UN Launch of Dr. Eilionóir Flynn’s Book From Rhetoric to Action

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:

1. Comparative international trends in disability law and policy;
2. Regional perspectives on disability strategies and action plans;
3. Comparative country evaluation: a snapshot of approaches to national disability strategies;
4. Success factors in delivering a national disability strategy - lessons from international and comparative experience;
5. Identifying the golden threads in Irish disability law and policy;
6. Achieving Ireland's national disability strategy - a case study in implementation and monitoring at domestic level;
7. Showcasing domestic progress and achieving international standards;
8. Structural ingredients for furthering national disability strategies;
9. Measuring progress in achieving aims of national disability strategies - key success factors.

Forthcoming Events at the Centre for Disability Law & Policy NUI Galway

Forthcoming Events at the Centre for Disability Law & Policy NUI Galway

For more information see www.nuigalway.ie/cdlp

• 8 September Launch of Book on National Disability Strategies (United Nations, New York)
• 20 October Conference on Disability and Inclusive Development (Dublin Convention Centre – co-sponsored event with CBM Ireland) with Judith Heumann, Special Advisor on Disability, US State Department
• 4 November Conference Advancing Citizenship and Disability: Toward a 21^st Century Model of Supports for Persons with Disabilities (Clayton Hotel, Galway)
• 12 November Conference Employment Law and Mental Health (NUI Galway)
• 19 November Conference Genetic Discrimination: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Case for a European Level Legal Response - Aras Moyola NUI Galway
• 3 December (International Day of Persons with Disabilities) "The Ivory Tower and the Real World: Academia and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" Anna Lawson, Senior Lecturer, University of Leeds (National Library, Dublin) co-sponsored event with the National Institute of Intellectual Disability (TCD) and Disability Studies Centre (UCD).

United Nations to host a series of meetings on the Disability Convention

by Mary Keogh

Over the coming weeks, the United Nations will host a series of meetings focusing on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The fourth session of the Conference of State Parties (COSP) will be held at the United Nations Head Quarters in New York this week from September 7 – 9. The COSP is an annual meeting at which the countries participate to discuss the implementation of the CRPD.

Since the CRPD entered into international law, there have been three COSP meetings. In 2008 at the first meeting the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was elected. In 2009 and 2010, COSP meetings focused on Accessibility and Reasonable Accommodation, and Inclusion. The theme for the fourth session is “Enabling Development, Realizing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. At the upcoming session a number of roundtable discussions will be held focusing on the role of International Cooperation in realizing the Convention, Political and Civil Participation, and Work and Employment.

In advance of the COSP meeting, a report from the UN Secretary General to the 66th session of the General Assembly has been published. The report notes that currently 102 nations have ratified the Convention, and among these are 26 countries from the African region, 23 countries from the Asian region, 15 from the Eastern European Group, 22 from the Latin American and Caribbean group, and 15 from the Western European Group. The report also provides an overview of the progress made on implementing the Convention on a number of fronts, at the country level, regional level, and within the United Nations. Examples of policy initiatives taken at the country level include: the decision made by Argentina to ensure that all presidential broadcasts on the national television network be interpreted in sign language simultaneously; China issuing a National Human Rights Action Plan for 2009-2010 in which a short-term goal of human rights protection includes protection for individuals with disabilities; and the creation of the National Register on Disability Statistics (RED) in Costa Rica to improve statistics on individuals with disabilities. The COSP provide an opportunity for further discussion on these initiatives and the establishment of similar initiatives in other nations. IDRM staff will be present during the fourth session and will provide updates following its conclusion.

Not long after the COSP meeting in New York, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will have its second session this year – its sixth ever. The Committee has 18 members, who are elected for a period of four years before another election is held at the COSP. To date the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has received 25 reports submitted by State Parties. The first report to be considered and receive concluding observations is the Tunisian report, which was considered by the Committee during its 5th session in April 2011.

On the agenda for the 6th session is the adoption of the concluding observation in Spain’s report, but in the interim, the Committee adopted a list of issues on Spain. These issues include: Article 5 (Equality and non-discrimination), specifically whether the need to present a disability certificate to bring a discrimination claim before the courts will be abolished; and Article 11 (Right to life) the Committee has asked Spain to explain whether guardians or caregivers of persons with disabilities can take decisions regarding the termination or withdrawal of medical treatment, nutrition, or any other life support. With regard to Article 12 (Equal recognition before the law) the Committee has asked Spain to provide data on the number of individuals with disabilities who have been placed under guardianship to enable them to exercise legal capacity and on the number of rulings modifying the capacity to act if any; as well as to explain how Spain has ensured that guardianship is exercised to the benefit of the ward, in view of the absence of explicit safeguards in current legislation against undue influence or conflict of interest.

To read more about the fourth session of the Conference of State Parties (COSP) click here.