OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

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1) Brief Background

2) Preparations for the Conference of State Parties

3) Delegation

4) Main Discussion Areas

5) General Observations

6) Outcomes

7) Elections

8) Lessons Learnt

9) Way Forward

BRIEF BACKGROUND

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The Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an annual event taking place in September just before the General Assembly

The discussions and decisions of the Conference therefore feature prominently in the Secretary General’s report to the GA

The 2012 Conference was held from 12-14 September 2014 at the United Nations, New York

Theme: “Making the CRPD count for women and children”;

PREPARATIONS

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Invitations were sent to institutions relevant to the agenda of the Conference, including Ministries, Premiers, District Mayors, Portfolio and Select Committees, as well as PANSALB, the SA Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality;

Departments/institutions which did not submit their CRPD First Country Report reports were not allowed to form part of the delegation;

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities were briefed on 1 August 2012.

A compulsory briefing sessions for all delegates were held on 3 September in Pretoria and again on 11 September (New York) to, among others, allocate responsibilities;

DELEGATION

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The final delegation consisted of: Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, Deputy Minister: Women, Children and People with

Disabilities (leader of delegation); Ms Stella Ndabeni, Deputy Minister: Communications;Ms Mosetsanagape Mokomele-Mothibi: MEC for Social Development, Women, Children and People with Disabilities, North West;Dr Pemmy Majodina, MEC for Social Development, Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Eastern Cape; Mr Jonathan Shushu, MEC for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development,

Northern Cape; Cllr Mary Moloi, Executive Mayor, Francis Baard District Municipality; Cllr Queen Duba, MMC: Human Settlement, Ekurhuleni Metro; Hon. Bertha Mabe, MP; Chairperson of the Select Committee on Women, Children and

People with Disabilities; Hon. Danny Kekana, MP; Member of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and

People with Disabilities; Adv Joe Malatji, Commissioner: SA Human Rights Commission; Ms Portia Loyilane, Commissioner: Commission on Gender Equality; Ms Sebenzile Matsebula, Candidate for the Elections of additional members to the

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

DELEGATION

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Financial constraints regrettably prevented the DWCPD to mobilise sufficient financial support to include civil society in the delegation, as required by the Conference of State Parties.

Technical support was provided by fifteen (15) senior managers from participating departments.

An additional seven (7) support staff provided reasonable accommodation support to disabled members of the delegation.

The thirty four (34) person delegation included ten (10) members with disabilities, of which only 7 were paid for by the Department: 3 – Office of the Deputy Minister including the Deputy Minister2 – Department official and Candidate 2 - Guides

MAIN DISCUSSION AREAS

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The Fifth Conference of State Parties focused on:Functioning of the Committee of Persons with DisabilitiesProgress to date of Member StatesInformation, Communication and Technology and Accessibility (Article 9) Issues of Children with Disabilities (Article 7) Issues of Women with Disabilities (Article 6)An interactive dialogue on the implementation of the Convention by the United Nations SystemReport from the Special Rapporteur on the Standard Rules

Attached is the Country Statement made by the Deputy Minister on behalf of the Country and the Statement on Children with Disabilities presented at the Roundtable thereof as part of the panelists

MAIN DISCUSSION AREAS

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Side events were convened by a number of stakeholders, and included the following

A Civil Society Forum convened by the International Disability Alliance on 11

September;

A Working Session on the Rights of Children with Disabilities convened by UNICEF on

14-15 September;

A number of registered workshops convened by external stakeholders;

Session on Women with Disabilities convened by Women Enabled, which produced a

protest statement on the exclusions of women with disabilities on other UN events

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

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Partnership between governments and organisations of disabled people

Agenda was too tight, did not give time for substantive debate and interaction;

Quality of discussion papers presented was of a high standard;Principle of self-representation – people with disabilities represented

themselves;Giving effect to Article 12 – child participation was observed;Agenda of disability was elevated as some countries were represented

by Deputy Presidents, Prime Minister;

OUTCOMES

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Children with Disabilities

Member States should facilitate:Self-presentation by children with disabilities on matters affecting them;Access to education;Support to families of children with disabilities;Measures to engage parents of children with disabilities and develop programmes for them;Development of measures to protect children with disabilities in armed conflicts and disasters;Measures to recognise sign language as a first language for deaf children and its development

OUTCOMES

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Children with Disabilities, cntd

Member States should facilitate:Access to early childhood development;Establishment of accessible child friendly justice system that is responsive to the special needs of children with disabilities;Proper training to professionals that deal children with disabilities

OUTCOMES

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Information Communication Technology

Member States should facilitate:The review of intellectual property legislation both locally and internationally;The issuing of assistive technology licensing to reduce monopoly and make the market competitive;Investment in innovation and product development researchPromotion of open source-based software;

OUTCOMES

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Women with Disabilities

Member States should facilitate:Enhance the participation of women with disabilities in the Commission on Status of Women;The recognition of disability as a form of discrimination under CEDAW to facilitate effective participation of women with disabilities in those committees; Incorporation of issues of women with disabilities within the UN Women at a country level;Promotion and protection the rights of women and girls with disabilities as neither of the two Conventions have managed to address that in the past 30 years

OUTCOMES

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Women with Disabilities, cntd

Member States should facilitate:Recognition of domestic violence as a cause of disability;Measures to ensure that women with disabilities can exercise their reproductive rights;

OUTCOMES

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UN Agencies should

UN-HABITATEnsure implementation of universal access design principles are adhered to in infrastructure programmes Ensure inclusion of people with disabilities in emergency relief;Provide uniform framework on accessible cities for local government

UNDESA Develop uniform disability related instruments for data development, managementDevelop Universal M&E Framework that will serve as a tool to guide Member State on their M&E work;

OUTCOMES

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UN Agencies should

UNDESA cntdResolve that matter of the time allocated to the CommitteeMainstreaming of disability in all UN Systems and programmes;Ensure that Member State submit disabled people to be candidates in UN committees

Human Rights CouncilEnsure that their infrastructure and IT is made accessible to facilitate effective participation of people with disabilitiesEnsure that an audit of Independent Monitoring Bodies within Member State is finalised

OUTCOMES

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UN Agencies should

Human Rights Council, cntdDevelop advocacy and mainstreaming knowledge-based training tools and toolkitsEnsure effective participation of people with disabilities organisations as M&E implementation agents

OUTCOMES

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UN Agencies should

UNDP Develop a guidance for UN Agencies on the integration of disability on all the UN’s activitiesProgramme to provide legal support to Member States that leads to the ratification of the Convention;Integrate disability across UN funding programmmes; Work with UNDESA to pull together of all UN Agencies of what role UN can play in ensuring that disability is integrated in all their programmes

COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILTIES

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Committee be given an additional week to sit;Lack of compliance by Member State in submitting

country reports timeously;Lack of implementation of recommendations by Member

State;Sending of junior officials to appear before the

Committee; Inaccessible nature of Geneva offices posing challenges

for the Committee for its sittings

ELECTIONS

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Committee is constituted by 18 members, 9 of which term is ending in December 2012. South Africa submitted Ms Sebenzile Matsebula as one of the candidates (it should be noted that Africa submitted 10 candidates, two of which were endorsed by the AU);There was a total number of 18 candidates of which 8 made it through the first round and Africa was left out in this round. In the second round, Uganda made it through;It should be noted that South Africa stated its campaign late. In addition limited resources and the candidate only arriving a day before the Conference contributed to the country not making it to the Committee. It is not about how good the candidate is, but how much hours is put into the campaign.

LESSONS LEARNT

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Convention should be viewed by everybody as a social contract between government and the people;

Our ability to play a meaningful role in UN for a in addition to making presentations;

Acknowledgement of progress made with regards to legislation on the promotion of disability as a whole and the protection of Rights of Women and Children with Disabilities;

Finding innovative measures to ensure an accessible and disability friendly justice system;

Sharing of best practice methods with regards to participation of both the community and disabled people in the development of rural areas

WAY FORWARD

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Upcoming Events:Human Rights Council – 15-19 April 2013

Equal recognition before the Law

MDGs beyond 2015 and its implications for people with disabilities

6th Session of Conference of State Parties on the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – September 2013

WAY FORWARD

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Upcoming Events cntd:General Assembly High Level meeting on Disability

and Development- September 2013

4 adhoc committees to develop the outcomes document for 23 September meeting (our Missions are still to develop disability specific technical expertise)

2 Regional meetings of which the first is on 26 – 30 November 2012 in Addis Ababa. The second one is still to be determined

Sub-Regional meeting:

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights

Working together we can do more to

remove barriers to create

an inclusive and accessible

society for all.

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