A VOICE OF OUR OWN

Civil Society Forum under the auspices of the 16th Session of the

Conference of States Parties to the UN CRPD

12 June 2023 | 10am to 2pm

Conf. Room 4, United Nations Headquarters, New York

OVERALL AIMS OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM

• The Civil Society Forum being held under the auspices of the 16th Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the CRPD will aim to:
• Share experiences of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) on the implementation of the CRPD
• Highlight what is working and what is not working; what are new issues that persons with disabilities are facing 
• Expectations of persons with disabilities when world leaders talk about speeding up SDGs implementation at the SDGs Summit in September 2023 and plan for future challenges at the Summit of the Future in 2024

The Civil Society Coordination Mechanism, facilitated by the International Disability Alliance will host a Civil Society Forum, as an addition to the 16th Session of the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the CRPD, to leverage the opportunity to amplify the voice and facilitate the adequate and active participation of persons with disabilities.

PARTICIPANTS AT THE CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM

Everyone who will be attending CoSP is welcome to attend the Civil Society Forum. Registration for the COSP will automatically register delegates to the Civil Society Forum. This includes OPDs, NGOs, government, academia, etc.

AGENDA

10.00 am – 10.30 am: Opening Session, Moderated by: Ruth Warick, IDA 

Speakers: 

• Katarina Ivankovic-Knezevic, Director Social Rights & Inclusion,  European Commission
• Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, Chair, CRPD Committee  
• Rose Umutesi, PANPPD, IDDC representative
• Melike Bal, ENIL Youth representative

10.30 am – 12.00 pm: Session 1, Moderated by: Jose Viera, IDA

CRPD implementation: What is the current state of play? 

Speakers:

• Bhargavi Davar, Transforming Communities for Inclusion 
• Nawaf Kabbara, Arab Organisation of Disabled Persons
• Dominique Kantor, Fundación Visibilia, Argentina
• Gopal Mitra, UNICEF

Followed by Q&A and interactive discussion with the audience.

12.00 pm – 12.15 pm – Brief Break

12.15 – 1.30pm: Session 2, Moderated by: Diana Dalton, FCDO

Towards a disability inclusive SDGs Summit & Our Common Agenda

Speakers:

• Mohammad Loutfy, G3ict
• Gunta Anca, EDF
• Jean Pierre Sibomana, Program Officer (Rwanda) Disability Rights Fund 
• Diane Bergeron, World Blind Union

Followed by Q&A and interactive discussion with the audience.

Special Remarks:  Guy Ryder, USG Policy 

1.30    – 2.00pm - Closing, Moderated by: Marc Workman, Representative from the CSCM

• Ambassador to the Mission of Tunisia, Chair, CoSP Bureau
• Olivia Sidhu, Down Syndrome Australia 

International Sign and Captioning will be provided

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