[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 70 (Tuesday, May 18, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E897-E898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    STATEMENT OF KATHY MARTINEZ, MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON 
DISABILITIES (NCD), ON INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS: THE PROPOSED UN 
                               CONVENTION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 18, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on March 30th, the Congressional Human 
Rights Caucus held a groundbreaking Members' Briefing entitled, 
``International Disability Rights: The Proposed UN Convention.'' This 
discussion of the global situation of people with disabilities was 
intended to help establish disability rights issues as an integral part 
of the general human rights discourse. The briefing brought together 
the human rights community and the disability rights community, and it 
raised awareness in Congress of the need to protect disability rights 
under international law to the same extent as other human rights 
through a binding UN convention on the rights of people with 
disabilities.
  Our expert witnesses included Deputy Assistant Secretary of State 
Mark P. Lagon; the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Ecuador 
to the United Nations, Ambassador Luis Gallegos; the United Nations 
Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development in the 
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Johan Scholvinck; the 
distinguished former Attorney General of the United States, former 
Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and former Governor of 
Pennsylvania, the Honorable Dick Thornburgh; the President of the 
National Organization on Disability (NOD), Alan A. Reich; Kathy 
Martinez, a member of the National Council on Disabilities (NCD); and a 
representative of the United States International Council on 
Disabilities (USCID) and Executive Director of Mental Disability Rights 
International, Eric Rosenthal.
  As I had announced earlier, I intend to place the important 
statements of our witnesses in the Congressional Record, so that all of 
my colleagues may profit from their expertise, and I ask that the 
statement of Cathy Martinez be placed at this point in the 
Congressional Record.

    ``International Disability Rights: The Proposed United Nations 
              Convention,'' March 30, 2004, Washington, DC

       NCD is an independent federal agency whose members are 
     appointed by the President to advise the President, the 
     Administration and Congress on disability policy issues. NCD 
     supports House Concurrent Resolution 169, which expresses the 
     Sense of Congress that the U.S. should support a UN 
     Convention on the rights of people with disabilities.
       As a group composed of some 600 million people worldwide, 
     people with disabilities are a sizable global population. 
     More compelling, however, than the sheer magnitude of this 
     population, is the appalling history regarding the denial of 
     even the most basic human rights of people with disabilities 
     in both the developed and the developing countries. Even in 
     the 21st century, the Department of State Country Reports has 
     revealed that people in psychiatric facilities are restrained 
     in cages and are subjected to serious human rights abuses. In 
     the late 1990s, governments in many countries in Europe, 
     Asia,

[[Page E898]]

     and North America acknowledged long histories of the 
     sterilization of people with disabilities. Additionally, 
     there is evidence of denial of the right to vote and 
     conscious utilization of inaccessible polling places 
     constituting an abrogation of the democratic rights of people 
     with disabilities in all regions of the world. As more and 
     more countries face aging societies the public dialogue is 
     becoming more and more critical about whether people, as they 
     age, will be allowed to stay in their community.
       Within the last thirty years the United States Congress has 
     led the way in adopting law after law which mandate a range 
     of choices for American citizens with disabilities equivalent 
     to that for American citizens without disabilities: 
     education, transportation, employment, and communication. 
     With the passage of the proposed MICASSA legislation, this 
     range of choices would be extended to include the right of 
     people with disabilities to choose where they receive 
     personal assistance services and care. The UN Convention is 
     one way for the US to share its technical expertise and 
     legislative achievements, provide technical assistance and 
     the exchange of knowledge, skills, and experience to help 
     reduce the learning curve for countries that are ready to 
     implement new solutions. Something I've observed through my 
     years of experience in international development is how 
     powerful it is when the disability leadership from other 
     countries understands how people with disabilities in the US 
     have been able to organize themselves into an influential 
     constituency. Disability leaders from all over the world come 
     to this country and marvel at things we now take for granted. 
     For example, I hosted disability leaders from Russia a few 
     years ago. They spent a lot of time taking pictures of each 
     other in elevators, on ramps, on bus lifts, on the accessible 
     Metro, reading Braille menus in restaurants, and using our 
     telephone relay services. In other words, we have a lot to 
     share.
       NCD believes the people of the United States would be well 
     served by being involved in the historic process of drafting 
     a Convention, and by ensuring that this Convention benefits 
     from the American experience in implementing the Americans 
     with Disabilities Act. U.S. disability legislation, with its 
     core principles of choice, independence, and integration, is 
     one of America's greatest democratic achievements. The U.S. 
     must continue to show its leadership through its support of 
     and involvement in the proposed Convention, in order to 
     protect, preserve, and enforce the rights of people with 
     disabilities everywhere. The passage of Resolution 169 will 
     be an important step in helping to ensure that people with 
     disabilities in other countries have the same opportunity to 
     attain equality.
       The U.S. cannot afford to ignore the burgeoning momentum 
     for the development of an international disability 
     Convention. The United States has plenty to gain by 
     constructive participation in the effort to fully integrate 
     disability fully into the international human rights agenda. 
     United States interests abroad, such as our foreign 
     assistance work, can only be bolstered by a UN Convention. 
     The economic cost to society of excluding people with 
     disabilities is enormous. No nation in the world will achieve 
     its full potential for economic development while it leaves 
     out people with disabilities.
       US government support for a strong UN convention will be a 
     validation of this country's commitment to include disability 
     issues as a meaningful priority of US foreign policy.
       Effective international collaboration in the drafting 
     process will require consultation with and full participation 
     by disability leaders and their allies in the United States 
     and abroad. By supporting a strong Resolution, by consulting 
     with disability groups, and by the inclusion of people with 
     disabilities in the drafting process, the US will establish 
     its role as a leader in international disability rights 
     consistent with its commitments to citizens with disabilities 
     at home.

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