by Charles O'Mahony
CBM Ireland, the Centre for Disability Law & Policy (NUI Galway) in conjunction with Dóchas, the International Disability and Development Consortium and the Disability Federation of Ireland will tomorrow run a conference entitled “The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Promoting Disability Inclusion in Ireland and the World” in the Dublin Convention Centre. Further information on the conference is available here. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations in 2006 has signalled the dawn of a new era in disability rights. The purpose of the Convention is to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights for all persons with disabilities. Realising this aim at the national level is particularly important in developing countries, given that the vast majority of persons with disabilities live there. Since its entry into international law in 2008, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has sparked a worldwide trend in reviewing and reforming laws and policies. This process of reform should not happen solely within individual countries, but should also look to issues that transcend borders, socio-economic barriers and cultural differences. International Cooperation is one of these issues.
The UN Convention views International Cooperation in its broadest sense and does not just focus on financial transfers (e.g. development aid). Instead it sets out a vision of how governments, non-governmental organisations and organisations representing persons with disabilities can work together to bring about positive change. It encourages the learning and sharing of strategies for inclusion that have worked in different parts of the world, it asks that overseas programmes are inclusive and accessible for persons with disabilities and it asserts that persons with disabilities must be included at all stages in the process of international. This conference is aiming to start a conversation about how people in Ireland can be part of positive change for people with disabilities in developing countries. Ireland is already part of the change through its contributions to overseas development aid and through the world-recognised work that Irish non-governmental organisations carry out in developing countries. This conference is will discuss ways to ensure that this work is inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities.
Places at the conference are fully booked as such registration for the conference is closed. However, you can follow the proceedings from the conference from the following sources:
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