Dpi News

Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI) is a global network of national organizations of people with disabilities which was established in 1981, the International Year of the Disabled. Headquartered in Canada, DPI has a presence in over 130 countries across 7 regions: Africa, Arab, Asia-Pacific, CIS, Europe, Latin America and North America, and the Caribbean. We draw our strength from our Member National Assemblies (MNAs) and have an unparalleled reach in countries of the Global South where 800 million people with disabilities live.

Click here to view Activity report 2019

The Board of Directors and Class A members of DPI met under section 5.02 and 6.01 of DPI’s General By Law No. 2015-1, a by-law made under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act, SC 2009, c 23 for the Annual General Meeting and the subsequent Board of Directors meeting.The meetings took place in accordance with Section 5.05 (b) and 6.02 (b) of DPI’s General By Law No. 2015-1 on Friday, 21st February, 2020 at 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM New York time, subsequently.

On motion made, seconded and carried under Section 8.01 and 8.12, it was resolved unanimously by a quorum of Class A members and the Directors of DPI that Ms. Ekaete Judith Umoh be elected 1st Deputy Chairperson (Human Rights) and Mr. Mohammed Ali Loutfy be appointed Executive Director of DPI.

Ms. Ekaete Judith Umoh is on the Board of DPI and is also the Regional Chairperson of DPI Africa Region. Mr. Mohammed Ali Loufty has been representing DPI at the United Nations in New York and was earlier the Executive Director of the DPI Arab Regional office. The Board and Class A members of DPI are delighted with Ms. Umoh’s election and Mr. Loutfy’s appointment and wish them all the best in their new roles. We are hopeful they will take forward the vision and mandate of DPI in advancing the rights of people with disabilities worldwide.

 

DPI-Chairperson, Javed Abidi visited Tokyo, Japan for the Second International Working Group on Leprosy and Human Rights that was held on March 14-15, 2013.

The United Nations General Assembly in December 2010 adopted a resolution which endorsed the Principles and Guidelines for the Elimination of Discrimination of Persons affected by Leprosy and their Family Members (P&G).

The Nippon Foundation is organizing a symposia series covering five regions to disseminate and encourage the implementation of these principles and guidelines throughout the world.

The second symposium of the Working Group was held in New Delhi, India in October 2012.

Mr. Abidi, while in Tokyo, also met many other organizations and individuals including DPI-Japan.

DPI family is elated at your becoming the language moderators for French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic for the online consultations on disability inclusive post 2015 being organised by UN DESA and UNICEF.

On 23 September 2013, the UN General Assembly will hold a High-level Meeting on disability and development, with the overarching theme “The way forward: a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond”, at UN Headquarters in New York.

To ensure that the post-2015 agenda is inclusive of disability, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with UNICEF is holding an online moderated consultation to gather views from a broad range of stakeholders on how to include disability in the post-2015 development framework, in order to contribute to the ongoing work for the High-level Meeting.

Simultaneous consultations are taking place in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portugese, Chinese and Russian.

Jean Luc Simon, Chairperson, DPI-Europe; Sherzodbek Sharipov, Human Rights Officer, DPI; Maria Isabel, Regional Development Officer, DPI Latin America; and Sylvana Lakkis, The Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) have been chosen as the global moderators for the online sessions in French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

The World Bank has initiated a two-year review process to overhaul its safeguard policies. Currently, these policies do not address the issue of disability rights.

The World Bank organized consultations all over the world inviting multi-stakeholders including DPOs to participate in the review process, share experiences and suggestions, and ensure inclusion of people with disabilities in this entire process.

Many of DPI’s members from all over the world participated in these consultations, which led to a World Bank Expert Focus Group Meeting on Safeguards and Disability in Washington on April 04, 2013. This Focus group meeting was also attended by three of DPI’s representatives.

As part of the Human Rights Defenders Project, DPI-Jamaica set up the HRD Committee and met for the first time on February 27, 2013. The Committee comprised of representatives from different DPOs and from Combined Disabilities Association (DPI-Jamaica).

The committee discussed various issues ranging from Project activities comprising of surveys for persons with disabilities and DPOs, Milennium Development Goals and cases of human rights violations in Jamaica.

The committee will be meeting next on March 13, 2013.

• On 23 September 2013, the UN General Assembly will hold a High-level Meeting on disability and development, with the overarching theme “The way forward: a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond”, at UN Headquarters in New York.

  To ensure that the post-2015 agenda is inclusive of disability, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with UNICEF held an online moderated consultation to gather views from a broad range of stakeholders on how to include disability in the post-2015 development framework, in order to contribute to the ongoing work for the High-level Meeting.

  Steve Estey from DPI was appointed as the Global Coordinator for the Online Consultations on disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.

 

Light of the World is organizing a campaign called SAY YES TO INCLUSION ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting on Disability and Development in September 2013.

Individuals and organizations around the world are invited to say YES to Inclusion by making a video or photograph of themselves making the YES sign in their sign language. The collected material will be consolidated into a short spot with key messages to be shown at the UN High-Level Meeting.

DPI has collaborated with Light of the World as an implementing partner for this campaign. Many of DPI’s members have sent their contributions which can be viewed here. These are also available on DPI’s Facebook page which can be viewed here.

Here is what you can do to join in the campaign:

1. Email us your photograph/video at secretariat.dpi(at)gmail[dot]com. Do mention your Name, Organization, and Country.
2. Visit the website  and add your name to the campaign.
3. Tweet with your message about inclusion using the hashtag #Yestoinclusion.

JONAPWD (DPI-Nigeria) has appointed an 11-members committee, led by Rilwan Abdullahi to sensitize people living with disabilities on their civic responsibilities and rights and to ensure total participation of its members during elections.

Engr Augustine Onwuamaegbu, National President of Persons with Disability Initiative Nigeria urged the National Electoral Commission to evolve modalities that will accord persons with disabilities more time during voter registration as well as during the actual voting period to ensure total participation.

 

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, also known as VDPA, is a human rights declaration adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights on June 25, 1993 in Vienna, Austria. A very important outcome of this Declaration was the creation of the The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Human Rights Council convened a high-level panel discussion to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA), with a focus on its implementation, its achievements and challenges and celebrate the achievements of the OHCHR.

The panel brought together different people from various backgrounds with complementary perspectives on the VDPA, including high-level representatives, who were present in Vienna in 1993, representatives of mechanisms created at the World Conference, and new human rights actors. The panellists in their presentations highlighted the main achievements of the VDPA and all its developments since the adoption in 1993.

The interactive discussion was divided into two segments – Presentations by the Panellists and Questions and comments from the floor (Seats reserved for representatives of non-governmental organizations).

The ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by Albania on 11 February 2013, brought a total of 128 States Parties to the CRPD, while the Optional Protocol (OP) now has a total of 76 ratifications. Cambodia has signed but not ratified the OP.

The number of signatures to the CRPD is 155 while the OP has 91 signatures.

To access the complete list of signatories and States Parties:

• CRPD 
• OP 

DPI, supported by International Disability Alliance (IDA), organized a 2-day workshop in Mauritius, on 21st and 22nd February 2013. The objective of the workshop was primarily to expose DPOs from Mauritius to the concept of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and to motivate them to submit a Stakeholders’ Report on Disability for Mauritius’ upcoming UPR.

The workshop was attended by around 22 participants representing many DPOs. The workshop was facilitated by Shivani Gupta of DPI-India and Ellen Walker of IDA.

 

Javed Abidi, Chairperson of DPI, was one of the 8 Ashoka Fellows chosen from across the world to present their ideas on ‘globalizing’ their work at the Ashoka Globaliser Campaign on February 16 and 17 in Vienna, Austria.

Abidi presented his strategy of leveraging DPI to create a strong platform for voices from the global South in the disability movement. DPI is the world’s only cross-disability global DPO and has an unparalleled reach in more than 130 countries across 5 regions of the world. A significant number of these members are from the developing countries.

 

Javed Abidi, Chairperson of DPI, was an invited speaker at the second Zero Project Conference organized by the Essl Foundation and the World Future Council on February 18 and 19 in Vienna, Austria. This year’s Zero Project Conference was on the issue of ‘Employment’. Abidi stressed the need for a holistic approach towards employment for people with disabilities that looks at the issue of education and accessibility along with employment. A study was conducted a few months back and as many as 82 DPI MNAs participated in this study.

To view Report

DPI-India organized the first-ever National Convention for Youth with Disabilities (NCYD) on 7th and 8th February in New Delhi. More than 50 students with disabilities from some of the top colleges and universities from across the country participated in this Convention. This prestigious list included IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, NID, ILS Pune, IIMC, among others. The idea of this Convention was to get together some of the brightest young disabled people and expose them to various issues related to disability. The Convention saw speakers from an array of domains come together to address the students – Disabled Activists, Politicians, Corporate representatives and Media professionals.

The Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) is a multi-stakeholder organization that aims to accelerate the integration of disability issues in development efforts. Its constituencies include Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), government ministries, bilateral and multilateral donors, United Nations (UN) agencies, NGOs, national and international development organizations, and other organizations.

Recently, elections were held for the advisory board of GPDD, where DPI has been elected as one of the Organizations. The other two positions have also been taken by two of DPI’s Affiliates – Disabled Women in Africa (DIWA) and Western African Federation of the Disabled (WAFOD).

DPI currently has a presence in over 130 countries spread across 5 regions – Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America, and the Caribbean.

One of DPI’s endeavors is to strengthen its presence with good and credible networks of Disabled People’s Organizations not only in its existing regions but also in other neglected regions such as the Commonwealth of Independent States. As a fulfillment of both these factors, the National Assembly of People with Disabilities (NAPD) from Ukraine had been granted Provisional Membership with DPI.

NAPD is also a Project Partner for the Human Rights Defenders Project. More information on this Project

• DPI currently has a presence in over 130 countries spread across 5 regions – Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America, and the Caribbean.

  In its mandate, DPI strives not only to strengthen its presence in the existing regions but also to form partnerships in neglected regions such as the Member States of the Arab League. As a step in moving towards this direction, Disabled Without Borders Organization (DWBO), headed by Mr. Mohammed Barakat, has been granted Provisional Membership with DPI.

 

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently held its Executive Board meeting in Geneva from January 21-29, 2013. The World Report on Disability was an item of discussion on January 22, 2013, at the EB meeting, where Rachel Kachaje, Vice-Chair presented her statement.

Kachaje appreciated the increased attention WHO has been giving to persons with disabilities and strongly supported the resolution. Some key suggestions for inclusions given by her were to mainstream persons with disabilities throughout WHO’s work ; greater attention to be provided to issues like violence against persons with disabilities, access to information and the availability and affordability of technology.

The ‘Building Advocacy Capacity in Africa’ Project aims to strengthen a genuine cross-disability and inclusive disability movement, using the human rights approach, and building leadership amongst persons with disability for advocacy.

The project, with its initiation on January 1, 2013 is being implemented in Malawi and Burundi and will include fact-finding missions and need assessment surveys to understand the current disability scenario, existing gaps and the needs of persons with disabilities.

The one year project will also include training workshops on understanding and implementing CRPD, roles and functions of DPOs, advocacy and human rights.

• The ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by Cambodia on 20 December 2012, brought a total of 127 States Parties to the CRPD, while the Optional Protocol (OP) now has a total of 76 ratifications. Cambodia has signed but not ratified the OP.

  The number of signatures to the CRPD is 155 while the OP has 91 signatures.

  To access the complete list of signatories and States Parties:

  • CRPD 
  • OP 

• • The Zero Project, first launched by the Essl Foundation in 2009, in collaboration with the World Future Council and with the help of Disabled People’s International (DPI), undertook a significant review of how various countries are addressing some of the most important issues centred around the right of persons with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others.

    A questionnaire, based around Article 27 of the CRPD on Work and Employment was filled by more than 80 of DPI members from all 5 regions of Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America and the Caribbean.

    Click here to view The final reportt

 

India recently hosted the 1st Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) World Congress – the first-ever global meeting on community-based rehabilitation. This event was held at Agra from 26th-28th November, 2012.

Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) is the strategy for a cross-sectoral, human rights-based approach to inclusive development. This approach targets and involves people with disabilities, their families, and their organizations as primary stakeholders.

In light of the event, DPI undertook a study on the WHO CBR Guidelines  to formulate a final position paper. More than 80 of DPI members took part in the study and the final paper was made public at the CBR Congress in Agra. The paper can be read here.

 

Disabled People’s International (DPI) organized a Side Event at the Civil Society Forum ahead of the 5th Conference of State Parties in New York on September 11, 2012. The session was opened by Ms. Judith Heumann, Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, US Department of State. Mr. Shuaib Chalklen, Special Rapporteur on Disability chaired the Session and Ms. Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo, Coordinator, Office for Disability and Inclusive Development, USAID co-chaired it.

The event saw an eclectic mix of panelists from all across the world representing different organizations and stakeholders. An emphasis on including people with disabilities from the Global South, especially women and girls with disabilities and those with psychosocial disabilities, in the social and economic framework was made.

The fact that there is a need to break the myth that the Global South does not have the ‘capacity’ to participate and engage in the process of development planning was highlighted.

What came across most strongly was that people with disabilities need to be at the forefront of the movement. It is therefore an onus on the part of the INGOs and donors and international agencies, who are working on disability, to employ people with disabilities from the Global South in decision-making roles. Unless that transition takes place, the paradigm shift will never occur. And, ‘Nothing About Us, Without Us’ will just remain that, a slogan!