Bangkok--2 Dec--UN
The Asia-Pacific region - home to an estimated 400 million persons with disabilities the majority of which are living in poverty - will highlight the rights of persons with disabilities with the upcoming Asia-Pacific Regional Commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities to be held on 3 December 2010.
The theme of this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities is “Keeping the promise: mainstreaming disability in the Millennium Development Goals.”
The event will include a roundtable discussion on “Making the Right Real:
Legal Perspectives on Promoting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.
Roundtable participants will include Mr. Yoshikazu Ikehara, Attorney at Law, Tokyo Advocacy Law Office; Ms. Panomwan Boontem, President of the Association of Thai Deaf Children & Woman Network Federation; Ms. Yoshimi Horiuchi, Coordinator for the Institute on Disability and Public Policy; and Senator Monthian Buntan of Thailand (through video conference). The discussion will be moderated by Mr. Kavi Chongkittavorn, Host of Inside Asia and Former Senior Editor of The Nation.
Jointly organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asia-Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD), the event will take place at the UN Conference Centre, Bangkok, from 9.00 to 11.00 hours (sign language interpretation and real-time captioning will be provided).
The topic for the roundtable discussion to be held on 3 December echoes a campaign titled “Make the Right Real” launched recently by ESCAP to promote the rights of persons with disabilities, in the wake of the entry into force in 2008 of the first-ever disability-specific human rights treaty; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Of the 58 regional members of ESCAP, 31 countries have signed the CRPD, while 20 countries have ratified it.
Note to Editors:
You or your representatives are cordially invited to attend this event, which will take place on Friday 3 December 2010, at United Nations Conference Centre (CR 4) from 9.00 to 11.00 hours. The programme of the event is attached below.
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For further information, please contact:
? Wanphen Sreshthaputra, Social Development Division, United Nations ESCAP
Tel: +66 2 288 1586, Cell: + 66 81 824 38 25, E-mail:
[email protected]
Thawadi Pachariyangkun, United Nations Information Services
Tel: + 66-2-288 1861, Cell: + 66 81 835 8647, E-mail:
[email protected] and
[email protected]