Conference on Ibero-American Network of Persons with Disabilities, Caracas, October 2002
Caracas, capital of Venezuela, will provide the setting for the official founding of the Ibero-American Network of Persons with Disabilities (Red Iberoamericana de Organizaciones de Personas con Discapacidad (RIADIS). The event dedicated to this purpose will be held October 14 to 18, 2002.
The host country has already completed advance work on lodging and food for the delegates to this first conference of the Network.
Representatives from throughout Latin America, Spain, and Portugal will meet, invested with official mandates from their organizations to support the agreements recently approved on disability rights. This first gathering is calling for the participation of the different organizations of and for persons with disabilities that will become members of this RIADIS Network.
Planning meeting in Bolivia
October 2001 was the starting point of this initiative. The idea of establishing an effective Network emerged during the Workshop of Associations of Persons with Disabilities, promoted and sponsored by the Institute on Migrations and Social Services (Instituto de Migraciones y Servicios Sociales, IMSERSO) of Spain, held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Goals of network
The Network intends to concentrate its action on improving social well-being and quality of life for persons with disabilities and their families. It hopes to do so by promoting social change processes and strengthening national associative movements, the approval of national laws and regulations in accordance with pertinent international policies and the incorporation of sound scientific advancements and information systems that will serve for disability policies and programs.
One of the results of the Bolivia Workshop was to establish an Organizing Commission, charged with preparing draft Bylaws of the Network and to organize this first Ibero-American Conference. Besides the formal constitution of the Ibero-American Network, the other objective of this event, is to analyze the technical and scientific details to ensure network accessibility to people with all forms of disabilities.
Conference president
The President of the Conference is Lenin Molina Peraloza, who also presides over the National Council for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities of Venezuela (Consejo Nacional para la Integración de las Personas Discapacitadas - CONAPI - de Venezuela). When explaining the integration efforts performed by the organizations of and for persons with disabilities into the civil society, Mr. Lenin Molina told us: "This network will be a way of constructing an instrument for social struggle, it is a way of validating persons with disabilities, and generating productive actions with national government actions and non governmental organizations toward the promotion of the rights of citizens with disabilities in Latin America."
Organizations wanting to participate in this First Conference, must write to the President of the Conference, including a copy of its Articles of Incorporation and corresponding legal certification, not exceeding 90 days from the date of issue.
Interested organizations and persons may obtain more information via email from: leninmolina@cantv.net
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