19.08.2016 The Geneva half-marathon continues – week 2

On Monday, 22^nd morning the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will discuss its draft General Comment on education (article 24) and on women and girls with disabilities (article 6) in a private session, with a view to publically adopting them on Friday 26^th August.  At lunchtime, we will have a briefing from organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) from Guatemala, followed by the first part of the consideration of Guatemala’s initial report led by Country Rapporteur Ana Pelaez, Committee Member from Spain.

On Tuesday, 23^rd the Guatemalan examination continues, followed by a lunch briefing by DPOs of Colombia. In the afternoon, Silvia Quan will lead the exam of Colombia.  Silvia is having her own marathon leading the dialogues of two countries in this 16^th session – good on you Silvia!

Wednesday, 24^th will see the dialogue on the initial report of Colombia continue until lunchtime, when I’ll be interested to see what questions my colleagues put to the DPOs of Italy during their briefing to the Committee.  Why?  As the Country Rapporteur of Italy, I have spent numerous hours poring over alternative reports and scrutinising evidence, so I will not be asking too many additional questions.  I will then lead the consideration of the initial report of Italy.  Don’t forget you can watch live on the UN’s webcasting channel.  My evening will be spent drafting my recommendations so far for Italy, which will be adopted in week three.

On Thursday, 25^th we’ll finish the Italian dialogue, and I’ll make some closing remarks.  Then, I’ll be very interested to engage in a lunch briefing provided by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) and Dementia Alliance International (DAI).  This group of people whose rights are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are beginning to embrace and demand their rights are protected, so watch this space…. In the afternoon, we will discuss internal processes on various guidelines and methods of work.

The working week ends on Friday, 26^th with public readings of the General Comments on articles 24 and 6, which will take all day.  They will be our third and fourth General Comments, so cause for multiple celebrations over the weekend.

Keep up to date via my twitter feed: @Diane_CBM and #CRPD16 #CRPD