IDA – INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE

Working with the International Disability Alliance

Inclusion International is one of the founding members of the International Disability Alliance (IDA). As the Convention comes into effect and the Committee of Experts begins to monitor the implementation of the CRPD, disability organizations who are members of the IDA are focusing more of their attention on the monitoring process and therefore on the work of the treaty bodies and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This is a resource intensive process. II will have to make strategic decisions about how to be involved in these processes but overall our intention is to focus our efforts on supporting member organizations to work with their governments at the national level. The IDA secretariat is playing an increasingly important role for II and others as the link to the work of the Committee and the OHCHR in Geneva. II contributes significantly to the work of the IDA and in turn we are able to receive information and support in order to maximize our resources and determine when our direct involvement with the Committee and the OHCHR is necessary.

Network organisations:

Disabled Peoples' International, Inclusion International,International Federation of Hard of Hearing People, Rehabilitation International, World Blind Union, World Federation of the Deaf, World Federation of the Deafblind, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry

IDA - International Disability Alliance

The International Disability Alliance - IDA represents more than 600 million people in the world with a disability. The alliance is composed by the following eight international organisations of and for people with disabilities: Inclusion International, International Federation of Hard of Hearing People, World Blind Union, Disabled Peoples' International, Rehabilitation International, World Federation of the Deaf, World Federation of the Deafblind, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry.

IDA was formed in 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa, with the aim of being a spokesperson for the international disability movement in global policy matters and of facilitating co-operation and exchanges of information between the international disability organisations, primarily in relation to multilateral organisations. Since its formation, IDA has functioned as an informal network and the chairmanship of the alliance has alternated among the member organisations. Ms. Venus Illagan, DPI President, is presently chair of IDA.

-what is our mission?

IDA has the following goals:

1. To identify common positions on disability issues and to lobby UN agencies together on those to which there is agreement.
2. To encourage the membership of the international disability rights organizations to collaborate more actively at the international, regional, national and local levels.
3. To develop joint strategies and inclusive positions on cross-cutting issues that affect persons with disabilities.
4. To promote the involvement of people with disabilities in world politics on the world arena.
5. To strengthen existing networks within which the international disability rights organizations actively participate.

This project has been financed by Sida (The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) with the aim to support the activities of IDA, in its work of producing a UN convention for persons with disabilities. One person has been employed part time to assist IDA administratively to disseminate relevant information on the convention and to involve members of IDA in the convention work. The project will also furnish and maintain the home page which will contain information related to the convention work, with links to home pages of all IDA organisations. The web address is: www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org