September 24th, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Diana Samarasan, Founding Executive Director
Telephone: +1-617-261-4593
Email: dsamarasan@disabilityrightsfund.org
Website: www.disabilityrightsfund.org
Twitter: @DisabRightsFund
Rwandan DPOs attend the 10th pre-session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
During the 10th pre-sessional working group of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee), to be held from September 24th-27th, the Committee will consider Rwanda’s initial State report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). On September 25th, the Committee will hold a private meeting with delegates from Rwandan organizations of persons with disabilities, to hear from them about CRPD implementation in Rwanda. The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) is supporting six delegates from four DPOs to attend this meeting. Following the pre-session, the Committee will issue a List of Issues, to which the Government of Rwanda must respond before the full review early next year.
Over the past three years, DRF and its sister organization, the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund (DRAF), have provided financial and technical support to Rwandan DPOs to, among other things, draft and submit an alternative report to the Committee on the implementation of the CRPD. In meeting with the Committee, Rwandan delegates will highlight critical issues and questions from this report, for example: gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health services and access to justice for women with disabilities who are victims of exploitation and violence; laws that continue to deprive persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities from exercising their legal capacity; and social and economic exclusion of refugees with disabilities and persons with disabilities from minority communities.Further, the DPOs will urge the Committee to inquire what steps the Government of Rwanda has taken to review national disability laws for accordance with the CRPD.
DRF and DRAF are proud of our grantees, Rwandan organizations of persons with disabilities, who are working hard to increase visibility of issues that persons with disabilities face on a daily basis in Rwanda.
The Disability Rights Fund is also thankful for the support of our donors including: The Ansara Family Fund of the Boston Foundation, the Ford Foundation, The Estelle Friedman Gervis Family Foundation, the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society, part of the Open Society Foundations. DRAF is supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and U.K. aid from the U.K. government (DFID). The views expressed in this communication do not necessarily reflect the official policies of any of our donors, or the governments they represent.
For more information, please visit our websites at www.disabilityrightsfund.org and www.drafund.org.
Download Word Version of the Press Release.
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