07.09.2015 Geneva marathon – week four

It’s the final week of the marathon.  We are all weary, but it’s a small group of six Committee members who are preparing for the CRPD Committee’s 15^th Session, which will take place between 29^th March and 21^st April 2016.  It’s my first time as Chair of the pre-sessional group and it’s great running towards the finish line!

During this week we meet with organisations of persons with disabilities from six countries who are coming up for examination in the 15^th Session.  These organisations are supported by the  International Disability Alliance (IDA) to meet us either face-to-face, or have a video conference with us.

The countries coming up for examination in the 15^th Session are: Serbia, (with Rapporteur Laszlo Lovaszy from Hungary), Portugal (with Rapporteur Ana Pelaez from Spain), Chile (with Rapporteur Silvia Quan from Guatemala), Lithuania (with Rapporteur Stig Langvad from Denmark), Uganda (with Rapporteur Danlami Basharu from Nigeria), Thailand (with Rapporteur Hyung Shik Kim from the Republic of Korea) and Slovkia (with me as Rapporteur).

Remember I missed a UK holiday on 31^stAugust? Well, the UN has a holiday on 10^th September, so I’ll get to rest my weary legs after all.  Then it’s time to have a hot shower, pack up the running gear, and return to the UK and put my CBM hat back on.

Thanks to the International Disability Alliance (IDA), you can watch all the examinations that took place in the archive of the 14th CRPD session at: www.treatybodywebcast.org

You can also see the Committee work via twitter using #CRPD14

You can also read summaries of the examinations on the UN media website in Geneva.