GA Agenda & Papers 2010
The biannual General Assembly of Inclusion International (II) took place in Berlin, Germany on 20 June, 2010 following Inclusion International’s 15th World Congress- Transforming Rights into Action.
During the meeting Inclusion International presented its new Strategic Plan 2010-2015. The Strategic Plan has retained Inclusion International’s Vision and Mission Statement but it has revised the Strategic Priorities. A new updated version of II’s Position Paper on Legal capacity was also introduced. The revised version complies with Inclusion International’s philosophy and it’s consistent with the UN Convention.
The Executive Director, Connie Laurin-Bowie, presented the “Principles to Guide the Implementation of Article 12 (Legal Capacity)” and said that in addition to supporting a number of country level initiatives related to law reform and the development of supported decision making models, Inclusion International has been developing a set of guidelines for implementing Article 12 and is currently consulting with other groups to ensure that no group of people are made more vulnerable in the application of Article 12.
The next item on the agenda was the election and re-election of Officers and Councillors. Ralph Jones was re-elected as Secretary General but stepped down in his role as Treasurer. The President thanked Ralph for his work as Treasurer in the last two years.
Only one nomination was received for a new Treasurer, that of Tim Gadd. As the nomination was unopposed and there was no requirement for an election, Tim Gadd was duly elected as Treasurer.
Klaus Latchwitz, a human rights lawyer and activist for people with intellectual disabilities was elected to take over presidency of Inclusion International from Diane Richler, who will remain on the Council as Past President for two years.
Walter Eigner, Life Member, paid tribute to Diane for her time as President of Inclusion International. Walter also welcomed Klaus into the chair and said he looked forward to Inclusion International moving on under his stewardship.
For the Councillors, the following Regional Representatives and Regional Self Advocates were recommended to the General Assembly for re-election to Council for a further term:
• Quincy Mwiya, Regional Self Advocate – Inclusion Africa
• Roland Tamraz, Regional Representative – Inclusion MENA
• Mia Farah, Regional Self Advocate – Inclusion MENA
The following Regional Representative and Regional Self Advocate were recommended to the General Assembly for election to Council for their first term:
• Ivo Vykydal, Regional Representative – Inclusion Europe
• Ciara Evans, Regional Self Advocate – Inclusion Europe
Diane Richler announced that Honorary Life Memberships had been conferred to the following people in a previous ceremony and acknowledged the Life Members for their many years of work with ILSMH and Inclusion International: Donald Beasley, Maria Amelia Vamprés, Paule Renoir, Peter Mittler, Tom Mutters, Ingrid Körner, and Yvonne Posternak.
The admission of new members to Inclusion International was concluded as follows:
Full Membership:
• Inclusion Ghana
• Caritas Egypt – Seti Center
• Al Zawrak – Lebanon (shared membership)
• Lebanese Association for Self-advocacy-Lebanon (shared membership)
Affiliate Membership:
• Asociacion azul – Argentina
• Help Center – Saudi Arabia
• Rehabilitation Institute for Autism and Related Communication Disorder- Bahrain
• Inclusion Mauritius (formally APEIM).
Finally, it was announced that II had agreed to formally accept the invitation from The Arc of the United States to hold the next General Assembly of Inclusion International in Washington DC in 2012.
