IV International Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities held in Cuba
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens (lferag@racsa.co.cr)
The IV International Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was held in Cuba on May 6 - 11 at the Palacio de Convenciones in Habana.
The activity was organized by the National Council for the Attention to Persons with Disabilities (Consejo Nacional para la Atención de las Personas con Discapacidad, CONAPED), an agency of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social) of the host country, the Cuban Association of Persons with Physical and Motor Disabilities (Asociación Cubana de Limitados Físicos-Motores, ACLIFIM), the Association of Blind and Persons with Visual Deficiencies (Asociación de Ciegos y Deficientes Visuales, ANCI), and the Cuban National Association of the Deaf (Asociación Nacional de Sordos de Cuba, ANSOC).
Some 225 participants were involved, representing organizations of persons with disabilities and professionals working in the field of disabilities, from 12 countries of the Americas and Europe.
Purposes of the event
The organizers defined the overarching objectives as "a range of needs and demands of persons with disabilities that are also linked with those fields of activities calling for more urgent efforts to provide for the right to equal opportunities for persons with disabilities as other citizens. This fields of activities include, include among others, work, education, accessibility, the elimination of barriers, prevention, protection, rehabilitation, and making new technologies available for all."
The organizers also stated that: "As part of its social policy, Cuba is developing a priority attention toward achieving full and effective social participation of persons with disabilities. The country is implementing the National Action Plan for Attention to Persons with Disabilities. The purposes of this National Plan are to advance an integral focus upon implementing and evaluation activities of intervention and work with persons with physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities."
The IV International Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was organized as "a space to gather professionals, persons with disabilities and their families, within an open and up to date debate on the accumulated experiences and contemporary trends."
During the Opening Session of the Conference, Yusimó Campos, of the Social Security Department of the Cuban Ministry of Labor, said: "Even with the great economic strains imposed upon our country, we have never left behind any of our citizens. After the victory of the revolution, we developed a social policy center on the integral improvement of the people, self-realization and full social integration."
Then she added how the health, education, and social security systems of her country, have eliminated important diseases that cause disability: "All of the children with disabilities in Cuba have access to education, adults are integrated into job centers by means of a special work program, and we have Cuban norms for the elimination of architectural barriers, and a system of subtitles for the television programs. All of these provisions improve the quality of living of persons with disabilities, including the deaf and blind communities, because we have special libraries in Braille. Also we have made great achievement in sports."
There were some pre-Conference courses on Sexuality of Persons with Disabilities, Development and Education of the Deaf-Blind Children, and Child Genetics and Autism.
Diversity of topics and the methodology
A wide range of topics were presented for discussion and formal debate, including:
- The Social Integration of Persons with Disabilities.
- Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- Work and Disabilities.
- Universal Design
- Education and Disability
- Culture and Disability.
- Sports, Recreation, and Leisure for Persons with Disabilities.
- Information Technology and Disability.
- Integral Rehabilitation.
- Family, Motherhood, and Sexuality and Disability.
- Women and Disability.
- Aging and Disability.
Among numerous presentations, workshops, and several poster and exhibits of materials, groups architects, workers and social workers, physicians, lawyers, recreational therapists and assistants, sociologists, gerontologists, historians, ethnographers, and educators, made about 82 presentations during this IV International Conference.
Support for the UN Convention
As Executive Director of the Inter American Institute on Disability (Instituto Interamericano sobre Discapacidad) I had the opportunity of making the key presentation about "The Process Toward the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: The Challenges." This presentation dealt with the process being conducted locally and internationally to have the United Nation to approve this important disability rights legally binding instrument. There are many expectations regarding the next work session to be held in New York on June, when the II Meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Convention is to convene, to "examine proposals for a wide and comprehensive international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities..."
My presentation emphasized the following points:
- "The Social Movement of Persons with Disabilities must work on many directions in order advance the Convention process. Participation from all of us is essential and it includes actions as the following:
- Find about and inform others on the International Convention.
- Get involved in communication networks that discuss how the process is being building. Send your comments on ways to improve the document.
- Contact your governmental authorities, explain to them the importance of having an International Convention and of the need for their sound and active commitment in this process.
- Organize information sharing activities (seminars and workshops) with persons with disabilities and their organizations, to distribute and comment ideas about the International Convention.
- Establish alliances with human rights, women and child defense organizations to inform them about the International Convention and request their support for the process.
The IV International Conference on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities clarified its firm support for the approval of an International Convention on Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations.
The Closing Session
Fidel Castro Ruz the President of Cuba, participated in the Closing Session. He indicated that he had known about the event only one day before and recognized that he did not have in depth knowledge about the topics being addressed. Then he recounted the efforts of the Cuban state directed to the improvement of the quality of life of persons with disabilities by means of diverse educational, social security, health, and job promotion programs.
During his two-hour speech, he informed about an investigation effort being conducted "house by house" throughout the island of the Antilles to find out where are the persons with disabilities who are members of each municipal district, both to ensure attention to their needs and to seek information on the causes that generated their disability.
On the other hand, he indicated that Cuba is offering cochlear implants and that all of this progress has increased the communication possibilities of deaf and deafblind children, who have recovered a great part of their hearing capacity.
He exhorted the government of the United States to end sanctions on Cuba, so that the Cuban government would be able to develop and increase more programs to improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their full development.
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