National Council on Disability
Federal Advisory Committee International Watch
Conference Call Minutes
July 5, 2007
12:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Present

Kathleen Martinez
Michael Collins
Joan Durocher
Bob Brauker
Nora Groce
Cappie Morgan
Michele Magar
Sylvia Caras
Diana Samarasan
Stephanie Ortoleva
Yerker Andersson
Cindy Lewis
Victor Pineda
Karen Heinicke-Motsch
John German
Stacy Roads
John Drummond
Cindy Lewis

I. Roll Call and Welcome

II. Amend/Approve the Agenda

The agenda was presented and accepted.

III. Update on United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) current plans re: CRPD

Mr. Collins stated that he talked to Mr. Lancaster (President of USICD) a lot about the work that he [Mr. Lancaster] did in Vietnam, and also talked about potential coordination, facilitated by NCD, of another international conference on disability. This conference would be held at the world level, maybe around the 20th anniversary of the ADA, and would bring together USAID, the World Bank, and other international organizations, as NCD has done in the past. The purpose of the conference would be to bring in delegates from the countries that have signed on to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (treaty) to share with them stories of the challenges the US disability community went through in the United States upon developing and getting the ADA passed and implementing it in an effective manner.  The parties to the conference would discuss the ongoing challenges of enforcement and trying to keep the law from being diluted.  Mr. Collins continued that NCD and the other partners would like to hold the conference in the Washington D.C. area, for a three day conference.  Rather than just talking heads, NCD would like to have hands-on seminars to talk about the different aspects of the disability civil rights movement from education and transportation to access to the living environment. Mr. Collins said that his conversation with Mr. Lancaster centered around discussing whether it was feasible to plan a large conference of this type: “Will we be able to get people to commit money in the age of continuing resolutions where they do not know their budgets from year to year? Can we get the commitment to support it if the funding is available?”

Ms. Morgan added to Mr. Collins’ update. She said that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been running conferences every other year focusing on youth with disabilities around the world.  The youth conferences have focused on what Mr. Collins has been talking about: access to the living environment and working seminars. HHS had one in 2006 in December in Washington and is now talking about one in 2008, and then 2010.  If this goes forward, Ms. Morgan stated that it would be smart to combine forces with HHS. And it would not cost NCD to bring people to the table because they [participants] are already being financed by someone else. 

Ms. Magar asked if there was a way for people who just learned about these conferences to learn more. Someone responded that the woman who is now thinking about 2008 heads the Office on Disability at HHS, and she would welcome interest in this.  

IV. Local and State Governments in the United States, Relation to the Convention

Ms. Magar discussed the idea of “passing” the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“treaty”) in local and state governments here in the United States. She said that this idea started when Sylvia Caras [People Who] decided to do something locally to support the treaty. Ms. Caras was instrumental in getting a resolution passed by the city of Santa Cruz in support of the treaty.  Ms. Magar added that they are trying to do the same thing in San Francisco.  Ms. Magar said that she was in touch with Ms. Durocher and others to see if they could somehow start a listserv or a group of people who were interested in promoting the treaty on a local or state level.  Jeff Rosen has joined Ms. Magar in this effort, but he has a slightly different approach. He wants to focus on laying the groundwork for getting the treaty ratified in the United States, so that a new administration can be ready if they do decide to sign. Ms. Magar stated that she and Mr. Rosen decided to unite their efforts for now because it is still about supporting the treaty domestically.

Mr. German asked if anyone objected to him spearheading a similar effort in New York City. He also asked if there was any information to help him get started. Ms. Caras said that one can find action toolkits and other resources on how to get state and local governments to pass such legislation. Ms. Ortoleva said that there was a similar push for women’s rights on a local level. She will be in touch with Ms. Durocher about this.  

Ms. Samarasan said that there is a group proposing an initiative to get Somerville, MA to support the treaty.  

V. The Disability Rights Initiative of the Fund for Global Human Rights

Ms. Samarasan provided information about the Disability Rights Initiative of the Fund for Global Human Rights (the Initiative). It is a new fund that will start grant initiatives in 2008 for disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) in the global south, and also probably in Eastern Europe. The goal of the initiative is to do follow-up work on the treaty. She said they were in the process of setting up a governance structure and getting advice on that and the direction of the fund. Right now, the governance structure draft form is as follows: a global advisory committee of 12 members, 7 or 8 of whom will come from IDA organizations. IDA is the International Disability Alliance. IDA will be asked to provide us with three to four candidates. Then, the remaining four or five members of the global advisory committee will be people who either represent regions that are under represented by the IDA representatives. 

The majority of people on the global advisory committee will be people with disabilities, and the role of the committee will be to make recommendations on grant making strategies and also to determine whether the fund should have any other role besides a grant making agency, for example to provide technical expertise or to do policy work. Then, there will be a subset of five members from the twelve on a rotational basis who will be making grant decisions for people. It will be rotational so that everyone in the global advisory committee gets a chance to learn about grant making.  Ms. Samarasan stated that if you  purview donor agencies and foundations in particular, there are not many people with disabilities included.  Increasing  the number of people with disabilities with grant-making experience is a goal in and of itself.

Ms. Samarasan reported further that, ideally, the other structures that will be in place are staffing – there will be a director; a development person; up to two program staff; and at least a part-time public information officer that has experience in providing accessible information. The staff will be tasked with coordinating the two bodies with evolving practical grant making tools from their recommendations and doing a first review of applications that come in matching the selection criteria. Other duties would include bringing donors to the table.

Ms. Magar suggested that Ms. Samarasan look into a model in use in Berkeley called the Impact Fund. It is a revolving litigation fund in the civil rights arena, including disability. It is a one stop shop, where people can get money as well as technical assistance in litigating civil rights cases.

Ms. Magar also suggested Ms. Samarasan consider at least some portion be spent on efforts to reach the media. She suggested regular forms of media such as television and radio, but also alternative forms such as podcasts.

Mr. Pineda added that he thought the voice of youth with disabilities should be heard as well. Mr. Pineda said that he had a lot of experience working with youth with disabilities.

When asked what the size and source of the grants would be, Ms. Samarasan answered that it was a little early, but that they are envisioning fairly modest grants. She estimated that the grants would be anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 dollars. It was started by a set of anonymous donors. And she is working on bringing other donors to the table. By 2008, they hope that the grant making portion of the fund will grow to $2 million.

Ms. Morgan voiced concerns that this fund reach poor and marginalized individuals with disabilities, including those in rural areas of the globe. She suggested using strategies that involve a multi-state approach and include community-based organizations to provide real linkages that can help reach very marginalized people who have been left out of the agenda even in their own local disability organizations.

Finally, Ms. Samarasan added that during the first year, the initiative will operate more or less as a learned mechanism. They will probably choose a couple of countries per region to do a pilot. And those might be countries where there is a better chance for impact or success in a shorter time frame, like countries that have expressed political will to ratify or have ratified the Convention. This includes countries where there is a strong umbrella DPO network, which can or is already doing policy and legislative work. The reason for this is that they would like to get their feet on the ground. Second, they want to see how the structure works in a smaller arena before spreading out to a larger one. And finally, they want to show a donor that impact can occur with DPOs, to bring other donors to the table. It is an evolving piece of work. Reaching into the huge diversity of communities that exist might not happen immediately, but it will happen within the years that the fund exists.

Ms. Magar suggested they do not reinvent the wheel; rather, they should check the list servs where there are already experts cataloged from around the world.

Ms. Morgan suggested touching base with the disability policy team at USAID.

VI. State Department Update

Ms. Ortoleva stated that the State Department is having a human rights officer conference, including all of the Foreign Service officers that work on human rights issues. At this conference there will be two workshops that will be of interest that address disability issues. The first one (in which Ms. Ortoleva is making a presentation) is how to write human rights reports. She will cover how to more extensively include international disability human rights issues in the State Department Reports of Human Rights Practices (Country Reports).  These Country Reports are mandated by Congress to address human rights situations in virtually all of the countries of the world. The State Department completes these reports annually. Disability issues have not received extensive coverage. The State Department has drafted some materials that are now part of the manual on how to do human rights reports. The State Department did notice a slight increase in the coverage of disability issues in the reports last year. Those are the reports that were issued this March for 2006. As the 2007 reports are being drafted, Ms. Ortoleva hopes to expand upon that. Another panel will be discussing discrimination issues with a human international rights context in general, and how Foreign Service officers who deal in human rights can have a greater understanding of discrimination issues and apply it to their local settings, as well as engage in greater public diplomacy to advance these rights. As far as the U.N. Convention, the position of the United States government remains the same.

Ms. Magar asked if there was a way to see what the State Department was using in the disability manuals to train Foreign Service officers.  Ms. Ortoleva responded that it is not a publicly disseminated document. 

VII. New Business

Mr. Andersson stated that the World Federation for the Deaf will have their 15th World Convention in Spain. Almost 100 countries will be participating. It will be a good way to raise awareness of the U.N. Convention. Mr. Andersson will be attending the meeting from July 18 to the 23rd. The ambassador from New Zealand will be presenting on the Convention. 

Mr. Pineda mentioned that there is a project that they might be developing with UNICEF to do a child friendly version of the Convention.

Ms. Groce stated that she knew of an organization that had put out a child version of the Convention, and Mr. Pineda may want to take a look at that as a model.

Ms. Magar asked if it were possible for the State Department to have a person with a disability give a presentation at the State Department’s Foreign Service conference. Ms. Ortoleva stated that she would devote at least some of her presentation time to the issue. 

Ms. Ortoleva wondered if anyone would be attending the Disabled Peoples International Conference in Korea. Ms. Lewis said that she would be attending.

There is another DPI Conference in New York in September. This is the annual conference of about 3,000 NGO representatives around the world as well as many from the global south which has been going on for the entire history of the U.N.—60 years. They are always focused on a theme. The theme for this year is climate change. Disability issues should be brought out at every opportunity. One speaker said that they find crosscutting issues to be an effective way of achieving this. It is possible to attend the conference online as well.

VIII. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm eastern time