National Council on Disability
International Watch Federal Advisory Committee
Conference Call Meeting Minutes
May 5, 2005

Meeting Commencement: Approximately 12:00 noon ET.

Roll Call

Welcome

Present:

Lex Frieden
Joan Durocher
Hans Hogrefe
David Ives
Janet Allem
Yerker Andersson
Ken Giunta
Anne Hayes
Mark Engman
Michelle Magar
Kathy Guernsey
Susan Sygall
Sylvia Caras
Marca Bristo
Judy Chamberlain
Judy Brewer
Victor Pineda

Amend/Approve the Agenda (Ms. Joan Durocher): Agenda approved.

US House of Representatives Resolution on Supporting a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Hans Hogrefe, Director, Congressional Human Rights Caucus, House International Relations Committee)

Mr. Hans Hogrefe, Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus for the House International Relations Committee spoke about a resolution in the House of Representatives in supporting a UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

Mr. Hogrefe stated that Representative Lantos re-introduced legislation that was introduced in the last Congress as well in support of the convention on the rights of people with disabilities at the UN. The current Bill number is House Concurrent Resolution 134 which can be obtained through the Library of Congress= website at www.thomas.loc.gov. The original co-sponsors of this Bill were Congressmen Lantos, Hyde and Smith, as well as Congressman Langevin who is the co-chair of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus in the House.

Mr. Hogrefe stated that there is no equivalent bill in the Senate but he believes that the bill will be marked up as quickly as possible and obtain the same support from the Committee that was received in the last Congress. The bill is, as drafted, a binding resolution expressing the Sense of Congress that the United States play a leading role in the drafting and adoption of the convention and that the United States support these efforts at the ad hoc working group at the UN as well as send a delegation of recognized disability rights leaders of the United States to the ad hoc meetings.

Mr. Hogrefe stated that in the last Congress the Administration opposed the convention but has offered bilateral assistance to countries that are interested in seeking US advice and support on national disability rights legislation. However, the Administration is not interested in becoming a party to or supporting any international instrument that would implement and/or augment any existing international human rights treaties. Mr. Lantos has a strong opinion that the United States cannot be that there is no way that the United States can be engaged around the world at all times with all countries and that there is a need for an international document and binding convention that defines disability rights and how they should be achieved so we can either hold countries accountable and urge them to follow the developed standards.

Ms. Caras introduced herself as a person with a psychiatric disability and said that she has been attending the ad hoc committee meetings and supports Mr. Hogrefe on some of the things he said about the treaty being needed. However, she is concerned about Mr. Hogrefe’s comments regarding the United States being actively involved in the drafting.

Ms. Guernsey stated that in terms of addressing the US delegation=s participation the concern most people have is that the US issued a statement on neutrality, but the delegation does have a mandate to provide technical assistance and presently the delegation does not have the go ahead from the Administration to exercise that mandate fully so it’s speaking to some specific issues that have been lobbied on by some organizations. They did provide some useful information during the working group and it would be nice to see the delegation provide more of the same on reasonable accommodation, for example.

Mr. Hogrefe stated that the US is the international leader with the ADA and has a significant amount of experience which other nations could benefit from in their national legislation. The US should not be neutral but should come to the table with a constructive and open mind to move the process forward. He also stated that there is no doubt that without the US playing a significant role, the US will feel as though it does not have stake in this and there will be little chance of the Senate ratifying it.

Ms. Bristo stated that she is former Chair of the National Council on Disability and for a very long time, and having witnessed this at the UN meetings, she held the strong opinion that the US was really abandoning people with disabilities in this country during this convention process. We were the only people that could not go to our own country and lobby them to carry our message into the process. But now having witnessed what Ms. Guernsey and Ms. Caras just discussed, our government has now gone into the UN not carry forward the message of people with disabilities but to carry forward the platform of the right to life community – the interventions that have been made have been counter-productive in many instances. Ms. Bristo stated that she has therefore come to a different way of looking at this and has grave concerns that if the US becomes more involved, they will derail the convention.

Ms. Bristo stated that those who have been working so hard on this convention on a regular basis feel a degree of disappointment, dissatisfaction and distrust that this Administration would go in and carry forward all the good things that should be carried.

Mr. Hogrefe responded that the resolution is specific that we want the delegation engaged in the spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act, not to further whatever agenda they want to further. The resolution specifies the guidelines, goals, and content. In addition, Mr. Hogrefe said the resolution calls on the President to instruct the Secretary of State to include in the delegation recognized leaders from the American disability rights communities.

Mr. Hogrefe added that International Watch members could find a summary of the congressional house caucus briefing in which the Administration participated on Congressman Lantos= website www.house.gov/Lantos, and then click on congressional human rights caucus. He stated that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organizations spoke on behalf of the State Department and explained US concerns.

Ms. Caras stated that the convention preparations are going quite well with a lot of country support, and that she thinks that it is arrogant to suggest that the US has to be so intimately involved to make it go forward. She stated that the arguments put forward are valid in regard to the leadership role of the US, but foreign leaders are doing a fine job without US input. She stated that at the last Ad hoc meeting the US Delegation were walking a careful line and added that she is unhappy with the pressure from the Administration and the right to life as well as the conservative groups.

Ms. Guernsey stated that if anyone was interested in reading about the interventions made by the United States, they can do so by going to www.worldenable.net and look at the ad hoc daily summary, where there are summaries of all of the meetings. Ms. Guernsey added that the most prominent interventions were related to the Aright to life@ and Aquality of life@ interventions and from an international law perspective, those are not concepts that have been incorporated in the jurisprudence of international law. There were a lot of interventions pushing for qualifiers on the Aright to life@ issue. There were also interventions related to the article on privacy and family life which seems to imply that the Administration would like to remove references to people with disabilities and interpersonal relationships.

Ms. Magar stated that she has been involved in the disability movement in the United States for the past 25 years and most of this has been focusing on Congress. She stated that this resolution is believed to be done with good intentions, but the people that are most affected and engaged in this process are clearly saying that this resolution however well intended, is counterproductive and they would like it not to be done. She suggested that a meeting be scheduled with Congressman Lantos to discuss these issues.

Ms. Durocher stated that perhaps the Council, through International Watch, can discuss this further and she will convey today’s conversation to Kathy Martinez, Facilitator of International Watch. Ms. Durocher also suggested that perhaps a meeting should be scheduled separately with the disability community to gain further insight. Ms. Durocher then stated that there is not much time left for this call and she would like Janet Allem from USAID to move onto the next item on the agenda.

Mr. Hogrefe added a final comment that it is the second time this legislation has been introduced and it is the product of consultation with the disability community since the first time around. But ultimately, its fate lies in the hands of the disability community because it is going to take phone calls from ngos to their various representatives to get co-sponsors on-board.

Overview of USAID=s new Inclusive Development E-learning Course (Janet Allem, USAID)

Ms. Allem stated that USAID is developing an inclusive development on-line course for their officers in the United States to get them comfortable with implementing USAID’s 1997 disability policy. There has been various augmentation to this policy and law in the last year. She stated that Senator Harkin=s office had included language in AID’s appropriations bill that we need to apply our disability policy to our spending in Iraq and Afghanistan and now there is language included that the Administrator (of USAID) will seek to ensure that the policy is applied. Ms. Allem stated that several members of International Watch have been used as subject matter experts during the development and added that Judy (Heumann) has video-taped a piece on the process of inclusion in the US as well as internationally what the progression of law has been for including people with disabilities. There will be links to various different laws for people to access as well as links to various organizations. Ms. Allem stated that the missions are encouraged to create a specific disability plan of action for their offices/missions. The disability plan should place meat on the bones on what is being done and into what we are doing. The training module includes discussion of barriers to inclusion, both attitudinal and physical. Ms. Allem said USAID has conducted Alpha tests on the learning module. Ms. Allem has asked for people to review the Alpha test once it is released for their input and stated that Dr. Andersson has already submitted his comments and that she has also received input from Mobility International USA (MIUSA), the World Institute on Disability (WID), and the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD).

InterAction=s 2005 Annual Forum

Mr. Giunta stated that InterAction is the nation=s largest coalition of American non-governmental organizations that operate in developing countries in the area of international relief and development. The membership is large and small and faith based and secular and many are well known from the Red Cross to Christian Children’s Fund.

Mr. Giunta spoke about the forum and what InterAction is doing to promote and to raise the issue of disability and development this year. He stated that they have a meeting every year in Washington, D.C. and last year there were over 650 participants. This year the forum is scheduled for June 1st with an awards dinner in which InterAction gives an award to a member of the media who has reported well on our issues in the past year as well as recognize two members of Congress who have shown extraordinary leadership in supporting our issues. He added that they also give a humanitarian award. Mr. Giunta stated that this year InterAction received several nominations from members in the field and one nomination was of a disability activist in Kenya. Mr. Giunta said that the disability activist will be receiving this year’s humanitarian award and emphasized that he is very deserving, and they are also hoping that it will elevate disability among InterAction’s member organizations.

Adjournment: Ms. Durocher - Meeting was adjourned at 1:15 P.M.