National Council on Disability
Federal Advisory Committee International Watch
Conference Call Minutes
March 6, 2008
12:00 P.M. -1:00 P.M. Eastern

Present

John Vaughn, NCD Chairperson
Victoria Carlson, NCD Member
Joan Durocher
Don Galloway
Yerker Andersson
Stephanie Ortoleva
Michele Magar
Anne Hayes
Michael Szporluk
John Lancaster
Karen Saba
Karen Heinicke-Motsch
Cappie Morgan
Susan Sygall
Wendy Batson
Sylvia Caras
Catherine Townsend
Nora Groce

Roll Call and Welcome

Amend/Approve the Agenda

Ms. Durocher reviewed the agenda and asked if anyone had any amendments.

Several announcements were added to the agenda.  Agenda approved.

United States Department of State: Overview of 5th Public Meeting of the Advisory Committee Meeting on Persons with Disabilities (Stephanie Ortoleva, United States Department of State)

Ms. Ortoleva stated that the committee held its fifth meeting February 4th at the Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. She added that she was very pleased at the outcome of the meeting which included a variety of individuals who gave valuable input and were very engaged. Opening remarks were submitted by both the acting assistant secretary, Office of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, as well as the new office director for the Office of Democracy and Governance (from USAID).

At the advisory committee meeting, Ms. Ortoleva gave a brief overview of a recent trip she took to Morocco regarding a grant being undertaken by the State Department. This is the fourth country in a four-country grant in the Middle East and North Africa where work has been done with persons with disabilities to encourage and increase political participation and empowerment.

Ms. Ortoleva reported that Anne Hayes and Rob Horvath of USAID gave a good presentation about the positive work being done by USAID and how the integration of disability issues into a variety of programs has dramatically increased.

Ms. Ortoleva added that there was a presentation on sports as a mechanism to increase awareness of disability issues internationally but also as a mechanism for a greater engagement on human rights issues with respect to persons with disabilities and how to use sports activities and programs to bring greater attention to human rights issues and also greater awareness of human rights both in terms of the participants in those sports programs as well as by the audience.

Ms. Ortoleva added that there were a number of other presentations, including one from the Department of State regarding the recruitment of persons with disabilities for positions with the Department. She said the EEOC recently issued a report indicating that the proportions of hiring and retention of persons with disabilities in the U.S. federal agencies has unfortunately declined over the last year.  There are efforts underway to improve that record within the State Department, part of which is implementation of the reasonable accommodation formal policy.  She added that employees with disabilities receive reasonable accommodations, but the Department if finalizing the final implementation order. There was vigorous engagement by the public during this dialogue.

At the end of the advisory committee meeting the committee decided to draft a letter encouraging the United States to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Ms. Ortoleva stated that a response to that letter is forthcoming and she understands it will be sent out very soon.

Ms. Ortoleva stated that the committee then decided to divide itself into a few different working groups to proceed for the forthcoming interim period of time so that it could make some good, strong, constructive recommendations to the State Department:  one subcommittee is looking at the employment of people with disabilities in the federal government.  One subcommittee is going to be looking at the National Council on Disability’s 2003 Foreign Policy and Disability report recommendations to review whether those recommendations that are directed at the State Department have been implemented and what further actions could be undertaken to more fully implement those in the future. 

Ms. Ortoleva stated that several committee members have expressed interest in working on the issue of sport and what kind of concrete recommendations can be made with respect to that particular issue.  The committee is also looking at how the information at the February 2007 meeting concerning integrating disability into corporate social responsibility programs.

Ms. Ortoleva stated that the Committee is thinking about having some of the subcommittees work via conference calls once the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act are reviewed.

Mr. Galloway asked whether the State Department has a reasonable accommodation policy in place and if not, recommended that the Department work on this immediately.

Ms. Ortoleva responded that the EEOC administered an executive order which requires every federal agency to have a policy and process for reasonable accommodation.  That policy has been drafted and has been approved by the EEOC but it has not yet been formally implemented [by the State Department].  But [the Department] does provide reasonable accommodations, and there is an office in the human resources department that focuses on providing reasonable accommodations to employees.  However, the Office of Civil Rights and the human resources office of the Department have been working on implementing a formal policy - required by the EEOC.

Ms. Durocher asked how long the State Department’s advisory committee is chartered. 

Ms. Ortoleva responded that it expires in June.

Ms. Durocher asked whether Ms. Ortoleva expects that it will be renewed.

Ms. Ortoleva responded that she hopes it is but they will soon have a new Assistant Secretary, and it will need to be approved by him.

Mr. Galloway asked what the other three countries are that were funded through the above-noted project.

Ms. Ortoleva responded that they are Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen.

Update from the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) on latest activities re: the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (John Lancaster, President)

Mr. Lancaster stated that USICD is a coalition of US based disability organizations, government agencies, universities and other organizations that are interested in promoting social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities worldwide, promoting the rights of people with disabilities. Mr. Lancaster stated that their goal is to serve as a conduit of information about worldwide disability issues for its members in the United States and for the disability community and to do advocacy for such things as ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on the inclusion of people with disabilities in US foreign aid and the foreign aid of other big international lending and donor agencies such as The World Bank or large foundations that fund international work.

Mr. Lancaster stated that this organization is involved in supporting the disability community and maintaining a network of communication with them about the activities that are happening internationally.  USICD represents the United States to two international disability organizations:  RI [Rehabilitation International]; and Disabled Peoples International (DPI).

Mr. Lancaster stated that a number of organizations that are USICD members worked through USICD to participate in some of the negotiations of the ad hoc committee that led up to the draft that was then adopted by the UN General Assembly. Those efforts were headed by Eric Rosenthal and Marca Bristo.  He added that USICD was involved with RI in doing a major workshop before the CRPD was passed in New York.  USICD was also heavily involved co-sponsoring and setting up a follow-up seminar held with Washington School of Law at American University on the CRPD. 

Mr. Lancaster encouraged the membership on the call to permit Michele Magar, the new Executive Director of RatifyNow a few minutes to talk about that new organization and the activities it is working on with respect to the CRPD.  USICD has been attending the State Department advisory committee meetings, and will continue to raise issues related to the CRPD there.

Mr. Lancaster added that he and USICD’s Executive Director, Tapan Banerjee  participated in a number of workshops and seminars aimed at getting the CRPD signed and ratified at the World Assembly in Seoul, Korea.  He stated that they have participated very actively in one of the major tracks sponsored at DPI’s World Assembly – the track on independent living.  From that, a new world network on independent living has been formed.  USICD and NCIL will be the US representatives to that new network. Several countries are already involved including several European countries, Korea, Japan and Canada.  This network plans to sponsor scholarships and exchange programs and encourage technical assistance to support the establishment of independent living in the nations that do not have it or where it is just taking off. 

Mr. Lancaster stated that Marca Bristo is mostly likely to be named the new President of USICD and has been participating actively as the designated representative from USICD to RI.  A group of USICD representatives recently visited Tunisia and participated in the first Arab African Conference on Disability organized by RI and its members. The major focus of the conference was the CRPD.

Mr. Lancaster stated that USICD will be having its annual meeting today and 35 of its members are expected with the election of a new board. He stated that he will be stepping down to allow for Marca Bristo to assume the position of President, but he will continue on the board as Past President. He added that Marca Bristo, Eric Rosenthal and Tony Coelho (who are members of the board) have been strategizing on fundamental activities to improve USICD’s ability to do programming and hire a full-time staff.

USICD has hosted delegations from a number of countries over the last couple years including delegations from Italy, Colombia, China, Ecuador, Uzbekistan and China.

Finally, Mr. Lancaster added that he is thrilled that NCD responded to the recommendation of International Watch, and has re-joined the membership of USICD as a government member and they look forward to the involvement of Joan Durocher, Mike Collins, and John Vaughn.  Mr. Lancaster again thanked NCD for re-joining.

Ms. Ortoleva asked what other agencies are government members and what work USICD is doing in Uzbekistan.

Mr. Lancaster responded that government members include the Social Security Administration; the Access Board; the US Department of Labor, and now the National Council on Disability. They’ve lost a few over the last few years, including the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.  The Department of Transportation has tentatively committed to joining and the EEOC looks likely to join as well.  He added that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta also looks like it is going to join.

Mr. Banerjee stated that USICD arranged a meeting between some local ngos in Uzbekistan and US-based Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI).  

Mr. Andersson discussed how the UN was considering doing a postage stamp to commemorate the CRPD.

Ms. Magar gave an overview of RatifyNow.  She stated that it is a new international NGO whose mission is to provide multi-faceted support to grassroots advocates around the world working to ratify the CRPD. They are going to be focusing on legal support, press support and the creation of radio and television programming. Its other focus will be on making and keeping the Internet accessible for people with disabilities.

RatifyNow was started by Americans who were members of the International Disability Caucus and went up to the UN to help negotiate the treaty. Ms. Magar provided information regarding the upcoming March 31st event at American University, being co-sponsored by a number of different organizations including RatifyNow.  USICD and MDRI have taken the lead in convening this proposed strategy session for anyone who wants to attend.  RatifyNow is also looking at the possibility of holding a press conference on the same day.

Mr. Galloway asked why the US is not signing the treaty.

Ms. Ortoleva (State Department) responded first that there are a couple problems with the text of the CRPD.  For example, the US called for a vote on the particular provision regarding foreign occupation.  Ms. Ortoleva added that the US generally has the position that we don’t sign conventions that we do not intend to ratify. The primary reason at this juncture is related to the US’ strong belief that US government laws are very strong with respect to persons with disabilities, and all the additional complications that go with being a country with a federal system of government.  Many of the elements contained within the CRPD are aspects that go to state and local law, not only to US federal law.

V. Update on Disability Rights Fund (Catherine Townsend)

Ms. Townsend stated that the Disability Rights Fund is now an official project of the Tides Center which sponsors social justice projects.  Several grants will be supporting country level organizations in the global south and Eastern Europe that are working on advancing the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly as it relates to the new UN Convention.

Ms. Townsend stated that more specific guidelines on what the fund will be supporting will come out later this spring. The fund will be governed by a steering committee made up of donors and global advisory panel members - which will consist of 12 activists coming from the global south, eastern and former Soviet Union. 10 have been recommended and been suggested by the international disability community.  In addition to the activists, there will be two “bridge-builders” who have been invited to join the panel as a link to the human rights communities.

Ms. Townsend stated that the group will meeting at the end of March for three days and will be working on building a team amongst themselves and learning more about grant making within the US context. There will be brainstorming and recommendations for the grant making strategies and giving suggestions to donors on how that might occur.

VI. New business

Ms. Sygall first complimented NCD on this advisory committee and said it is an amazing source of information.  Second, she provided information regarding the upcoming summer program for young people with disabilities, taking place in Costa Rica.  Ms. Sygall also provided information regarding the “WILD” Institute – the Women’s Institute for Leadership and Disability.  Ms. Sygall also informed the membership of the upcoming InterAction conference in Washington called Global Safe and International Development.  Ms. Sygall recommended that the membership attend if possible, to ensure that disability is not overlooked in the international development discussions.

Ms. Sygall also informed the membership that MIUSA (Mobility International) is about to host 16 people with disabilities from Latin America who are looking at employment issues and continues to work on its AID grants in Albania, Guatemala, and Ecuador.

VII. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m. eastern time.