Annual Report 2001

International Relations

The National Secretariat of DPA has the role of maintaining and supporting relations with disabled people and their organisations in overseas countries. Part of that brief includes spreading information about the situation of people with disabilities overseas, moving on international human rights initiatives and keeping in touch with the two important international disability organisations.

DPA also has the responsibility for calling attention to disability issues and was instrumental in organising an event to mark International Day of Disabled Persons. DPA is continuing to ask our Government to be a leading voice in lobbying the United Nations on disability issues and last year, on 3 December 2001 a function held by the Wellington Regional Assembly of DPA was organised to celebrate the United Nations International Day of Disabled Persons. The Charter for the Third Millennium was endorsed by the World NGOs Summit on Disability in Beijing in March 2000 and outlines eight goals for improving the lives of people with disabilities, including the call for a United Nations convention, subsequently supported by the Government.

The DPA secretariat also ensures that people overseas are informed about disability issues in this country, including those related to technology, accessibility, education, vocational and medical issues, social trends and information, and the politics. In response to a written complaint by DPA's CEO Gary Williams, RI has decided to liaise directly with DPA on how to make its fora accessible. Various Rehabilitation International Commissioners from around the country generously volunteer to monitor and report on disability trends and issues for DPA and their reports follow:

1. Rehabilitation International Rio Conference

A large Kiwi contingent traveled to Rio de Janeiro for the Rehabilitation International (RI) congress. RI is the largest of the six international disability organisations, and DPA is the New Zealand affiliate. The others are Disabled People's International (DPI), (of which DPA is also the New Zealand affiliate), World Blind Union, World Deaf Federation, Inclusion International, and World Network of Psych Survivors. DPA and New Zealand have a proud history with RI. Our first ever disabled President, the late John Stott, was the driver behind the best organised and most inclusive RI event, the 1996 Congress in Auckland. The first non-American citizen to be RI Secretary General was former DPA chief executive, Dave Henderson. At the congress Dave announced he was stepping down and returning to New Zealand for health reasons. The congress was dominated by two issues.

2. The need for a Convention on the Rights of Disabled People

At a meeting of the six international disability organisations in Beijing, China several months prior to the congress, RI led the call for a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. It was unanimously supported.

At the Rio Congress speakers outlined the reasons why calls for a Convention had been unsuccessful to date. These included not enough nations in support, other conventions were seen to cover disabled people's needs and also that disability was simply not seen as being a priority issue. The need for a Convention was clearly shown in the variety of formal speeches and informal stories told. Evidence now suggests other Conventions are not working for us. At an international congress on education of disabled children, evidence was presented on how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was not working for disabled children. In some countries many or most disabled children did not survive or were killed, because of poverty, inadequate health care, cultural values, family and society pressures, single child family policies, and the subtle effects of eugenics and other active discrimination policies. It goes almost unacknowledged because of the priorities of governments in the Western world, diplomatic niceties, and the inability of the mechanisms of international human rights organisations to register a tragedy even on the scale of millions when there is no outcry from families or geographic communities. It is left here to the community of disabled people to bring attention to the scale of the genocide. There may be an opportunity at the moment to gather momentum for a convention. The NZ government can and should play a key role.

3. Access and Inclusion:

Rio is a beautiful city and its people are friendly and welcoming, but the organising of the conference was not what we from New Zealand were used to. the venue was more than an hour drive over bumpy roads in barely accessible buses, so for many people the journey proved inaccessible. Alternative formats were not available, and many other problems occurred. A large number of Brazilian providers attended, but the general turnout was not as good as hoped, and disabled people were not very visible. The next congress in Norway in 2004 is anticipated to be more inclusive. In October 2002 in Japan the Asia Pacific region of RI meets, as does the World Congress of DPI. New Zealand intends to raise issues discussed in this report again.

Paul Gibson and Wendi Wicks, DPA representatives at Rio.

More from the 2001 Annual Report

Index Vision, Mission, Philosophy Acknowledgements President's Report Chief Executive's Report National Executive Goal 1: Providing Leadership International Relations Charter for the Third Millennium RI Social Commission Vocational Commission Leisure, Recreation and Sport Commission Goal 2: Quality Advice Goal 3: Advocating Goal 4: Monitoring Financial Statements