Iberoamerican Technical Cooperation Network celebrates its VII Conference in Mexico
By Luis Fernando Astorga Gatjens (lferag@racsa.co.cr)

VII Conference of the Iberoamerican Intergovernmental Technical Cooperation Network (VII Conferencia de la Red Intergubernamental Iberoamericana de Cooperación Técnica, RIICOTEC) was celebrated in Acapulco, Mexico, September 30 to October 3, 2003. There were delegates from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

This Ibero-American network, where government agencies of participating countries contribute to strengthen participation of persons with disabilities and senior citizens, is providing technical cooperation for developing policies for the disability and senior citizens sectors.

Strengthening participation
The main presentation was made by Marta Sahagún, First Lady of Mexico: "Human Rights and Globalization: Expectations for Ibero-America in the XXI Century". She stated that when addressing disability and population aging, the Ibero-American community needs to generate a joint strategy to enable the autonomy and participation of these groups in decision making.

The regional and country reports cited progress being made by local governments pursuant to the policies of the Technical Cooperation Network on disability and senior citizens, the problems found in each country and the work of the Network nationally and internationally.

This Conference held two round tables: "The Aging Process in Ibero-America: Challenges to Change" and "People with Disabilities: Toward Equal Rights in the XXI Century."

From the first roundtable it became clear that: "Latin America is aging and very fast, perhaps faster than in developed countries. This phenomenon affects areas such as health, social security and the family as a support structure. Our countries face a great challenge and we need to plan and act toward ensuring proper responses to the needs of quality of life for senior citizens."

Progress toward inclusion
The roundtable on "Persons with Disabilities: Toward Equal Rights in the XXI Century" emphasized that "governments must comply with pertinent legislation and all legal mechanisms must be used for this purpose, including the Ombudsman Offices and human rights groups in each country, in order to prompt administrative and judiciary responses."

This group was very concerned with the establishment of more horizontal disability policies which should be implement together with, and as part of the general social and economic policies of the participating countries. Governments must allocate sufficient resources and develop better practices, including that of networking and working with the disability community.

There was also a strong call for working toward an inclusive society, trying to eliminate the idea of integration that reflects the old conception of two separated social sectors.

A Declaration
At the end of the activity, a declaration was approved recommending, among other things. "Disability and Senior Citizens issues must become an integral part of the public policies developed by each country."

"Member States of the Technical Cooperation Network should be supported in their efforts to establish National Councils, created by law, to design and implement public policies on disability and senior citizens issues. For this purpose, the Conference agrees to organize a summit of countries that already have Councils on Disability and Senior Citizens and the countries that need to establish them will be invited to do so."

The declaration also expresses the will of the organizations of personas with disabilities, represented by the Ibero-American Network of Non Governmental Organizations of Persons with Disabilities and their Families (Red Iberoamericana de Organizaciones No Gubernamentales de Personas con Discapacidad y sus Familias, RIADIS) and declared "2005 as the Ibero-American Year of Persons with Disabilities, and to this end, communicate this decision to the corresponding agencies."

This Declaration concludes by expressing the full support of the VII Conference for the United Nations Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities and underlining the participation of Mexico in this process. The VIII Conference will be held in Brazil in the year 2005.