The WWDACT E-Bulletin, Issue 10/18 is out now. View this e-Bulletin in your browser here. Fill out the form here to subscribe.


Message from the Chair

Dear Members and Colleagues,
 
Good news to report! On June 14th at the United Nations 11th Conference of State Parties for the Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (#COSP11), Australian Human Rights lawyer, Rosemary Kayess, was voted onto the international Committee which deliberates on the implementation of the Convention. She was one of 5 women elected this year. Thank goodness! The 18-member committee languished with only one woman member for the past 12 months. Rosemary is a Senior Research Fellow at the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre. She played an important role as the external expert on the Australian delegation in the drafting of the Convention, so is no stranger to the UN. We remember that Emeritus Prof. Ron McCallum, from Uni. Sydney, was an inaugural member of the CRPD Committee in 2008, and chaired the committee for 6 years. So it is good to have an Australian representative from the Asia-Pacific block of countries represent us on the Committee again.
 
Unfortunately, the WWDACT Board is also intensely saddened by the violent murder of Eurydice Dixon (#eurydicedixon) on Tuesday 13/Wednesday14 June when walking home from a performance in a comedy gig in Carlton North. No matter how resolutely we vow to ‘Reclaim The Night’, these murders have an effect on everyone’s psyche. We all exercise ‘situational awareness’ when we lock our cars before leaving them in the street. So the police’s words, in themselves, were apt. And until we have a society that is free from violence, they apply to all of us. Nevertheless, we need police and media to squarely address the reality that perpetrators are responsible for their actions. WWDACT aims to contribute to building a society in which all people can be safe in all environments, and our organisation extends our sympathy to her family and friends. All of us are diminished by these acts of violence.
 
There are two job advertisements in this e-Bulletin. Applications for each one close at the end of June, We apologise for this short lead time.
 
Regards,
Sue Salthouse
Chair, WWDACT