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global conference for action:
preface to the conference report
These are the proceedings of a global conference on disability, jointly organized by UNECA and Leonard Cheshire Disability, under the theme of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD): a call for action on poverty discrimination and lack of access. The UNCRPD was drafted with unprecedented speed and participation by people with disabilities, who are its new stakeholders. Ratification has also taken place more quickly than anyone could have predicted, showing a high level of commitment from both governments and the civil society organizations that lobby them.
The conference was held from 20 to 22 May 2008 – 17 days after the UNCRPD came into force on 3 May. The closeness of these two events was coincidental, as preparations for the conference started two years earlier. The conference drew 500 participants and speakers from 58 countries. Persons with disabilities, disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), service providers, representatives of government, the African Union Commission, UN agencies, the World Bank, and international and national NGOs attended the conference.
Drawing on the mandates, comparative advantage and resources of UNECA and Leonard Cheshire Disability, the conference was very successful in directing attention to disability in the world. As the premier regional organization, UNECA1 brought governments from throughout the continent to the conference, and provided valuable substantive and logistical support and conference facilities. Leonard Cheshire Disability2 provided funds and brought civil society and people with disabilities from all over the world to the conference. It celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2008.
Teamwork and cooperation between UNECA and Leonard Cheshire Disability demonstrate the need to initiate and consolidate partnerships to successfully implement the Convention. Indeed, the momentum and inclusiveness that marked the formulation of the Convention must equally be matched with intensive implementation activities at all levels. This momentum has been the main driving force behind the success of the conference, which provided a global platform for showcasing successes, identifying common challenges and lesson learning across the continents. The main challenge now is to take action and implement the changes needed to ensure that persons with disabilities have full and equal enjoyment of all human rights.
From the start to the end, the word “action” echoed most frequently throughout the conference; in the opening speech of the Ethiopian State Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Mohammed Mealin Ali; in the subsequent eight keynote speeches; and in the Government Panel, which included China, Philippines, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Ethiopia, UNDESA and OHCHR. Peter Ackroyd, Country Director of DFID, explained that the word “action” practically means “walk the talk” – in other words, make our actions match our words. This message guided the participants in 11 panels and 33 workshops on poverty, discrimination and access. They looked for good practice and identified strategies for both concerted action and effective implementation of the UNCRPD.
A pre-conference workshop was held on 19 May. It focused on actions relating to data and statistics in disability. The workshop provided a forum for policy makers and academics to explore the actions needed to address data and statistics limitations, and the paucity of research on persons with disabilities. During the conference’s panels and workshops, young people with disabilities from 18 countries called for actions to implement the articles of the convention at all levels. The closing ceremony focused on key action points for successful implementation of the Convention. This report gives on overview of all of these key points, with an emphasis on the practical actions that everyone present at the conference and every reader can take to promote the signing, ratification and implementation of the UNCRPD.