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Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee, 29 July - 9 August 2002 : NGO Bulletins : Disability Negotiations Bulletin #3 August 1, 2002 Today's Weather Forecast Partly cloudy High: 91º F/ 33ºC  Low: 70º F/25ºC Exchange Rate 10 US Dollars Euro (EUR) = 10.2035 Mexican Peso (MXN) = 97.0290 Ecuador(same as US dollar) Sierra Leone (SLL) = 19,300.00 Ad Hoc Committee Meeting Today's Schedule: 9:00 - 9:45am Disability Caucus Conference Room D 10am  - 1pm & 3pm - 6pm Ad Hoc Committee Meeting Conference Room 1 2:30 pm BRIEFING: NGO Briefing Chairman Conference Room D INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Urgent Appeal to Delegates Human Rights and Global Realities Global Support for an International Treaty Human Rights and Psychiatric Disability Disability Awareness Badge of Honor and Dishonor World Federation of Deafblind Urgent Appeal to Delegates The NGOs present at the Ad hoc committee meeting would like to express their deep disappointment at the events that took place at yesterday's meeting, particularly regarding the actions of delegations that appear determined to prevent this process from moving ahead to discussion of substantive issues. While many national delegations have stated their desire to see an open and participatory process, the viewpoints of NGO participants did not appear to be a factor during the afternoon session when discussions disintegrated into a series of stalling maneuvers that effectively blocked efforts to move the process to the substantive discussion phase. While people with disabilities recognize the importance of resolving procedural issues, we remain frustrated with the various approaches employed by delegations. Among other tactics, several countries (including Canada, Denmark, Iran, Japan, Malaysia and the United States) asserted that, for various reasons, they were not sufficiently prepared to proceed to substantive consideration of issues that might be included in a draft convention. NGOs unequivocally support South African delegate, Pitso Montwedi, in his concern about the actions of uncooperative delegations. After the meeting, Mr. Montwedi commented to editors of this bulletin that he was appalled by the behavior of delegates who "threw out one ridiculous obstacle after another in order to disrupt the process". He re-emphasized the points he had made on the floor of the meeting, stating: "This is serious business we came here to discuss. Our delegation took it seriously and took the time to prepare itself to participate. If others did not bother to arrive prepared, they should sit down and let the rest of us get on with it. It is clear that they are not taking it seriously." Of particular concern to NGOs was the objection raised by the Canadian delegation which contended that the process should not proceed further until the UN was able to provide all documents in formats accessible to people with visual disabilities. Kicki Nordstrom, President of the World Blind Union, stated that neither she nor any of her colleagues with visual disabilities had been consulted on this issue by Canada before it made this intervention. Ms. Nordstrom declared: "It is an offense that we are being used as pawns to help them achieve their goal of stopping the Committee from making progress." The NGOs listed on the back page of this bulletin urge all national delegations to end these unproductive debates and adopt immediately a spirit of cooperation with one another and with the NGOs present. The General Assembly has mandated the Committee to consider proposals for a convention and it is time now to return to that important work.. Return to top Human Rights and Global Realities The Right: with disabilities have the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Reality: Disability Rights International has reported cases in numerous countries such as Mexico, Hungary, Armenia, and Kosovo, of mistreatment of people with mental disabilities in psychiatric institutions. People were found lying naked in filthy conditions and strapped to benches, beds, or wheelchairs. FACT: In the United States, disability-based harassment ranks fourth in claims made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Reality: Amnesty International reported that in Bulgaria, women with mental and physical disabilities were housed in an inadequately staffed facility where beds were heavily soiled; floors and walls were covered in urine and feces; and the heating was sorely inadequate. Women who "misbehaved" were placed in a cage 3 meters by 1 ½ meters. Investigators found 6 women in the cage with no water or food other than a small bottle of water another patient had slipped through the bars. In the United States, upward of 85% of women with disabilities are victims of domestic abuse, as compared to 25-50% of the general population. (Colorado Department of Health, 2000) In Australia, at least 1 in 5 of all women subjected to domestic abuse is a woman with a disability. (Frohmader, C. 1999, Violence Against Women with Disabilities) 50% of deaf children and young people and 60% of those with an intellectual disability are sexually abused. (Roeher Institute, 2000) People who have been labeled with mental disabilities are at greater risk of experiencing nonlethal violence, abuse and neglect than persons without disabilities. Health Canada suggests that, "people who are disabled face a 150 percent greater risk of being physically and sexually assaulted than the non-disabled population." Negative attitudes about people with mental disabilities are reinforced by poor stereotypical media images. Health Canada makes the following comments about such portrayals, "Positive images of people with a mental handicap are rare in popular media. People with a mental handicap are likely to be portrayed as dependent, oddly different or victims of unfortunate circumstances. The reinforcement of negative stereotypes such as these suggests that people with a mental handicap are "easy prey" to violent attacks and that they would not be believed if they reported an abusive situation." Return to top Global Support for an International Treaty on the Rights of People with Disabilities: What It Is Like to Live with a Disability in Canada… The following is information drawn from the Health and Activity Limitations Survey (HALS), Statistics Canada, 1991 In 1991, 4.2 million Canadians or 15.5% of the population had a disability. 3.9 million people lived in households and 300,000 lived in institutions. Disability rates increase with age-7% for children under 14; 50% for Canadians older than 65. People with disabilities have a lower rate of employment and a lower rater of labor market participation. 44% of people with disabilities are not in the labor market compared to 19% of people without disabilities. There are many barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating in the labor market. People with disabilities gave census takers the following reasons for not participating in the labor market: losing current income (21%) problems with training (16%) no job available (15%) fear they would lose additional supports (13%) family responsibilities (10%) discrimination (7%) lack of accessible transportation (7%) People with disabilities do not have the accommodations that they require on the job. The needed accommodations most identified by people not in the workforce are: modified/reduced hours (33%) job redesign (27%) accessible transportation (14%) Persons with disabilities are more likely than other Canadians to have low employment incomes. The average employment income for men with disabilities is $22,000 ($30,000 for men without disabilities) and the average for women with disabilities is $13,000 (compared to $18,000 for women without disabilities). Return to top Badges of Honor and Dishonor Disability Awareness Badge of Honor South Africa ...for speaking out against the obstructive tactics employed by some delegates during Wednesday's debate Disability Awareness Badge of Dishonor It's so hard to choose... Return to top What are the human rights issues of people labeled with a psychiatric disability? People labeled with psychiatric disabilities have been thinking about and working on these issues as a movement for the past thirty years. In this time we have identified the most important issues for our community, which are: Incarceration on the basis of disability; Forced interventions in the name of treatment; Deprivation of legal status and civil rights as a result of being subjected to psychiatric labeling; and Customary practices by communities that violate human rights by depriving us of self-determination Media and professional practices using language and emphasis that contributes to stereotyping and bias. A further issue, which crosscuts the others, is the right to an adequate standard of living, to housing, and to access to supportive services controlled by the consumer, free of punitive or restrictive discriminatory conditions. For more information see http://www.wnusp.or Return to top World Federation of Deafblind FACT: Nine out of ten people who are blind live in the developing world. (Factsheet, World Blind Union) The World Federation of Deafblind states that the proactive identification of deafblind individuals in every country is the most important issue to its constituency. Stig Ohlsen stated: "Deafblind people are the most invisible in society as they cannot receive information without interpretation services. However, deafblind can function as other people if they are supported by interpreters, specially trained to serve as their eyes and ears." Unfortunately, some countries do not make any efforts to identify this segment of their population. WFDB reports that its contacts in China expressed the belief that they do not have any deafblind people in their country. India recognizes that it does have some deafblind people but admits that it has only identified some 400. It is likely that, given its population, there are no fewer than 150,000 deafblind people in India. The WFDB believes that the numbers of deafblind individuals in most, if not all, countries are grossly underestimated because efforts are not made to identify them. For more information see http://www.wfdb.org Return to top This Bulletin was produced by the following group of non-governmental organizations, who are committed to the development of a strong and effective international convention on the human rights of people with disabilities and a process for its development that is transparent, inclusive and participatory. If your organization would like to add its name to this group, please contact Elaine Belmear at: ebelmear@att.net. If you have suggestions for the Bulletin, please contact a member of the Publication Staff. American Association of People with Disabilities American Council of the Blind Council of Canadians with Disabilities Center for International Rehabilitation Disability Awareness in Action Disabled Peoples' International European Disability Forum Inter-American Institute on Disability Japanese Federation of the Deaf Landmine Survivors Network Mental Disability Rights International Not Dead Yet Rehabilitation International Support Coalition International United States International Council on Disabilities World Blind Union World Institute on Disability Publication staff: Joelle Balfe, Campaign Development Group, USA Elaine Belmear, Landmine Survivors Network, USA Rosangela Berman-Bieler, Inter-American Institute on Disability, Brazil Steven Estey, Disabled Peoples' International, Canada Janet E. Lord, Landmine Survivors Network, USA Kicki Nordstrom, World Blind Union, Sweden William Rowland, World Blind Union, South Africa Return to top