FIMITIC

15 March 2006 - Culminating months of intensive negotiations, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on a resolution setting up a new Human Rights Council to replace the much-criticized Human Rights Commission ? prompting Secretary-General Kofi Annan to hail this as an "historic" development which will help improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.

The General Assembly decides that the Council will be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner.
(UN News Centre)

General Assembly resolution

Following the competitions of the Winter Olympics 2006, the IX Paralympics Winter Games will take place from March 10 – 19, 2006 in Torino, Italy. Six hundred athletes with disabilities from 41 countries will compete in the four disciplines Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, Ice-sledge hockey and as new addition to the Paralympics programme - Wheelchair curling.

For the first time all sports of the Torino 2006 Paralympics Winter Games can be seen world-wide via Internet television channel at www.paralympicsport.tv

February 10, 2006 - More then 400 representatives from governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were attending the 7th Ad Hoc Committee Session negotiations ending at the United Nations Headquarters in New York recently.
Reflecting on the progress made FIMITIC appreciates the cooperative approach of all involved and welcomes that the negotiations can be hopefully finalized this year for Convention adoption by the UN General Assembly.

A worldwide recognition of human rights law for people with disabilities thus shall be achieved and legally binding.

This is a challenge and a great opportunity for all of us!

Yet important demands are not solved. It is up to the FIMITIC member associations now to urgently take action during the remaining period and to work hard to ensure improvements.

The Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral Convention on the Protection and promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities opened its 7th Session in New York last week.

NGO preparations for the negotiations began on Sunday, January 15, 2006.

During its three-week session, which is scheduled to conclude on 3 February, the Committee intends to review the draft of the Convention, based on the 34-article text proposed by the Committee´ s Chair Don MacKay, New Zealand.

Brussels, December 15, 2005

The European Parliament has adopted a regulation this week with major improvement of the rights of air travellers with disabilities. The new initiative, in line with the common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers and the recently published EU blacklist of unsafe airlines, aims to reinforce the rights of European consumers, without forgetting people with disabilities, explicitly including not only people with reduced mobility, but also those with other disabilities, such as individuals who are blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of hearing, or who have an intellectual disability.

Brussels, December 1-2, 2005

In line with the International Day of Disabled Persons in 1993 the European Commission started to organise in cooperation with the European Disability Forum the European Day of Disabled People.

In 2005 traditionally a conference entitled “Living together in society”

Romania / Arad, December 2, 2005 - The International Day of Persons with Disabilities, event proclaimed by the United Nations in 1992 and celebrated every year on the 3rd of December, will be marked on national level in Romania too within a national campaign of the civil society. "Take My Spot, Bear My Lot!" is the name of the campaign developed by 7 nongovernmental organizations that invite Romanian able-bodied citizens to understand the obstacles their fellow citizens with disabilities have to face when they try to live a decent life.

In many European countries the anti-discrimination regulations did undergo an examination or change during the past years. How these guidelines are enforced in the 25 Member States is presented in the individual national country reports. On the basis of these national reports the European Network of Legal Experts in the Non-Discrimination field commissioned by the European Commission under the framework of its Action Programme to combat discrimination (2001-2006) published a comparative analysis of the anti-discrimination laws of the Member States.