International and US Perspectives on Implementation of the New UN Disability Rights Convention

March 31, 2008

American University Washington College of Law

4801 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Room 603

Washington, DC 20016

Webcast | Promotional Flyer & Agenda (PDF) | Accessible Text Agenda (Word)

On March 31, 2008, the Center, together with Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) (since renamed Disability Rights Interntional) hosted a high profile meeting of over 100 disability rights activists from around the world to discuss strategies for ratification of the new UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD).  The conference was a follow-up to the first large-scale convening of human rights, disability rights and development activists to discuss the UNCRPD, which took place at WCL in April 2007.

Expert panelists included Professor Robert Dinerstein (US), Professor of Law and Director of the Disability Rights Law Clinic at WCL, Gehane El Sharkawy (Egypt), Disability Coordinator at the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood in Egypt and a 2008 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, and Abdelkerim Chtourou (Tunisia), Public Service Counselor for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Tunisia and a 2008 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow. The Honorable Tony Coelho, former US Congressman (D-CA) and original author of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), delivered the keynote address. Moderators Bobby Silverstein, Director of the Center for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy, and Jeff Rosen, former General Counsel and Director of Policy at the National Council on Disability (currently General Counsel at CSDVRS, LLC), led the late afternoon working session to develop a plan of action for building US support for ratification of the Convention.

Conference Agenda:

12:00 - 12:10pm: Welcome Remarks

12:10 - 1:30pm: Lunch and Panel Discussion: International & US Implications of the CRPD

1:30 - 2:00 pm: Keynote Presentation by the Honorable Tony Coelho, former US Congressman (D-CA)

2:00 - 5:30 pm: Working Session to Develop an Action Plan to Build US Support for Ratification of the CRPD

5:30 - 6:30pm: Reception

 

Cosponsored by the American University Washington College of Law Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law, Mental Disability Rights International, US International Council on Disability (USICD), Ratify Now, American Association of Persons with Disabilities, National Organization on Disability, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), Human Rights Strategic Working Group
Landmine Survivors Network, Syracuse University – Burton Blatt Institute, and World Institute on Disability (WID).