NCD's International Watch is pursuing two separate strategies for our foreign policy work. What follows is a brief update on those two strategies since the last Board Meeting in December.

Update on Foreign Assistance:

On December 6, 2002, NCD held a strategy session on "Disability, Development, and the Foreign Assistance Act" to guide the development of a paper addressing the history and need for new legislation, including amending the Foreign Assistance Act, to include people with disabilities in the United States' overseas programming. The paper is a follow up to NCD's 1996 report, "Foreign Policy and Disability" and it explores legislative strategies and civil rights protections to ensure inclusion of people with disabilities. As of writing this report, the paper is being reviewed and is in its final stages before publication. NCD staff has had several meetings with Members of Congress, including Representative Langevin's office, Representative Lantos' office, Senator Harkin's office, and Senator Kerry's office, to discuss the paper and NCD's Convention work (see below). The draft paper makes several recommendations including that GAO conduct a follow-up study to determine the extent to which current US government programs are accessible to US contractors and employees with disabilities, and to the recipients of US programs abroad. The paper recommends that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 be extended to explicitly apply to all US government funded programs abroad, and that the Foreign Assistance Act be amended to create a broad mandate to include people with disabilities; it recommends the creation of an office on Disability in Development at USAID and a disability advisor at the State Department, as well as enforcing the requirement that the country reports on human rights practices include a section on the rights of people with disabilities.

Update on the International Convention:

NCD has been an active participant in a working group convened last year by Senator Harkin's office to further disability issues internationally. This group, that includes other congressional representatives, has met three times since the last Board meeting. The group is working on a proposed Senate resolution supporting the drafting and adoption of an international Convention on the human rights of people with disabilities. NCD staff participated in an interagency meeting at the State Department on January 29 to discuss US participation in the Convention process and the upcoming Ad hoc Committee meeting at the United Nations. The State Department informed participants that the Department plans to hold more meetings to get input from federal agencies, including NCD, to help inform the drafting of text elements for the US submission to the UN. On February 13, NCD co-sponsored, along with the World Bank, USICD and Yoshiko Dart, a meeting to discuss the Convention and other foreign policy initiatives. The keynote speaker was Venus Ilagan, newly elected Chair of Disabled Peoples International. John Kemp, Treasurer of the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, read remarks provided by Representative James R. Langevin, Chair of the House Disability Caucus.