Sustainable Livelihoods and the UN Standard Rules
Presentation by María Cristina Sará-Serrano Mathiason
Notes:
Hello, I am Maria Cristina Sará-Serrano Mathiason and I am going to lead you on a tour of the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities as they apply to sustainable livelihoods.
The Rules say a great deal about livelihoods, but they are not always up to date. They were negotiated in 1991 through 1993. At the time, no one could have imagined the Internet revolution and the tremendous growth of globalization. I know, because I was involved in the negotiations as the United Nations representative of Disabled Peoples’ International.
We tried to make sure that the Rules were sufficiently flexible that they could take new developments into account and I think you will see that there are many areas of relevance. There are Rules that can be applied.
The purpose of this presentation is suggest how the Rules can be applied and used in the negotiation of a new convention. This is possible because all countries have accepted the Rules and have an obligation to implement them.