Dear colleagues,
As you may know, States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) will be electing or re-electing nine members to the CRPD Committee on June 12. For the past two years, the CRPD Committee has had only one person who identifies as a woman serving on the Committee, out of a total of 18 members, creating a massive gender imbalance on the body tasked with monitoring the human rights of all persons with disabilities in countries across the world. Although there are a handful of strong advocates for the rights of women and girls with disabilities within the CRPD Committee, it is imperative that States Parties prioritize the election of progressive women and strong women’s rights advocates to the CRPD Committee this year.
A few weeks ago, Women Enabled International (WEI) sent a questionnaire to candidates for the CRPD Committee to gauge their experience in, knowledge of, and interest in rights issues affecting women and girls with disabilities. As we receive responses to this questionnaire, we are posting them on our website at: https://womenenabled.org/crpd-questionnaire.html. [As of 29 May, candidates from Brazil, Ghana, Lithuania, Sudan, Montenegro, Australia and Switzerland had replied.]
We hope this information is useful to you. and that you will use it to advocate with your governments to vote on June 12 for progressive women with disabilities and supporters of the rights of women and girls with disabilities. You can find out more information about the CRPD Committee elections by visiting: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Elections2018.aspx
Kind regards,
Amanda McRae
Director of UN Advocacy
Women Enabled International
New York, NY, USA