Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 07 | July 2017
10th Conference of State Parties #COSP10
The Conference of State Parties is the most diverse international disability meeting in the world. The Conference is held each year to exchange experience and ideas for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in December 2006 with the aim of promoting full equality and participation of persons with disabilities in society. There are currently 173 countries that have joined the Convention, making it one of the most widely ratified international human rights instruments.
This year’s Conference focused on putting greater attention toward creating the conditions that would enable women to work, given that the employment rate for women with disabilities is much lower than that for men. Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said, “There is very little attention [paid] to the dramatic situation that women with disabilities as well as girls with disabilities face in their daily lives. Not only in regards to employment, in regards to violence and in regards to education. You can add and add, because multiple layers of discrimination apply to women with disabilities.”
Therefore, there is great need to recognize the rights of women with disabilities and to support them in exercising those rights. This builds into the rights for persons with disabilities generally as well. It is a diverse issue, and we need diverse solutions.
To read more about the #COSP10 at UNHQ click here.
To learn more about the Division’s work on disabilities click here.
Watch! UNSDN Interview with Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine
Dr. Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine is a medical doctor from Tombouctou in Mali. She is a member of Tin Hinan, a women association working for the defense, promotion and development of indigenous peoples in Africa, in particular the Tuareg. Dr. Aboubakrine participated in training on ILO Convention 169 and several times in the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
She now serves as the Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and during #UNPFII16 she was able to give a few minutes with UNSDN for a video interview. Take a look as she shares some of the highlights and main focus points from the forum.
Read more about Dr. Aboubakrine here.
To learn more about the work of UNDESA DSPD in respect to Indigenous Peoples click here.
International Elder Abuse Day, 15 June 2017
The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 66/127, designated June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It represents the one day in the year when the whole world voices its opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted to some of our older generations.
Elder abuse is a global social issue which affects the health and human rights of millions of older persons around the world, and an issue which deserves the attention of the international community.
Virtually all countries are expected to see substantial growth in the number of older persons between 2015 and 2030, and that growth will be faster in developing regions. Because the numbers of older persons are growing, the amount of elder abuse can be expected to grow with it. While the taboo topic of elder abuse has started to gain visibility across the world, it remains one of the least investigated types of violence in national surveys, and one of the least addressed in national action plans.
Read more about the event here.
Learn more about the Division’s work on ageing here.
Featured Stories
Civil Society Forum contributes to the Conference of States Parties
For the first time since the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), persons with disabilities and their representative organizations were meaningfully consulted and actively engaged in the preparation and formal proceedings
of the Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the CRPD. More than 200 persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, broader civil society actors, donors, governments and UN agencies participated in the Civil Society CRPD Forum 2017.
To read more about the Civil Society CRPD Forum click here.
To learn more about the International Disability Alliance click here.
Harnessing the Power of Women Living with Disabilities
One of the main focuses of the 10th Conference of State Parties was the empowerment of women living with disabilities. They often suffer from doublediscrimination as they simultaneously belong to two separate minority/marginalised groups. The Divisoin for Social Policy and De
velopment (DSPD) along with UN Women and the Brazilian Permanent Mission to the United Nations held a side event at COSP10 addressing this particular issue. The education and employment gap were discussed at length, showing that only 1 in 5 women with disabilities are in employed and only 41% finish primary school. The Director of DSPD, Ms. Daniela Bas urged states to put theory into action.
To read more about this side event click here.
To learn more about the DSPD and COPS10 click here.\
Highlights
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DSPD Forum: |
UNDESA DSPD |
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Multimedia
See more on DSPD’s Flickr and YouTube accounts
Upcoming Events
6 July: International Day of Cooperatives
10-19 July: High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
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