On 22 October 2020, Validity Foundation, the European Network on Independent Living, Disability Rights International, the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, the International Disability Alliance, the International Disability and Development Consortium, and the Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund will launch the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Global Report.

Online launch of the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Global Report

Thursday 22 October 2020
15:00 – 17:00 CET (Geneva) 09:00 – 10:00 EST (New York)
English captions and International Sign will be provided 

The COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor is a major global initiative aimed at conducting rapid independent monitoring of state measures concerning the impact of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities. Launched in April 2020 and translated into 25 languages, the survey gathered, over a three-month period, over 2,100 responses from 135 countries, spanning from Argentina to Zimbabwe and covering every continent. The vast majority of responses came from persons with disabilities themselves, as well as their representative organisations. 

The report will place a spotlight on how persons with disabilities worldwide were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and the consequential States’ responses. The report will focus in particular on the lives, health and safety of persons with disabilities living in institutions, the measures targeting persons with disabilities living in the community, as well as underrepresented groups of persons with disabilities (children, homeless persons and persons living in remote and rural locations) and access to healthcare.   

The launch event will gather survey respondents, organisations representative of persons with disabilities, representatives from the United Nations and civil society organisations, with the aim to advance the discussion on COVID-19 disability-inclusive responses and recovery plans. This is of particular significance as countries across the globe are now faced with the second wave of the virus.

The working language of the launch event will be English, with captioning and International Sign.

Agenda

• 15:00 – 15:05
  Welcome and introduction
  – Steven Allen, Co-Executive Director, Validity Foundation
• 15:05 – 15:10
  Opening remarks
  – Prof Gerard Quinn, incoming Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
• 15:10 – 15:15
  Overview of the report and its general recommendations
  – Steven Allen, Co-Executive Director, Validity Foundation

Video response to the report

Paula Tesoriero
New Zealand Human Rights Commission & Chair of the GANHRI – Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions Working Group on Disabilities

• Session 1: Persons with disabilities living in institutions (15:15 – 15:35)
  Personal testimony
  – Celeste Fernandez, Disability Unit Coordinator, Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, Argentina
  Summary of findings and recommendations
  – Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director, Disability Rights International
  Response to the survey findings
  – Danlami Basharu, Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• Session 2: Underrepresented groups (15:35 – 15:55)
  Personal testimony
  – Namugabwe Petwa, Triumph Uganda
  Summary of findings and recommendations
  – Fernanda Santana, Chair of the Brazilian Association for Action on the Rights of Autistic People
  Response to the survey findings
  – Ola Abu Alghaib, UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Video response to the survey findings

Ikponwosa Ero
United Nations Independent Expert on Albinism

• Session 3: Persons with disabilities living in the community (15:55 – 16:15)
  Personal testimony
  – Sholih Muhdlor, Advocacy Centre for Women with Disabilities and Children Foundation (SAPDA), Indonesia
  Summary of findings and recommendations
  – Innocentia Mgijima, Programme Manager, Disability Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and Jamie Bolling, Co-Chair, European Network on Independent Living
  Response to the survey findings
  – Dainius Puras, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

• Session 4: Role of funders during COVID-19 (16:15 – 16:30) 
  Moderator - Melanie Kawano-Chiu, Evaluation & Learning Manager, Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund 
  Speakers - Diana Samarasan, Executive Director, Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund & Catherine Hyde Townsend, Senior Advisor, Disability Inclusion, Ford Foundation

• Q&A with the Coordinating Group, authorities, DPOs and others (16:30 - 16:50)
  Moderated by Dom Haslam, Chair, International Disability and Development Consortium

• Concluding remarks (16:50 – 17:00)
  Dr. Tlaleng Mofokent, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and Dom Haslam, Chair, IDDC