Attendance
Kathleen Martinez, Chair and Facilitator
Jeff Rosen, NCD Staff
Joan Durocher, NCD Staff
Joelle Balfe, NCD Consultant
Eric Rosenthal, IW Member
Judy Chamberlain, IW Member
Laura Ahern, Guest
Jerry Mindes, IW Member
Cappie Morgan, Guest
Karen Heinke Motsch, Guest
Alice Demichelis, Guest
Mark Engman, Guest

I. Roll Call and Welcome
Ms. Martinez welcomed participants and asked that they introduce themselves.

II. Amend/Approve the Agenda
Ms. Martinez asked if participants approved of the agenda as presented. Mr. Rosenthal stated that he had a question. He wanted to do a review of the pending legislation with some discussion of strategy for follow-up and was not sure how it would fit into the current agenda. Ms. Durocher stated that the agenda had been revised to reflect his planned presentation. Agenda approved.

III. Millennium Challenge Account/NCD's meeting with Clay Lowery and Drew Luten
Ms. Durocher stated that she and Mr. Rosen met with Clay Lowery and Drew Luten, who are currently heading up the planned Millennium Challenge Corporation, assuming the legislation is passed. She stated that the MCA legislation, if passed, will include language that requires that a commitment to the rights of people with disabilities be shown before countries are eligible for funding under the Act.

Ms. Durocher said that the biggest concern raised by Mr. Lowery and Mr. Luten was how to objectively measure a country's commitment in this area. She stated that NCD emphasized as a starting point, and only as a starting point, that the Standard Rules are a potential methodology that can be used to measure each country's compliance. We also told them about CIR's monitoring project, which is in the process of documenting the progress and barriers experienced by people with disabilities worldwide. Ms. Durocher also stated that NCD conveyed to the MCA folks that the ADA and Section 504 have been doing this for years and can be used as models for objectively measuring compliance as well.

Ms. Durocher stated that she and Mr. Rosen also informed Mr. Lowery and Mr. Luten about International Watch and that once the legislation passes, we may want to invite them on one of our conference calls to discuss the MCA.

Mr. Rosenthal reported that the central repository of human rights documentation in the US is the State Departments Country Reports On Human Rights Practices, which is mandated under the Foreign Assistance Act. Mr. Rosenthal stated that he, Ms. Durocher, and Mr. Rosen met with Lorne Craner, who is the head of the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department and asked if the MCA passes, and there is a human rights certification required, if his office would be the one that would do the human rights certification, which will include the rights of people with disabilities.

Ms. Durocher replied that during the meeting with the MCA folks, NCD was asked whether it was a good idea to use the Country Reports to determine whether a country is meeting the new criterion. We told them that while the Country Reports are getting better, they're definitely not the only place to look. And that the Reports need to be improved before they will be an effective tool for this kind of assessment.

Jerry Mindes added that indicators from a country's own conventions should be the determining factor in whether or not the country complies with basic human rights and disability issues.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that he had heard that the first countries that would be funded under the Act include Senegal and Mozambique and that his understanding about the MCA is that the first countries that will be funded under the Millennium Challenge Account would be the very poorest countries which consist of an extremely rudimentary level of development and that there would be a focus on post-conflict countries as well. For example, Mozambique still has guerrilla warfare.

Ms. Martinez asked Ms. Durocher what the next steps will be if the MCA legislation passes. Ms. Durocher stated that NCD told the MCA folks that we wanted to meet with them again once the legislation passes to inquire on their implementation plans.

Mr. Engman added one last point-- that while the State Department will be involved, the MCA Corporation will be its own Corporation with its own Board and CEO. It's going to be completely independent and there's no requirement that that they use any office to make their judgment on eligibility. He suggested that once the head of the MCC is confirmed, to schedule a meeting with him.

Mr. Rosenthal added that the language in the MCA only applies to eligibility and doesn't specify how the money has to be used once a country receives it. So a country could be determined to be eligible because it respects disability rights and not a penny of MCA money might be used to support disability rights. The difficult policy issue to consider is one which came up while drafting NCD's report, to what extent do you use human rights conditionality? It is a very powerful tool of leverage, but in a sense it is so powerful that the irony is that if Mozambique does absolutely nothing for people with disabilities, do we want to not give them any money or give them money so they can bring themselves up to conformity?

IV. Discussion of legislative developments/priorities regarding NCD's recommendations in AForeign Policy and Disability"
There is a lotbunch of legislation that is pending as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. If the bill passes, it would be very important to the disability community to bring attention to it and make sure that there's pressure on the government to enforce it.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that the Council has been working closely with Senator Harkin's staff and in fact, met last week to discuss strategy with respect to NCD's foreign policy report. He stated that Senator Harkin's staff is taking the recommendations that are in the Council's foreign policy report very seriously and that the Senator has stated that international disability rights and development are top priorities for him in the coming sessions. In the Council report, it calls for a broad requirement that all foreign assistance programs be accessible to people with disabilities and that money be set aside to ensure that people with disabilities are included in development.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that Senator Harkin's office wants to start off incrementally. The Senator stated that he would be willing in the next session to work on getting better legislation and is interested in our advice on what the next step should be. Mr. Rosenthal stated that the first step has been the requirement that USAID implement its current disability policy in Iraq. USAID now has a 90-day requirement to report back on steps taken to implement the policy. The bill was passed as a part of the Iraq supplemental in November, so we should be expecting this report within the next month. Harkin's office has asked for any evidence we can gather on how the disability policy is being enforced. If its not working, this would be justification for more stringent requirements. If it is working, then why can't they enforce it around the world in all of their programs? Senator Harkin had similar language on Afghanistan, but it is now caught up in the appropriations bill, so we're still waiting on the language in Afghanistan. One aspect of that legislation is that any construction funded by USAID anywhere in the world conform to a set of standards that USAID has to develop and implement on physical access. AID will have 180 days from the date of passage of the appropriations bill to adopt standards for physical access and construction and this is not just for Iraq and Afghanistan, its for anywhere in the world by AID. There is a requirement that the AID consult with the Access Board and United States disability groups that are experienced with international disability issues.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that Senator Harkin's office said it would be valuable for the disability community to not wait to be contacted but to be proactive and to start work immediately on developing access standards that would be appropriate and adaptable in an international environment. The United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) has decided to take the lead on this project with the lead person being Dr. Ilene Zeitzer.

The last piece of the legislation is the MCA legislation, that we talked about earlier in the call.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that Senator Harkin's office is willing to work on creating the Fund for Inclusion, that is, to set aside funds within USAID, which is one of NCD's recommendations. The Senator is also willing to work on the creation of a Disability Advisor and asked that I consult with the disability community to get feedback on our thoughts on where it would be best to place the disability advisor, the State Department or USAID.

Another of NCD's recommendations is an amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act to provide some detailed language on the Country Reports.

Ms. Heinike-Motsch from Mobility International suggested in terms of strategizing that it would be useful to compare and use approaches from other countries that have been successful in implementing a broad requirement, for example, Scandanavian countries. And for accessibility guidelines, the Lebanese standards which were used in Kosovo and also look to what the UN has developed.

Mr. Rosenthal stated that Ms. Susan Siegel has volunteered to gather information on disability access in Iraq and Will Smith has offered to collect information on Afghanistan, so everyone should get back to Susan and Will if you have any information.

Ms. Martinez stated she has spoken to the Mr. Frieden with regard to the role that the Council could play in moving these efforts forward. She stated that he recommended that this group have the discussion and take whatever recommendations the advisory committee has to the Executive Committee.

Mr. Rosenthal made several suggestions to the Council. That 1) the Council collect information about whether these new requirements are being implemented, 2) facilitate a working group on human rights, 3) follow up on NCD's recommendations, and 4) disseminate/educate the disability community on the new requirements.

V. International Convention Working Group Update
Ms. Balfe reported that the working group meeting has been very productive and interesting. The group consists of 27 government delegates, 12 NGO representatives and one representative from a national human rights institution. The entire process is being chaired by the ambassador from New Zealand who is really doing a great job organizing this committee.

She stated that there is no distinction between the government and representatives from the NGO community. People with disabilities are playing a full part in trying to look at all of the proposals that have been placed on the table over the last two years and trying to come up with something that the Ad hoc committee can use as a basis for negotiation. The groups are addressing issues topic by topic. For example, they may discuss accessibility, freedom of information, and universal design, in which there is a specific time limit. They'll discuss these issues in plenary sessions and then small groups will gather information from the discussions and try to come up with draft language based on the discussions and take the best from the different drafts that are out there.

Ms. Balfe stated that the discussion session was extremely packed, very substantive, and productive. Participants included government delegates, who came very prepared on the subjects, as well as an impressive level of NGO representatives. There are representatives from the disability community on the government delegations and the ngo delegations and they are representing the disability community very well. There is a detailed day by day summary available on www.rightsforall.org

Yerker Andersson asked whether any issues regarding sign language and interpretation have come up since he had read a paper by the Asian Association of the Deaf and they were concerned about the elimination of sign language and interpretation.

Ms. Balfe responded that there have been discussions around accessible communications and freedom of expression and sign language and Braille and that she is sure they are going to be addressed in the draft text.

VI. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 1:01 p.m. eastern time.