We are pleased to announce that Dementia Alliance International is one of more than 80 organisations and experts who have signed an open letter calling on UN member countries to protect gender parity and diversity of representation on the committee on the rights of persons with disabilities.
The letter was coordinated by Sightsavers and partners from Light for the World, GQUAL Campaign, Women Enabled International, CBM Global Disability Inclusion, the World Federation of the Deaf and the International Disability Alliance. It has been sent directly to each participating country’s permanent mission to the UN in New York.
We signed onto this very important Open Letter to the United Nations to protect gender parity and diverse representation on UN disability committee.
We must ensure people with dementia are not left behind.
Dementia is a condition causing cognitive and mulitple other disabilities, currently affecting more than 57 million people globally, and their families. It also affects more women and girls, than men, making gender parity on the UN CRPD Committee even more critical.
Read the full open letter here:
Your Excellencies,
We the undersigned call on you, as a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), to use your votes in the election of the new CRPD Committee at the Conference of States Parties in June 2022 to protect the gains made on gender parity on the Committee and to ensure it continues to become more representative and diverse in line with the intent of the CRPD.
In 2020, six women were elected and gender parity on the CRPD Committee was achieved for the very first time. This is in stark contrast to 2016 when no women were elected (resulting in just one woman sitting on the 18-member Committee), and all previous iterations of the Committee, when women were in a minority. States Parties must protect this progress.
The CRPD states in Article 34 (4) that in electing Committee members, consideration should be given to “equitable geographical distribution, representation of the different forms of civilization and of the principal legal systems, balanced gender representation and participation of experts with disabilities.”
As well as maintaining gender parity, we must ensure equitable geographical distribution and persons with diverse types of disability. To make progress towards an equal world for everyone, in both public and political life, it’s essential that the voices of underrepresented groups of persons with disabilities are heard, including women with disabilities, deaf persons, deaf-blind persons, persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities.
At the Conference of States Parties in June 2022, you have an opportunity to protect the gains made in recent years on the CRPD Committee on gender parity, and drive progress towards representing the full diversity of voices of experts with disabilities. We urge all States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to cast their votes with this in mind.
Sincerely,
Coordinating group
Sightsavers #EqualUN Campaign (UK/Global)
Light for the World (Austria/Global)
GQUAL Campaign (Global)
Women Enabled International (USA/Global)
CBM Global Disability Inclusion (Netherlands/Global)
World Federation of the Deaf (Finland/Global)
International Disability Alliance (USA/Global)
The full list of signatures and the translated versions of the letter can be found here.
Note: These graphics were generously provided for anyone to download to use for social media posts.