Meeting held to Strategize about U.S. Role in International Arena

by Lex Frieden, ILRU (lfrieden@bcm.tmc.edu)

The U.S. National Council on Disability held an "International Watch" meeting April 6 and 7 in Washington D.C.  The purposes of the meeting were to work on developing a broader vision and a strategic plan for advancing the civil and human rights of persons with disabilities throughout the world, and to assist NCD in solidifying its role in this plan.

The meeting focused on five main agenda items:

ð Review and discussion of the progress toward and obstacles to implementing a consistent disability policy by U.S. agencies in their operations abroad;

ð Information sharing by all participants on specific issues affecting the civil and human rights of persons with disabilities internationally;

ð Review and discussion of the multi-step strategy put forth by Bengt Lindqvist for adding disability to the agenda of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and creating readiness within the U.N. for a future Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

ð Discussion of a strategy for creating national awareness of the U.N. Standard Rules and support for a U.N. convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities (i.e., convening an international congress); and

ð Discussion of recommendations and priorities for NCD's strategic action and work plan for FY 2001 and 2002.

A number of U.S. agencies gave brief overviews of their agencies' international efforts in implementing disability policy.  Also, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) discussed U.N. human rights and awareness strategies.

On the first day of the meeting 18 representatives from 11 federal agencies shared information about their agencies' international disability policy implementation during three round table sessions. Each round table was followed by Q& A from 21 members of NCD's International Watch and Foreign Policy Team as well as 14 official observers.  Agency representatives brought significant new information to light about some of their agencies' activities.  All agreed that a tremendous amount of work remains to fully implement disability inclusion policy into each agency's operations both domestic and overseas.

The second day primarily involved International Watch members and focused on forging an action agenda based on the input and discussion from the first day.  Four work groups were established to develop action plans relating to State Department initiatives, Interagency Coordination and Other Agency Actions, Legislative Priorities, and a UN convention.  Reports of these work groups will follow soon and details are available from www.ncd.gov