ANNEX II. DRAFT MINUTES OF THE TASK FORCES HELD AT THE EIGHTH SESSION OF THE THEMATIC WORKING GROUP ON DISABILITY-RELATED CONCERNS (TWG-DC) |
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II (a) TWGDC8/TFICT/MINUTES UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004 MINUTES
3. The Chairman proposed the adoption of Minutes of the Previous Meeting. Mr Chiba of the Asian Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) proposed corrections under paragraph 5.2 of the Minutes, and the revised Minutes were approved. 4. The Chairman first reported on the World Summit for Information Society(WSIS),which was held from 10 to 12 December 2004,Geneva, Switzerland. The Summit was held with an aim to work on how to make Information Society for all or Inclusive Society, and attended by four major groups:1) Government Sector(an assembly of all members states in the UN and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ; 2) Civil society sector, ;3) Private Business sector; and 4) International sector. The Summit was the 1st phase and the 2nd phase will be held in Tunis in 2005. The Summit had two outcome documents: 1) Declaration of Principles;and 2) the Plan of Action.The Declaration of Principle gives the clear ideas of how the society should be shaped like and conceptualize what needs to be done for the inclusive information society, and the Plan of Action is a detailed set of guidelines to implement the Declaration. Both documents are available at www.itu.int/wsis 5. At the Summit, a side event, “Global Forum on Disability in the Information Society,” organized by several NGOs and the WSIS Secretariat, and sponsored by DAISY Consortium, Swiss Library of the Blind and other NGOs, was held. More than 100 people with disabilities attended the Forum, and it adopted the Geneva Declaration on Accessible Information Society (please see the Annex III for its copy). This event was significant in that it educated the participants that disability accessibility is applicable to all the sectors. 6. The Chairman reported on the Asia Pacific Seminar on Information Accessibility organized by the Center for the Global Communication, held January 2004, in Tokyo. This seminar was aimed at to discuss the international accessibility standard based on the Japan Industrial Standard (JIS). A speech made by the Chairman of this Task Force was delivered during the TWG-DC plenary. 7. The Chairman also reported on the following:
8. Ms. Lasapan, Information Support Officer of the APCD, reported on the following 6 APCD Information Support activities during the last 6 months:
9. Mr. Khandaker Jaharul Alam, of the National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD), Bangladesh reported on the following;
10. Mr. Ashish Kumar, of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, India reported on recent developments on India:
11. Mr.Kumar expressed his concern that information on the APCD and UN activities was not readily available including the information on the TWG-DC. He would like to know kinds of support available from these organizations. Ms. Kay Nagata of the UNESCAP clarified that all the TWG-DC reports and information on an upcoming meeting are uploaded on the website of the disability subprogramme, Emerging Social Issues Division of the UNESCAP. Reports should be available within one week after the meeting, and the website is accessible for the visually impaired persons. 12. Ms. Nagata asked if the text conversion special software is necessary for each language in India.In response,Mr Kumar said that that is the case. 13.The Chairman reported that, in Thailand, they developed Thai CTS with MS Sappy Compliant. This enables JAWS users to read both in Thai and English. In India, there is also Hindi software of the same nature. Mr. Danish, National Association of the Blind (NAB) in India, is developing a domestic screen reader, which is accessible for all. Also, in Viet Nam, Vietnamese Text-to-speech web browser is being developed. Hong Kong, China, has the same development in Chinese. 14. Mr. Joseph Kwok of the Rehabilitation International (RI) reported the following:
15. As a part of the follow-up on the previous session of the Task Force,there were discussions on the outcomes of the 1st phase of the WSIS. The Chairman told that the Article 25 of the Declaration Principle and many paragraphs in the Plan of Action (Paragraph 9 and 10: Research, paragraph 20: Employment, paragraph 24 I: Cultural Information and paragraph 28 E: Web accessibility) mention concepts of assistive devices and the universal design. The Chairman encouraged the Taskforce members to use these documents as advocacy tools for Government to take an action since these are Government signed documents. 16. Mr. Roberto Pagan, Statistics Division of the UNESCAP, informed development in statistics from the WSIS. According to him, it is recognized that implementation of policies should be based on quantities. It is also recognized that there is lack of information describing information society itself. The UNESCAP is organizing a workshop on statistics of the region to help improve the situation. The framework of statistical indicators for measuring information society is already established and agreed by the Stakeholders. He said that Disability related statistics indicator should be included in the framework. 17. Ms. Nagata also encouraged the Task Force members to send the statistical indicator to the UNESCAP, which could provide measurement following the universal design or universal accessibility. 18. The Chairman clarified the terminology of universal design
and assistive devices. 19. The Chairman also shared some experience with India, not able to buy JAWS or such expensive assistive devices since there are no government subsidies. So he shared his personal idea to solve it, which is to ask the Government to buy a national license of these devices and distribute it within the country. 20 Furthermore, there were additional discussions on ICT accessibility issues in drafting of the International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
21. Following the previous session, there were further discussions on a survey guideline related to the achievement of ICT areas in the BMF
22. The session was adjourned. List of Participants 2 Hisao Chiba APCD chiba@apcdproject.org 3 Roberto Pagan ESCAP (Statistics Division), pagan@un.org 4 Jahurul Alam Khandaker National Forum of Organizations Working
with the Disabled (NFOWD) 5 Ashish Kumar Ministry of Social Justice & Employment, Government of India rmashish@hub.nic.in 6 Chol-O Han ESCAP (Statistics Division) han1@un.org 7 Phatacharamont Phanthong APCD, Information Suppot Officer phatcharamont@apcdproject.org 8 Lasapan Toamsawasdi APCD lasapan@apcdproject.org 9 Joseph Kwok RI/APDF ssjk@cityu.edu.kh 10 Robert Lin Eden Social Welfare Foundation robert@eden.org.tw 11 Emma Lee Eden Social Welfare Foundation emmalee@eden.org.tw 12 Bishnu M. Dhungana AIT bishnu.dhungana@ait.ac.th 13 MD Rashid Ismail Department of Social Welfare, Malaysia rashid@kempadu.gov.my 14 Kim Mun Chol KASD kasdmoon@yahoo.com 15 Kim Yong Chol KASD kasdmoon@yahoo.com 16 Lene Mikkelsen ESCAP (Statistic Division) mikkelsen@un.org
Introduction The following programs/projects are being undertaken in India: 1. National Information Infrastructure & Content Opening of telecommunications sector in India has led robust growth in the sector with cost effective infrastructure development. Many private players are effectively participating in the delivery of services. The government is supplementing this initiative by making investment in the areas, which may not be commercially attractive because of small size of the market, but are socially important. These are Community information Centers, School Net and Education & Research Network (ERNET) etc. Persons with disabilities are however, not able to take effective benefit of the services due to the high cost of various of the soft wares like JAWS for Windows, Windows Eyes, etc. These persons have been found to be very comfortable in using the software. Some of the blind persons have developed to be very good programmers in C, C++. However, the cost of the screen reader software is exorbitant and beyond the purchasing capacity of the most of the disabled in the country. There is an urgent need to take up this matter so that mechanism may be evolved to ensure availability of the software to the visually impaired persons tat reasonable cost. 2. Development of Affordable & Relevant Technologies & Content There is a need to develop low cost and relevant technologies for home computing and home networking through research and development. Government of India in collaboration of Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) has set up Media Lab Asia in Mumbai. This Lab could be used by the Asian countries to their advantage in collaboration with Government of India. 3. Development in Indian Languages Development in 14 Indian languages has been initiated though academic institutes and private sectors. This includes development of knowledge resources, knowledge tools, translation support systems, human machine interface, localization, standardization and manpower development in local languages. The soft wares for various languages are being tested. Detailed information is available on websites; www.mit.gov.in, www.tdil,mit.gov.in
TWGDC8/TFEDUC/MINUTES UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004
I. OPENING OF THE MEETING The Seventh Session of the Task Force on Education for all Children and Youth with Disabilities was opened and chaired by Ms Penny Price. The session was attended by 34 members, including 6 government representatives, and representatives of UNESCO and UNESCAP. II. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The following agenda was adopted: 1. Welcome and self introductions III. REPORT OF TF EFA ACTIVITIES 1. Bill Brohier and Penny Price attended sessions of the SRF/TWG on EFA on 17 February, and 9 June 2004. They presented two reports, one on the activities of TF EFA, and the second was a brief summary report on the first Steering Committee Meeting of the EFA Flagship on the Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion. This meeting was held in Kampala in November 2003. 2. Members of the TF EFA attended and made presentations at the UNESCO Regional Seminar on Community Learning Centres (CLCs), held in Chiangmai, 23-27 March 2004. 3. Members of TF EFA also attended the Ministerial Forum and made presentations at the SEAMEO-UNESCO Education Congress and Expo “Adapting to Changing Times and Needs”, held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre, 26-29 May 2004. 4. Discussions have been held with Mr Sheldon Shaeffer and Olof Sandkull of UNESCOBKK on collaboration with UNESCO in the development of a Flagship Regional Working Group for Asia and the Pacific, and the role of the TF EFA in the 5. Working group. The second meeting of the Flagship Secretariat has been scheduled to be held in Bangkok 19-23 October 2004, subject to funding. 6. Bill Brohier has been invited to become a member of the UNESCO Network promoting the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012). 7. Penny Price will attend the 20th World Congress of Rehabilitation International in Oslo, Norway on 21-24 June 2004. She will make a presentation on “Education for All by 2015: Moving from Myth to Reality. IV. REPORT ON UNESCO ROLE AND INITIATIVES BY JON KAPP (UNESCO) 1. Mr Kapp reported on the Coordinating role of UNESCO in relation
to the TWG on 2. Toolkit on Creating Inclusive Friendly Learning Environments 3. Inclusive Education Regional Workshop The specific objectives of the workshop are to: The participants of the workshop will include: 4. Mr Kapp also provided information on 2 proposed UNESCO studies: It was noted with regret that Olof Sandkull, UNESCO Bangkok, was unable to attend the meeting but TF EFA very much appreciated the presence of Jon Kapp, and his informative presentation. V. FLAGSHIP ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: TOWARDS INCLUSION. Penny reported on progress towards the formation of the Flagship Ad Hoc Working Group for Asia and the Pacific Region. Discussions have taken place with Mr Sheldon Shaeffer, Director General of UNESCO BKK, and he will advise the process after meetings to be held in Paris HQ in July 2004. It is anticipated that TF EFA will be integrated with the Ad Hoc Working Group. Members discussed the current draft of the Terms of Reference, and suggestions made will be incorporated into a revised draft, which will be circulated. The important role of NGOs in activity to promote inclusion of children with disabilities in education was emphasized. Issues discussed for inclusion in the strategy focus of the Working
Group included: VI. REPORT ON PROGRESS TOWARDS AN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR
PERSON WITH DISABILITIES. VII. OTHER MATTERS Brief reports were made by: Recommendations: List of Participants TWGDC8 15-16 June 2004 TF EFA 15 June 2004 Participant list ANNEX II (c) TWGDC8/TFEP/MINUTES ENGLISH ONLY UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004 1. Debra Perry, ILO, chaired the meeting and welcomed participants, noting several new members and extended a welcome to all present. Each participant introduced himself or herself. Twenty-four individuals, representing governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and DPOs participated in the meeting. (See appendix for list of all attendees.) Ms. Anne Holopainen agreed to take minutes. 2. The Chairman presented the following agenda and proposed to add a new item (number 10) into it, namely watching the IBM video called “Help wanted”. 1. Welcome and self-introductions 3. The participants adopted the agenda and expressed interest in reviewing the video. 4. In reviewing the minutes of the previous meeting, the Chairman raised the issue of the task force name. It was decided that the name should be the Employment and Poverty Alleviation Task Force at the last meeting. It was reconfirmed that the group would assume this name and address issues related to the income generation aspects of poverty alleviation, as opposed to social security, income supports and other topics that may be associated with poverty alleviation. 5. The discussion on the action items from prior meetings began with an update on the list serve. Few people responded to the list serve organized by Mr. Jason McKey, ACROD. It was agreed that Jason would send another invitation to the members of the task force to join. 6. Plans for a one-day employment/multinational roundtable meeting
were discussed. The following points were agreed upon: 7. The question about the task force coverage of issues related
to the informal economy and employment was raised by a new member.
The history of the task force addressing these issues in the past
was reviewed. It was also noted that the multinational meeting could
address such issues as well and the example of how the Marriott
Hotel in Hong Kong is working to help an NGO serving intellectually
disabled was noted. The hotel is advising on growing herbs for culinary
purposes and sales and it is also a marketing outlet for goods made
by the NGO, as well as advising on vocational and on-the-job training
of housekeepers and hiring the housekeepers. Multinationals could
also subcontract work to work centres or cooperative for people
with disabilities and contribute to informal and other forms of
employment. 9. An update on the ratification of the ILO Convention 159 was made by Ms. Anne Holopainen. She presented a chart depicting UN ESCAP member countries, signatories of the Proclamation, countries that have ratified ILO Convention 159 and those that are ILO members and part of the ILO Asia and Pacific region, which is composed of fewer countries than the ESCAP region. The purpose of the chart was to illustrate the baseline situation at the time of the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Conclude the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled 1993-2002 in October 2002 when three vocational targets were set up. The first one of the targets defines that at least 30% of the signatories will ratify ILO Convention 159 by 2012. With the table is was shown that the baseline situation at the end of 2002 was 19,5 %, meaning that eight countries out of 41 signatory countries had ratified the Convention 159 and five more signatories were required to reach the target. 10. Discussion took place on the current situation in a number of countries in the region with relation to the ratification of the Convention 159 and other employment and training issues of people with disabilities. The Chairman also urged the participants to discuss the actions in countries with implementing the BMF. Reports follow. 11. The Chairman noted that one of the BMF actions calls for governments to be model employers. The desire for the task force to address this issue was raised at a prior meeting and should be addressed again. Mr Buntan noted that many governments are reluctant to take on this responsibility and that the European Union countries seem to put more emphasis on the private sector. 12. Due to the many activities that the task force has expressed interest in over the past few meeting, the Chairman suggested that an intern might be secured to assist with research and information gathering tasks. 13. Discussed conducting a permanent regional employer awards programme. The group agreed that such a programme would generate positive awareness and be worthwhile. The meeting working group agreed to pursue exploring the task of feasibility, criteria, locating a sponsor, etc. 14. The Chairman raised a new issue that has emerged since the last meeting among some task force members---the idea of conducting a permanent regional employer awards programme. The group discussed various issues and ideas related to the idea and agreed that such a programme would generate positive awareness and be worthwhile. The meeting working group set up to plan the multinational roundtable agreed to pursue exploring the task of feasibility, criteria, locating a sponsor, etc. 15. The Chairman closed the meeting, summarizing the accomplishments and suggesting that issues related to informal employment, rural areas and actions would be included in the next agenda. 16. After concluding the meeting, most members stayed for a five and a half minute video called Help Wanted, which was produced by IBM. The video was well-received by members. List of Participants 6 Emma Lee Eden Social Welfare Foundation emmalee@eden.org.tw 7
Eric Roeder UNCCD roedere@un.org 8 Joseph KwokRI/APDF ssjk@cityu.edu.hk
9 Goat See Godfrey Ooi Malaysian Association for the Blind
15 Rafek Reshidulla 16 Mary Ma 17 Ashish Kumar Ministry of Social Justice & Employment, Government
of India bmashish@hub.nic.in 18 Frank Hall-Bentick 19 Aki Fujiwara Handicap International aki@thailand-hi.org 20 Kay Nagata ESCAP nagata@un.org 21 Debra Perry ILO perry@ilo.org 22 Kim Mun Chol KASD kasdmoon@yahoo.com 23 Anne Holopainen ANNEX II (d) TWGDC8/TFWWD/MINUTES UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004
1. Opening 4.1 From the chairperson: MINUTES 1. Supattraporn Tanatikom chaired the meeting. She welcomed all
19 participants and expressed her pleasure to have more participants
than before. 3. The Chairperson asked for cooperation and participation into the Regional Network of WWDs, formed by Disabled Peoples’ International, Asia Pacific Regional Office. It now consists of 97 members from Asia and Pacific region and 15 members from non-Asia and Pacific region. Its main purpose at this stage is to empower WWDs by exchanging information, creative ideas and potential activities together with supporting advocacy for WWDs in the region. One outstanding issue is that the list needs more persons who can actively play a role of circulating grass roots level information to the region and vice versa. Currently there are nine persons of such function (working group members), but no representative from Western and North Asia. 4. The list of existing members and the invitation forms for those who want to be a member of the network were circulated to all participants. 5. With a support from the Gender and Development Section (GAD), ESID of the UNESCAP, the Chairperson, facilitators and members of the Task Force attended the Thematic Working Group on Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (TWG-WEGE), held in February 2004. This was the first time WWD participated in the meeting, and details on the participation in the event on the International Women’s Day, held on 8 March 2004, were discussed. 6. Six WWDs from the Task Force attended the plenary session of an UNESCAP event on the International Women’s Day. Information on the BMF and WWDs were disseminated at an information booth, set up by this group of participants. 7. Two WWDs participated in the Asian Pacific World Youth Peace Summit, held in Bangkok from 25 to 29 February 2004. They faced physical barriers and difficulty in accessing information, obtaining assistances. Thus, they had a meeting with the organizers later, and submitted a set of recommendations to improve their understanding of disabled persons and issues. The recommendations said the World Youth Peace Summit, to be held October 2004 in Nairobi, should include be accessible for persons with different disabilities, have sessions on disability and encourage disabled participants. Task Force members agreed that it should continue to work on this Summit. 8. The Chairperson reiterated the purpose of making a preliminary analysis on CEDAW country reports and national action plans on Beijing Platform for Action; making an assessment on the extent of mainstreaming of WWDs in their reports and plans and formulating a good strategy. 9. Ms. Aiko Akiyama of the UNESCAP made a brief report on CEDAW country reports made by Japan, New Zealand, China, Bangladesh and Mongolia. From this report, it was learnt that NGOs play a critical role in formulating a report. Particularly, a series of consultation between NGOs and Government in New Zealand is a good example. 10. Ms. Motoko Odachi from DPI A/P reported briefly about the preliminary analysis of National Action Plan on Beijing Platform for Action, made by Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, Singapore, Fiji, and Pakistan. Again active NGO participation, in Pakistan, seemed to produce a good result. 11. The Chairperson said that, because of the involvement in the TWG-WEGE, the Task Force members now have a chance to be able to contribute to the ESCAP High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly, to be held from 7 to 10 September 2004 in various ways. 12. Ms. Aiko asked the Chairperson to invite Mr. Micheal Chai from the Gender and Development Section of the UNESCAP to explain about the organization and format of the Meeting. He said the purpose is to review the regional implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The outcome document of the Meeting will be forwarded to the global level review at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at its Forty-Ninth Session in March 2005. He said that providing a NGO statement at the plenary session, participating as a panelist in a session, and holding a side event might be good ways. 13. Mr. JB Munro from Inclusion International (IL) shared his idea about the contribution that WWDs issues should be included not only in the Meeting but also at every level. He proposed that affirmation of the standpoint should be endorsed at the plenary session, and the Task Force agreed. After the discussion, the Task Force decided that the Chairperson and the facilitators would follow up on the details of the participation with the GAD, with a focus on making a best impact at the Meeting. 14. Ms. Lene Mikkelsen of the UNESCAP made a point that many policy-makers do not know anything about WWD. Therefore, she proposed, the Task Force should prepare a clear-cut, easy- to –understand explanation of WWD to effectively educate the policy makers. 15. Ms. Penny Price reported about the First WWDs Pacifika Forum, held from 7 to 9 December 2003 in Suva Fiji. Fifteen WWDs from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu attended the forum. “Suva Statement” was adopted at the end, and afterward, a network of WWDs in the sub-region was strengthened. Their future mainstreaming activities include participation in the Pacific Commonwealth meeting for Beijing+10 in 2005. The Task Force agreed that Pasifika presents as a good example of mainstreaming movement from which everybody should learn a lesson on an individual commitment. 16. Mr. Khandaker Jahurul Alam from National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD) said that a Thematic Working Group on WWDs, composed by NGOs and WWD in Bangladesh, composed by NGOs and WWDs advocated with the Government, and its National Action Plan now include WWD issues. The Plan will be adoption in August 2004, and many ministries are expected to implement the Plan. 17. A federation of Thai disability NGOs had an initial discussion on their ideas on revision on the Rehabilitation Act, in February 2004. Better ways to meet the needs of PWDs, and solving problems on employment and abuse against WWDs were some of the points made. Concerns of persons with disabilities about the revision will be forwarded to the National Committee on Disability. 18. Three WWDs attended leadership training on the topic: Program
for Strengthening Leaders of PWDs to be Aware of their Potential
and Advocacy, which was organized by the Ministry of Social Development
and Human Security on 17-18 February 2004 in Nakorn Prathom—a
province west of Bangkok. The training is a national pilot project
launched in five provinces in the central area of the country. The
project will be also expanded to twenty-six provinces in the central
area. 20. Ms. Sunita Singh from the Ministry of Social Justice, Empowerment, Government of India reported on the progress of WWDs movement in India. She mentioned the important barrier for the movement is local tradition. The traditional approach has been the prevention to get close to PWDs. Therefore, PWDs and WWDs and the government should have a plan to empower WWDs especially those in rural areas and had better form up small cooperative groups to facilitate activities of WWDs in community. 21. Ms. Aiko Akiyama from the UNESCAP quoted reports made by Ms Robyn Hunt (New Zealand) and Ms Heidi Forrest (Australia) who attended the Third Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, held in New York. At the Ad Hoc Committee inclusion of articles addressing protection and promotion of rights of disabled women became one of the contentious issues. Those who disagree the inclusion said that there would be no need since all articles in the proposed convention should, by definition, cover women with disabilities, thus we cannot extend a list of minorities forever. Ms Heidi intends to develop an on-line discussion group to pursue this issue and the details would be shared to the Task Force members later. 22. The Chairperson Closed the meeting at 12: 30p.m. No. Name Organization E-mail Address ANNEX II(e)
UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004 Agenda 1. Introduction Mr. Topong Kulkhanchit - TF Coordinator – Opened the meeting by welcome and thanked all participants for joining the TF meeting. He reminded the participants of the importance of self-help organization of PWDs and family as stated clearly in the BMF and was placed in the center of conceptual chart with two-head arrows indicated interaction with other 6 priority targets. He, then, asked the participants to consider provisional agenda. The meeting adopted the agenda. Agenda I Introduction Agenda II Adoption of the minutes of previous meeting in December 2003 The participants looked over Annex II (c) in the Minutes of 7th Session of TWGDC, page 37. There was no comment or correction. (Note: None of participants attended TF meeting last time.) Agenda III Progress Report from Participants concerning Self-help Organizations APCD Ms. Jirat – Chief of HRD – reported activities of APCD regarding self-help organizations of PWDs. The training Workshop on Capacity Building of Self-help Organization of PWDs was held last year in September. Twenty-two PWDs from 6 countries namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand were invited for the training. For 2004, the training workshop on Initiatives of Self-help Groups of PWDs and right-based sustainable community development will be held from10-30 August in Bangkok. There will be 18 PWDs to be invited from 3 countries namely Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand. The training will focus on development and empowerment of small self-help groups in the local or grass-root level. Aiko Akiyama asked about the definition of Self-help organization, as sometimes interpretation can be different particularly when she visited CBR programme in the North and Northeastern of Thailand and found self-help groups are combination of PWDs, family members, and villagers. TF Coordinator explained that there are two types of disability organization – OF and FOR. Self-help organization of PWDs should be consumer-oriented and consumer-controlled. Mr. Montian shared the experience of Thai Association of the Blind of their strategies for expanding self-help organizations. For their case, self-help movement includes two aspects of activity, income generation and advocacy, as people need to make living otherwise they cannot help each other or advocate their rights. They sometimes organize vocational training for blind people or form cooperatives of blind people, so that they can access to loan. Mr. Montian further mentioned that there are difficulties of ensuring income for PWDs in developing countries, self-help organizations need to be developed from socio-economic perspectives. This is different from developed countries where PWDs are already provided with living insurance and governments can provide regular subsidies to SHOs. Mr. Chapal from WHO-Geneva mentioned about his experience in working for disability field in developing countries. He mentioned that it was important to take multi-dimensional approaches rather than approaching from single perspective. He criticized the disability models, such as medical, social and right-based, as fundamentalism is not appropriate and copying the models developed in Western world is also not appropriate in developing countries. He mentioned the importance of taking practical approaches depending on the situation of the country. Mr. Ngy San from DAC-Cambodia explained the situation of Cambodia. He mentioned the lack of government support makes it difficult for grass-root self-help groups to be financially sustainable. He also asked how Thai Government supports SHOs and PWDs. Mr. Montian explained the situation of government support for SHOs in Thailand. There are two schemes. One is called rehabilitation fund which is project-based fund and very competitive to win the fund. Total amount of the fund is 20 million bahts per year. Another fund is education fund, but the result of this fund has not been seen yet. Overall, he mentioned the lack of government support for PWDs, regardless of the number of PWDs in Thailand. In addition, he introduced fund-raising activities of Thai Association for the Blind. They approach to charity organizations to seek fund by organizing some events. But even trying to get fund from charitable sources, the organization still delivers educational messages so that the charity-minded people can also understand the importance of sustainability. After APCD, Ms. Phoranee from Parents’ Association made report. She explained the difficulty that the Association get rehabilitation fund to produce educational materials for children. TF Coordinator asked if the parents’ associations conduct self-help activities among themselves in addition to helping their children and family. Ms. Phoranee answered that there is no time for parents to meet each other, as they cannot leave children alone and they have to find someone to look after children. Ms. Mary Ma reported situation of Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, rehabilitation for PWDs is mainly implemented by government and NGOs. Recently more SHOs are being set up. Roles of SHOs are complementing services of government. SHOs works for improving the quality of life of PWDs and support family members. All SHOs are grass root level and not national level. Ms. Betul reported the situation of Turkey. Turkish government has consultation process with PWDs regarding government policies and services for PWDs. There are 300 SHOs in grass root level. There is an Executive Committee on Disability that holds a meeting every 3 months. Mr. Ashish reported the situation of India. They mentioned that services for disabled people are implemented by NGOs and SHOs. They also explained about XXX fund. Ms. Sanita from India also explained about the promotion of SHOs of cross disability. Mr. Mountian raised a new concept, which has been increasingly accepted in U.S. and Europe about less guardianship on the parents’ group. For the people with intellectual disabilities, it is more expected that parents change their attitudes and ideas from guardianship to supporters. Ms. Bishu from Nepal shared her experience and observation (research) of SHOs in Nepal. SHOs of PWDs in Nepal focus on economic issues, as it is very critical problem for PWDs in Nepal, especially for severely disabled people. There are laws and policies to address disability issues, but in fact, they are not implemented appropriately. Mr. Hisao Sato from Japan updated the situation in Japan. In Japan, recently Japan Disability Forum, which is consisted of organizations of/for PWDs, was formed. But there have been difficulties joint operation and there is a possibility of breaking out due to different ideas on the social welfare services related to long-term care of disabled persons and the elderly. Mr. Ngy San from Cambodia explained about the SHO in Cambodia. Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization (CDPO) was formed in 1994, but it focused too much on Economic issues and not so much on institutional development. Now it is in the process of reforming new executive committees and tries to make focus also on institutional development. Mr. Binod explained service system provided by the ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare under the Government of Nepal. However, most of the services are focused on CBR. Agenda IV Matter arising from the reports There were some points of further discussion among the participants. Characteristic of disability organization Organization of PWDs is run by and for PWDs. It demonstrates consumer-oriented and consumer-controlled. Organization for PWDs is run by people with or without disabilities for PWDs. It, many times, doesn’t focus on policy-making and decision-making of PWDs.
Single-disability and Cross-disability Single-disability organization is more appropriate for addressing specific issues at different level. It should be a cross-disability organization at national level to form a single voice and solidarity of PWDs for any common issues.
Mr. Montian shared his idea that it should be reserved both single-disability and cross-disability organization as far as it could maximize benefit to PWDs. Ms. Judy wee mentioned that it is better having SHOs on the same type of disability and then, each these single-disability SHOs can cooperate/collaborate to advocate common issues of PWDs regardless of disability type. She mentioned that it is better making collaboration rather than having cross-disability organization Role of SHOs should be balance both as service provider for their members and advocate.
Agenda IV Recommendations The Task Force agreed that sustainable development of SHOs and
SHGs is a serious issue and both income generation activities (funding,
economic activities etc.,) and effective advocacy are necessary
means. This issue will be discussed
List of Participants 1 Ms. Suwapa Prasitwises APCD suwapa@apcdproject.org 2 Jirat Wachirasereechai APCD jirat@apcdproject.org 3 Mr. Somkiat Sriprai APCD somkiat@apcdproject.org 4 Mr. Montien Buntan Thai association of the Blind mbuntan@tab.or.th 5 Ms. Aiko Akiyama UNESCAP akiyama@un.org 6 Ms. Phoranee Louineau Parents’ Association of the Intellectual Impaired 7 Ms. Mary Ma Hong Kong SAR Government mtwma@hwfb.gov.hk 8 Mr. Binod Bahadut Kunwar Min. of Women, Children and Social Welfare, Nepal binod218@yahoo.com 9 Mr. Ngy San Disability Action Council-Cambodia dac@dac.org.kh 10 Mr. Hisao Sato APDF Hisao.sato@jcsw.ac.jp 11 Mr. Chapal WHO-Geneva khasnabisc@who.int 12 Ms. Bishnu M. Dhungana AIT bishnu.bhungana@ait.ac.th 13 Ms. Sunita Singh Project Director Min. of Social Justice and Employment, India drcpd@hub.nic.in 14 Ms. Ashish Kumar Dir., Min. of Social Justice and Employment, India kmashish@hub.nic.in 15 Ms. Betul Yalcin Specialist on Disabled, Prime Minister, Department for Disabled, Turkey betulyn@yahoo.om 16 Ms. Lene Mikkelsen UNESCAP mikkelsen@un.org 17 Mr. Jerry Huguet UNESCAP huguet.unescap@un.org 18 Ms. Judy Wee Handicaps Welfare Association, Singapore weejudy@singnet.com.sg 19 Mr. Topong Kulkhanchit DPI Asia Pacific Regional Office rdo@dpiap.org 20 Ms. Supattraporn Tanatikom DPI Asia Pacific Regional Office sarahmai@ksc.th.com 21 Ms. Motoko Odachi DPI Asia Pacific Regional Office motoko@dpiap.org ANNEX II (f)
UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004 MINUTES 1. Meeting held from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm on 15 June 04, Chairperson Kay Nagata, Rapporteur Joseph Kwok, and attended by a total of 12 participants. 2. Timor Leste 2.1. Received a report from ILO on the Project “Skills Training for Gainful Employment.” The Project has a budget of $5.08 M for duration of 5 years, to benefit unskilled citizens, trainers and State Secretariat. The government counterpart is Secretary of State for Labour and Solidarity. The Project adopts capacity buildup and community empowerment strategy. The Project characteristics are practical, relevant, flexible, participatory, economically viable and immediately effective. Additional funds are raised to ensure participation of people with disabilities to the effect that some classes have around 15% persons with disabilities. ILO invites members visiting Timor Leste to assist in project evaluation and monitoring, as well as supporting key contact persons in Timor Leste. 2.2. Joseph Kwok reported a collaboration project between Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Timor Leste. The first phase of the Project started three years ago on training and enumeration of disabled people. The second phase was training of trainers in Governments and NGOs on CBR and completed in January 2004. The local partners were KATILOSA and Ministry of Labour and Solidarity. The Consultants were from CBR Centre in Solo. The training workshop and training materials were all conducted in local language without the need for translation. Further collaboration between Government and Solo Centre was actively pursued after the workshop. Phase 3 of the Project 4 may be in areas of CBR programme, income-generating project, as well as raising seed funds to support income-generating projects. Funds are being raised in Hong Kong through Joseph Kwok, and also the Asia and Pacific Community Workshop through Ichiro Maruyama. 2.3. Kay Nagata reported the signing of the Asia Pacific Decade Proclamation by the Minister at the official opening of the event in January 2004. 2.4. JB Munro reported on the collaboration between Inclusion International and World Vision in projects to provide pre-school services and education to children with disabilities. 2.5. ILO further reported on its project in sending two consultants to Timor Leste to assist in disability legislation. 3. Afghanistan 3.1. ILO reported an unusual and happy project, which is to post an in-country adviser to Afghanistan. ILO is now calling for candidate to fill the post. 3.2 K.J. Alan shared the observation of a consultant from Bangladesh
to monitor Handicapped International’s mission and would be
advised to get in touch with key contacts. 3.4. Kay Nagata informed that a working group is being formed to deal with national policy concerning disability 3.5 Emma Lee shared her observations from her recent mission to Afghanistan 3.6 Members were excited to receive information on some good practices being developed by collaboration projects, including one project training amputees to deliver food on bicycle. Members are encouraged to share key local contacts 4. Future planning and action agenda of the Task Force 4.1 Agreed to change the name of Task Force to Task Force on Post
Conflict Countries with the following terms of reference: 4.2. JB and Frank shared their observations in seeking collaboration with ADB and WB, as well as efforts in sensitizing their senior management to disability concerns. 4.3 Kay shared her reading of a research conducted by ADB in over four countries with an output on guidelines on development projects 4.4 Members agreed that before the next Task Force meeting, the focused attention is to seek deep collaboration with ADB. Kay Nagata will take up the coordinating role in this major task, with most work expected to be carried on online with members’ active contribution. List of Participants 1 Jahurul Alam Khandaker, National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD), nfowd@bdmail.net or csid@bdmail.net 2 Debra Perry ILO perry@ilo.org 3 Robert Lin Eden Handicap Service Centre Berhad, edenhdc@yahoo.com 4 Emma Lee Eden Handicap Service Centre Berhad, edenhdc@yahoo.com 5 Godfrey Ooi Malaysian Association for the Blind mablind@po.jaring.my 6 Etsuko Ueno Office of the Regional Committee for Asia & the Pacific Regional Secretariat (JSRPD), eueno@dinf.ne.jp 7 JB Munro JBmunro@xtra.co.nz 8 Joseph Kwok RI/APDF, ssjk@cityu.educ.hk 9 Frank Hall-Bentick Disability Australia frankhb@connexus.net.au 10 Ryosuke Matsui, RI/Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific (JSRPD), matsui@mt.tama.hosei.ac.jp 11 Ian Cummings ILO cummings@ilo.org 12 Kay Nagata UNESCAP nagata@un.org ANNEX II (g) TWGDC8/TFCON/MINUTES ENGLISH ONLY UNITED NATIONS 15 June 2004
1. The Task Force on a Proposed International Convention was held on 15 June 2004, attended by 24 participants, and chaired by Aiko Akiyama. A provisional list of participants is attached. 2. The Chairperson presented the provisional agenda as follows: 1. Opening 4.1 Report on the Third Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive
and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion
of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities 5. Action plans/strategies for items above and others The participants approved this agenda. 3. From members present at the Task Force, Ms Kay Nagata, Mr Monthian Bhuntan, Mr Frank Hall-Bentick and Dr Joseph Kwok attended the Third Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, held in New York, from 24 May to 4 June 2004. Ms Nagata was a representative of the UN ESCAP; Mr Bhuntan was a part of Thai Government delegation. Mr Hall-Bentick and Dr Kwok were NGO participants. 4. Ms Nagata presented her report on the Ad Hoc Committee’s outcomes, procedural and substantive issues with the following points (a detailed report prepared by Ms Nagata was included in the background documents for the TWG-DC):
5. Mr Buntan presented his report on the Ad Hoc Committee with following points:
6. Following discussions on the above-mentioned points were held among participants;
7. Ms Yalcin of Turkish Government and Mr Kunwar of Nepalese Government said that they would inform their each government officials of a current elaboration process and advocate for supporting the proposed convention once they return to their countries. 8. The Chairperson noted that the Fourth Session of the Ad Hoc would be continuation of the reading of the draft. For future action plans and strategies, the Task Force agreed to the following:
List of Participants 1 Judy Wee Handicap Welfare Association, Singapore, weejudy@singnet.com.sg 2 Frank Hall-Bentick Disability Australia frankhb@connexus.net.au 3 J.B. Munro, Inclusion International, JBmunro@xtra.co.nz 4 Etsuko Ueno, Office of the Regional Committee for A/P Regional, eueno@dinf.ne.jp 5 Goat See Godfrey Ooi Malaysian Association for the Blind, mablind@po.jaring.my 6 Joseph Kwok R.S.W. Rehabilitation International ssjk@cityu.edu.hk 7 Ryosuke Matsui, Office of the Regional Committee for A/P Regional, matsur@mt.tama.hosei.ac.jp 8 Hisao Sato, Office of the Regional Committee for A/P Regional, jsrd@mzq.meshnet.or.jp, jcsw-hisao.sato@nifty.ne.jp hisao.sato@jcsw.ac.jp 9 Khasnabis Chapal, WHO, Switzerland khasbanisc@who.int 10 Phoranee Louineau, Parents’ Association of the Intellectually Impaired, Thailand, wandeech@mweb.co.th 11 Mary Ma Rehabilitation, Health and Welfare Bureau, Government Secretariat, cforr@hwb.gcn.gov.hk, hwbcfr@hwb.gov.hk 12 Limia Dewan, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), limiad@yahoo.com 13 Md. Nazrul Islam Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) 16 Binod Bahadur Kunwar, Ministry of women, Children and Social Welfare, Nepal mwscw@ntc.net.np 17 Bishnu Maya Dhungana, Asian Institute of Technology, st101095@ait.ac.th bishnu.dhugana@ait.ac.th 18 Robert Chin-Chuan LIN, Eden Handicap Service Centre Berhad, edenhdc@yahoo.com 19 Emma, Li-Chia LEE Eden Handicap Service Centre Berhad, edenhdc@yahoo.com 20 Aiko Akiyama UNESCAP akiyama@un.org 21 Kay Nagata UNESCAP nagata@un.org 22 Monthian Buntan, Thai Blind People’s Foundation, mbuntan@tab.or.th 23 Debra Perry ILO perry@ilo.org 24 Jerry Huguet UNESCAP huguet.unescap@un.org Bibliography of relevant websites on the proposed international convention 1. Ad Hoc Committee Brief Background: 2. Advance unedited text of the Report of the Third Session of
the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International
Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity
of Persons with Disabilities 4. Revisions and amendments proposed at the Third Session 5. Contributions and comments on the draft text of a convention
prepared by the Working Group of the Ad Hoc Committee 6. Daily summary of discussions http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc3summary.htm 7. Documents of the Third Session of the Ad Hoc Committee 8. Side-events to the Third Session of the Ad Hoc Committee 9. Bangkok Draft: Proposed Elements of a Comprehensive and Integral
International Convention to Promote and Protect the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities
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