[blindlaw] Exciting news... American Society for International Law Disability Rights Interest Group
Stephanie Ortoleva
womankind at earthlink.net
Mon Mar 21 18:05:19 UTC 2011
Please share with your networks and apologies for cross-posting!
Dear colleagues,
I am thrilled to announce that the American Society for International
Law has established
the International Disability Rights Interest Group (IDRIG.) This
exciting new ASIL
interest group joins numerous other long-standing interest groups at
ASIL and will
be co-chaired in this inaugural phase by Hope Lewis, a professor at
Northeastern
School of Law (
h.lewis at neu.edu
) and Stephanie Ortoleva (
stephanieortoleva at gmail.com
). The other Executive Committee members are Janet E. Lord, Senior
Partner, BlueLaw
LLP and Michael Waterstone, Associate Dean for Research and Academic
Centers, Loyola
Law School of Los Angeles.
The IDRIG will have its first strategy and planning meeting at the
annual ASIL Conference
in Washington DC on Friday, March 25 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the
Roosevelt room at
the Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1150 22nd Street, N.W., Washington
D.C. Please join us as
we plan our strategy and activities for the forthcoming year. Even
if you cannot
attend this first meeting, please join the interest group so you can
be part of our
exciting work.
Go to:
http://www.asil.org/interest-groups-view.cfm?groupid=63
for more information on the International Disability Rights
Interest Group. The
interest group is described as follows:
The American Society of International Law International Disability
Rights Interest
Group (IDRIG) focuses on disability rights as this issue moves from
the margins of
international human rights law and policy to occupy a prominent place
in the global
human rights system with the adoption of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD is moving in the
direction of universal
signature and already has nearly 100 ratifications, signaling the
importance of the
treaty to more than 650 million persons with disabilities
worldwide. The CRPD has
prompted an unprecedented pace of law reform worldwide and the
establishment of an
Inter-Agency mechanism to ensure disability inclusion across the
United Nations system.
It is also markedly shaping the human rights agendas of mainstream
human rights organizations
as well as international development agencies. The IDRIG works to
promote awareness
of disability rights as a cross-cutting issue in international law,
sponsoring panels
and other events at ASIL. Through an online discussion forum, DRIG
provides information
on recent developments in the field, an opportunity for networking
among the rapidly
growing numbers of international disability rights academics,
practitioners, and
advocates, discussing issues and recent developments in the field,
sharing and collaborating
on research, and furthering the inclusion of persons with
disabilities in the work
of ASIL. IDRIG also supports, encourages, and provides leadership
opportunities
to law students and emerging young lawyers in the growing
field. Finally, and crucially,
IDRIG advances the diversity of ASIL membership and facilitates the
accessibility
of ASIL to international lawyers with disabilities.
Please come to this first meeting, share your ideas and be part of
this opportunity
to advance disability rights internationally. As you can see from
the above description,
we have much work to do! If you are not already an ASIL member,
information on joining
ASIL can be found at:
http://www.asil.org/membership-become-a-member.cfm
.
Contact Stephanie Ortoleva or Hope Lewis with any questions and we
look forward to
seeing you on the 25th!
Stephanie and Hope
Stephanie Ortoleva, Esq.
Senior Human Rights Legal Advisor, BlueLaw International, LLP
Visiting Scholar, University of Hawaii, Spring 2011
202.359.3045
stephanieortoleva at gmail.com
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