International Watch Federal Advisory Committee conference calls were held on September 4 and November 6, 2003. Topics on the agenda included the release of NCD's foreign assistance report; the International Convention working group; discussion of NCD's foreign policy work in fiscal year 2004; the UN International Day of People with Disabilities; the Roundtable Experts Dialogue on the Convention in Amman, Jordan; Rehabilitation International's African Regional Conference and General Assembly; Kathy Martinez's speech to the State Department for National Disability Employment Awareness Month; and a legislative update on accessible reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Update on Foreign Assistance:

NCD's foreign assistance report, "Foreign Policy and Disability: Legislative Strategies and Civil Rights Protections to Ensure Inclusion of People with Disabilities" was released on September 9 at a very well-attended event on Capitol Hill that featured a press conference and briefing. The press conference included speakers Senator Harkin, Representative Langevin of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus, and Kathy Martinez. The briefing featured international disability experts Eric Rosenthal of Mental Disability Rights International; Arlene Kanter of Syracuse University School of Law; John Kemp of the United States International Council on Disabilities; Sue Suter of the Center for International Rehabilitation; Victor Pineda, a student activist; and Holly Burkhalter of Physicians for Human Rights; as well as Board Members Milton Aponte and Kathy Martinez.

Follow-up on the report has begun with NCD staff continuing to advise Congress on ways to incorporate disability language in the Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction/appropriation bills. NCD has thus far met with Representative Bereuter's staff (R-Nebraska), Rep. Diane Watson's staff (D-California), Rep. Amory Houghton's staff (R-New York), and Senator Richard Shelby's staff (R-Alabama) to discuss the report. NCD has also met with Senator Harkin's staff to follow up on the report recommendations regarding the Millennium Challenge Account, which establishes a new development agency that will tie development assistance to countries that demonstrate performance in specified areas.

NCD's foreign assistance report has already made an impact with a proposed amendment to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill requiring that the Millennium Challenge Account include as one of its criteria in determining a country's eligibility for funds, the country's commitment to providing opportunities for the inclusion of people with disabilities. When Senator Harkin offered this amendment, he asked that the Executive Summary from NCD's foreign assistance report, along with the report transmittal letter from Lex Frieden, be read into the Congressional Record. In the Iraq supplemental bill, language is currently included that requires that the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (the entity currently governing in Iraq) seek to ensure that programs, projects and activities funded in this bill comply fully with USAID's `Policy Paper: Disability' issued on September 12, 1997, and it also requires that the Secretary of State submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations within 90 days, detailing the manner in which the needs of people with disabilities are being addressed in the development of and implementation of programs, projects and activities funded by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, language is currently included that requires the development of disability access standards to be used in projects funded by USAID in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, a letter was sent to L. Paul Bremer, the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, from several members of Congress asking that the Iraqi Donors Conference that was held in October, include discussion of the infrastructure needs of people with disabilities in the reconstruction efforts. On October 17, Representative Kolbe (Chair of the Foreign Ops. Appropriations Subcommittee) and Congressman Langevin delivered a colloquy on accessible reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also in October, NCD hosted a roundtable discussion with leaders in the disability community about NCD's foreign assistance recommendations.

Update on the International Convention

NCD has issued an informational summary and progress update on the Convention, which has been posted online.