UNITED
NATIONS, July
17, updated 8:30
pm -- The
Convention of
the Rights of
People with
Disabilities
press
conference on
Wednesday
started late,
and when it
went Kenya's
Ambassador
Macharia Kamau
criticized the
UN for not
being
accessible to
the disabled,
having “no
inkling” how
to serve their
needs.
Since
the UN has
spent $2
billion on a
Capital Master
Plan
rehabilitation,
Inner City
Press asked
Macharia Kamau
if he thought
member states
had been
consulted
enough on this
issue, and if
anything can
be done to
make better
accessibility
plans for the
General
Assembly,
recently
closed for
renovations.
He
replied that
things can and
must be done
better.
Minutes later,
Inner City
Press put the
same question
to UN
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky, who
responded with
a lengthy Note
to
Correspondents
mass e-mailed
to the UN
press corps,
which should
be online here.
Inner City
Press still
awaits an
answer to its
question about
a pending
disabilities
Bulletin or
instruction
that would
come from
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon -- who
recently
rescinded such
a Bulletin on
workers rights
and staff
relations.
Also
on the panel
was UN
official Daniela
Bas. Inner
City Press
asked her
about a recent
EU Court of
Justice
decision
criticizing her
native Italy
for not living
up to its
responsibilities
under the
disabilities
convention.
She said she
couldn't
answer that,
since she has
been working
at the UN and
not in the
Italian
foreign
service for
two years. So
who will
answer? The
court decision
is described
here.
The Free UN Coalition for Access has asked
the UN in
Geneva, via
@FUNCA_Questions,
to describe
steps it has
taken for
accessibility,
beyond the US
Americans with
Disabilities
Act which the
UN in New York
now says it
complies with
(while also
claiming
immunity).
We'll see.
Footnote:
The
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
thanked all
the panelists,
including
Maria Soledad
Cisternas
Reyes, chair
of the
Commission on
the Rights of
Persons with
Disabilities
and Javed
Abidi of
Disabled
Persons
International,
for the
briefing. The
word “Access”
in FUNCA can
and does mean
many things.
Watch this
site.
Update
of 8:30 pm --
after 8 pm,
the following
came in:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Wed, Jul
17, 2013 at
8:17 PM
Subject: Your
question on
accessibility
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
Further
to your
questions on
accessibility
today, we can
confirm a
Secretary-General's
bulletin on
accessibility
for persons
with
disabilities
in the UN is
being
developed.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
