General News

IDA press release on the IDA Board meeting held in New York from 13-15 July 2013

After adopting its new statutes and internal rules, the International Disability Alliance held its first Board meeting in New York from 13-15 July 2013, the days before the Civil Society CRPD Forum and the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD. The meeting was attended by the full IDA Board, composed of the Chairs or Chairsโ€™ nominees of all of its twelve member organisations.

One of the main issues on the agenda was the elections to the different Executive Officer positions of the Board. The following IDA Board Members were elected to cover these positions: Chair, Yannis Vardakastanis (President, European Disability Forum); First Vice-Chair, Maryanne Diamond (Immediate Past President, World Blind Union); Second Vice-Chair, Colin Allen (Chair, World Federation of the Deaf); Third Vice-Chair, Nawaf Kabbara (President, Arab Organization of Disabled People); Treasurer, Ruth Warick (President, International Federation of Hard of Hearing People); General Secretary, Moosa Salie (Co-Chair, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry).

During the meeting, the IDA Board discussed issues relating to disability statistics, indigenous persons with disabilities, CBR, older persons and the World Bank safeguards review process, and thorough discussions were held on the post-2015 agenda and the High-Level Meeting on Disability and Development (HLMDD), which represent the most important advocacy activities for IDA at this time. IDA welcomed at its meeting Catherine Naughton, the Chair of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), with which IDA will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding. Also, WHO representative Kristen Pratt presented to the IDA Board the zero draft of the WHO action plan on access to health services of persons with disabilities.

IDA said goodbye to its Executive Director, Stefan Trรถmel, who has accepted a position in the ILO headquarters in Geneva. The IDA Board decided to appoint Vladimir Cuk as Acting Executive Director.

The day ended with a very well attended reception hosted by the New Zealand mission to the UN, at which IDA Chair was able to present the main achievements of IDAโ€™s advocacy work. New Zealand Ambassador Jim McLay highlighted the great job done by IDA and also Rosangela Berman-Bieler, Senior Advisor on Disability of UNICEF, highlighted the excellent co-operation between UNICEF and IDA.

Download the document from https://www.dropbox.com/s/81r2tx44wkakuov/IDA-Press-Release-07-2013.doc

Additional Information

Country: United States of America
Website: N/A
Email: N/A
Phone: N/A
Contact Person: N/A
Source: IDA
When: 21/7/2013

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