United Nations. The book (published by Cambridge University Press) is a global comparative study of implementation and monitoring mechanisms for national disability strategies. It comprises a comparative study that was conducted at international, regional, and comparative country levels and highlights critical success factors in implementing disability strategies or action plans worldwide. The book is amongst a growing body of literature on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). It explores emerging synergies between what is required to implement principles of international law contained in the Convention and what is possible to achieve through national policy and systems development. The Centre for Disability Law and Policy, NUI Galway ran a one-day international conference on the theme of the book last December. A video of the proceedings of that conference is available here.
Eilionóir book identifies a number of critical success factors for implementing and monitoring strategies – these include leadership from government and civil society, participation of disabled people in implementation and monitoring, transparency and accountability in reporting on progress, independent monitoring and external review, and the ability to measure progress with indicators of disability equality. This book is very timely as many countries have ratified the Convention or in the process of doing so and this book contributes to the core comparative knowledge to drive that process. It is essential reading for anyone interested in disability law and policy. It will be particularly useful to activists, policy makers, researchers, academics, NGOs and practitioners.
The Table of Contents is as follows:
The Table of Contents is as follows:
- Comparative international trends in disability law and policy;
- Regional perspectives on disability strategies and action plans;
- Comparative country evaluation: a snapshot of approaches to national disability strategies;
- Success factors in delivering a national disability strategy - lessons from international and comparative experience;
- Identifying the golden threads in Irish disability law and policy;
- Achieving Ireland's national disability strategy - a case study in implementation and monitoring at domestic level;
- Showcasing domestic progress and achieving international standards;
- Structural ingredients for furthering national disability strategies;
- Measuring progress in achieving aims of national disability strategies - key success factors.
