Today our delegation had our first formal private session with the Committee for the CRPD. Each of our delegates spoke of their experiences and concerns for people with disability in Australia.
The committee was highly impressed with our delegation, our level of knowledge, expertise and our co-ordination. A committee member noted that we were better prepared than many government representatives!
Some of our delegation also met separately with committee
members from Switzerland and Lithuania. These members were very concerned with
the apparent “cognitive dissonance” shown by the Australian government on
matters relating to human rights.
Other delegation members attended sessions on the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) on which Australia is also belong reviewed. CRC committee members were very concerned about Australia’s lack of genuine commitment to climate change and the potential impacts on future generations.
Other members observed the CRPD committee review of Kuwait’s
government. The committee were very particular, when government representatives
did not answer questions directly and specifically. The committee is most
interested in specific policy and practice iniatives in regards to implementing
the CRPD.
A key theme from the committee more broadly is a concerns in
regards to Article 12 – Equality before the law, this was noted in both the
Australian and Kuwaiti sessions.
Tomorrow we will be doing “vox pop” videos with our delegation members – look out for them on social media.
