22 October 2020

15:00 – 17:00 CET (Geneva) /9:00 – 11:00 EST (New York)

Click here to register

English captions and International Sign will be provided

On 22 October 2020, Validity Foundation, the European Network on Independent Living, Disability Rights International, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, the International Disability Alliance, the International Disability and Development Consortium, and the Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund will launch the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Global Report.

The COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor is a major global initiative aimed at conducting rapid independent monitoring of state measures concerning the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities. Launched in April 2020 and translated into 25 languages, the survey gathered, over a three-month period, over 2,100 responses from 134 countries, spanning from Argentina to Zimbabwe and covering every continent. The vast majority of responses came from persons with disabilities themselves, as well as their representative organisations. 

The report will place a spotlight on how persons with disabilities worldwide were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the consequential States’ responses. The report will focus in particular on the lives, health and safety of persons with disabilities living in institutions, the measures targeting persons with disabilities living in the community, as well as underrepresented groups of persons with disabilities (children, homeless persons and persons living in remote and rural locations) and access to healthcare.   

The launch event will gather survey respondents, organisations representative of persons with disabilities, representatives from the United Nations and civil society organisations, with the aim to advance discussion on COVID-19 disability-inclusive responses and recovery plans. This is of particular significance as countries across the globe are now faced with the second wave of the virus.

The working language of the launch event will be English, with captioning and International Sign.

Agenda

Welcome and introduction – Steven Allen, Co-Executive Director, Validity Foundation

Opening remarks – Prof. Gerard Quinn, incoming Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Overview of the report and its general recommendations – Steven Allen, Co-Executive Director, Validity Foundation

Video response to the report (click here to watch) - Paula Tesoriero, New Zealand Human Rights Commission & Chair of the GANHRI – Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions Working Group on Disabilities

Session 1: Persons with disabilities living in institutions

Personal testimony – Celeste Fernandez, Disability Unit Coordinator, Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, Argentina

Summary of findings and recommendations – Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director, Disability Rights International

Response to the survey findings – Danlami Basharu, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Session 2: Underrepresented groups

Personal testimony – Namugabwe Petwa, Triumph Uganda

Summary of findings and recommendations – Fernanda Santana, Chair of the Brazilian Association for Action on the Rights of Autistic People

Response to the survey findings – Ola Abu Alghaib, UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Video response to the survey findings (click here to watch) - Ikponwosa Ero, the UN Independent Expert on Albinism

Session 3: Persons with disabilities living in the community

Personal testimony – Sholih Muhdlor, Advocacy Centre for Women with Disabilities and Children Foundation (SAPDA), Indonesia

Summary of findings and recommendations – Innocentia Mgijima, Programme Manager, Disability Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and Jamie Bolling, Co-Chair, European Network on Independent Living

Response to the survey findings – Dainius Puras, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Session 4: Role of funders during COVID-19

Moderator - Melanie Kawano-Chiu, Evaluation & Learning Manager, Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund 

Speakers - Diana Samarasan, Executive Director, Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund & Catherine Hyde Townsend, Senior Advisor, Disability Inclusion, Ford Foundation

Q&A with the Coordinating Group, authorities, DPOs and others – moderated by Dom Haslam, Chair, International Disability and Development Consortium

Concluding remarks - Dr. Tlaleng Mofokent, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and Dom Haslam, Chair, IDDC