Each year, before the Conference of the State Parties (COSP) session officially begins, the International Disability Alliance hosts a Civil Society Forum (CSF) to leverage the opportunity to amplify the voice and facilitate adequate and active participation of persons with disabilities. This year, the CSF was held on Monday 10th June 2024.
The Civil Society Forum followed a format of a “People’s Assembly” or a Townhall meeting. Following a brief opening, three substantive sessions were held, each focussing on one of the three themes of this year’s COSP:
- International cooperation to promote technology innovations and transfer for an inclusive future.
- Persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies
- Promoting the rights of persons with disabilities to decent work and sustainable livelihood.
Each session began with a brief introduction to the topic, after which Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) were given the opportunity to make a brief intervention. The COSP must include the voices of persons with disabilities, including deaf people, and their representative organisations in order to meet the standard and commitments laid out in the CRPD. The principle of the disability movement “Nothing About Us, Without Us” is articulated in Article 4.3 of the Convention.
The European Disability Forum represented the voice of the EU disability movement.
