DPI e-update - 25 January 2012
January 26, 2012
Welcome to Disabled Peoples International's (DPI's) E-news. Please continue to send your activities, conference information, and publications news to Dr. Cassandra Phillips at info@dpi.org.
DPI's Executive Officers will meet in New Delhi, India 6-8 February, 2012. Among the activities is work on a draft Strategic Action Plan 2012-14. More information to follow.
The Disabled in Ghana Take Action on the CRPD
The Ghana Society for the Physically Disabled has called on Parliament to ratify without further delay the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Disabled (CRPD).
Mr Benjamin Amofa, National Vice President of the Society, stated that the delay in ratification of the UN Convention had resulted in people's continued disregard for the disabled. Read more at
Europe's Highest Human Rights Court Issues Landmark Disability Rights Ruling
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) last week delivered a landmark victory for the rights of persons with psycho-social disabilities and intellectual disabilities in the case of Stanev v. Bulgaria.
The Court found a violation of Article 5(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), finding that the applicant was "detained" in a social care institution, the first time that the Court has made such a finding. As Mr. Stanev was legally unable to challenge or seek compensation for his detention, Articles 5(4) and 5(5) of the ECHR had been violated. The Court also held unanimously that Mr. Stanev had been subjected to degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR by being forced to live for more than seven years in unsanitary and unlivable conditions and that domestic law did not provide him any remedy for such violations. Webcast of the hearing is available at
http://mdac.info/content/grand-chamber-hears-stanev-v-bulgaria
MDGs Report
The "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) India Country Report 2011" is now available at http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/MDG_2010_01jan12.pdf
Women and Leadership
Mobility International USA's (MIUSA) "Women's Institute on Leadership and Disability (WILD)" to be held in Oregon, USA in August 2012 will bring together approximately 30 women leaders with disabilities from approximately 30 different countries to strengthen leadership skills; create new visions; and build international networks of support for inclusive international development programming. To read more, go to https://mail.google.com/mail/h/vu6frw56xdf2/?&v=c&th=134f34333b4ccffe
Online Braille Library Launch
In early January 2012, the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH) launched the "Online Braille Library" at the Ali Yawar Jung Institute for the Hearing Handicapped in Bandra, India. With over 12,000 titles in 14 different languages, it provides students with materials from numerous colleges across India, in Braille as well as audio at no cost. Read more at http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sound-sense/895350/0
Global Disability Rights Library in Africa
Knowledge can be a powerful tool for social transformation when you put it in the hands of disability rights advocates. That's the premise behind the Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) project. To read more, go to http://usicd.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/harnessing-the-power-of-knowledge-in-africa/
Call for Papers
The Lancaster Disabilities Conference, Lancaster, UK, will take place 11-13 September 2012. The theme is "Disability, Poverty and Neo-Liberalism." Some of the topics for proposals include
-War, conflict and political change
-Independent living, rights and citizenship
-Normalcy and neuro-diversity
-Madness, distress and disability
-Eugenics and assisted dying
-Culture, history and arts
The deadline for submissions is 9 March 2012. More information at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/disabilityconference/
To see the html version and past e-news archives, please go to http://www.dpi.org/lang-en/index.php?page=23