The Barriers Persons with Disabilities Face to Electoral and Parliamentary Engagement | A Global Disability Summit Side-Event
Event Details
Date: 17 February 2022
Time: 04:00 EST / 09:00 GMT / 12:00 EAT / 14:30 IST / 20:00 AEDT
Location: Online
Format: Panel discussion
Hosts: The Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities network and Sightsavers
Overview
This session will discuss the electoral and political participation of people with disabilities in Commonwealth jurisdictions and how barriers preventing such participation can be overcome.
This session will look to highlight the importance of people with disabilities taking part in decision-making at all levels, to influence policies that affect their lives, with existing success stories and examples of best practice. From voting independently in elections to appearing as witnesses on parliamentary committees to standing as candidates in elections, the importance of people with disabilities having a stake in policy-making is critical in 2022.
The panel will showcase the initiatives that Sightsavers and the CPA are working on to encourage the inclusion of people with disabilities in democracy. The session will focus on four dimensions of exclusion (Attitudinal, Environmental, Institutional and Data) and how exclusion in each of these areas plays a damaging role in preventing the effective and full participation of people with disabilities in democracy.
This is an official Global Disability Summit side-event. The International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Government of Norway, and the Government of Ghana will host the second Global Disability Summit on 16 and 17 February 2022 (GDS22). The Summit will mobilise efforts for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the principle of ‘Leave No One Behind’ (LNOB) and building back better and more inclusive with regards to COVID-19.
Speakers
Moderator
Richard Rieser, General Secretary of the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum
Panel
- Hon. Dennitah Ghati HSC MP (Kenya), Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) network
- Joseph Oye, Country Director, Sightsavers Cameroon
- TBC
Registration
This event will be held on Zoom and requires registration in advance. Once your registration has been approved, you will receive an email with a link to join the event.
Register ->
Accessibility
Sign language translation will be provided during this event, along with a palantypist providing live transcription.
The CPA is committed to inclusivity and accessibility at all its events and programmes. Should you have any accessibility requirements, please contact the event coordinator (see below).
Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Clive Barker, CPwD Co-ordinator, at clive.barker@cpahq.org.
