FIMITIC

On the 12th of December 2007 a resolution on Universal Design was adopted by the Council of Europe. EDF was represented in the working group drafting the resolution throughout the negotiations.

The theme of the Day was “Decent Work for Persons with Disabilities.” At the press briefing and panel discussion, speakers explained how companies benefit from employing persons with disabilities.

At a piano concert that evening entitled “Different Notes,” renowned artists from around the world performed at United Nations Headquarters.

The General Assembly adopted two resolutions related to disability in December.

The first, entitled "Implementation of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons: Realizing the Millennium Development Goals for Persons with Disabilities," (62/127) calls upon all parties involved in discussions of UN system-wide coherence to ensure that the disability perspective is appropriately incorporated in the implementation of internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs.

On 18 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly renamed the International Day of Disabled Persons, observed every year on 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The 192 Member States of the General Assembly took that decision unanimously when adopting a resolution on "Implementation of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons: realizing the Millennium Development Goals for persons with disabilities".

This year the European day of Disabled Persons European Conference did address the challenges of people with disabilities to be able to enjoy all four freedoms of the international market, in other words free movement of goods, services and capital, and to ensure that their needs will be fully taken into consideration in the Single market review to remove any remaining barriers as initiated by the European Commission in its Communication issued on 20 November 2007.

This year’s International Day of Disabled Persons focused on the goal of decent work for persons with disabilities, and reminds us that every person deserves opportunities for productive employment in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

The EDF (European Disability Forum) and CERMI (Spanish National Disability Council) Conference on Women and Disability took place in Madrid on November 16-18, 2007.

With more than 150 participants, representing almost all EDF national councils (23 out of 27) and a large number of full and ordinary ENGOs, the EDF/CERMI conference on women and disability can be considered a success.

The Closing Conference on the 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities on November 19-20 in Lisbon, Portugal, under the auspices of the EU Portuguese Presidency aimed to draw conclusions on all the work that was accomplished during the European Year and to set out the goals for the future.

On the 4th of October, delegations of disabled people travelling from 30 different European countries gathered in Brussels to call on the European Union for comprehensive disability legislation.

Brussels July 26, 2007

Air travel will get easier for disabled passengers in the European Union with a passing of a new regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006) to protect their rights. It is now categorically illegal to deny an elderly or disabled passenger to fly anywhere within the EU.