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Participants of the South Asia Regional Disability Rights Dialogue on Political Participation (SARDRD), organized by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), provided insights into barriers and advocacy efforts a year after SARDRD. Responses were collected via email ...

Persons with disabilities living in areas that are rural or remote encounter additional barriers to participating in public life. According to the World Health Organization’s 2011 World Report on Disability, persons with disabilities are affected by poor coordination of service delivery and inadequate resources. Persons with disabilities in remote and ...

Members of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF), a regional disabled persons’ organization (DPO) provided insights on political participation in the Asia-Pacific region through a virtual roundtable. Participants, who took part in the Pacific Regional Disability Rights Dialogue organized by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and supported by the ...

On August 10, the Central Election Commission of Georgia (CEC) conducted pilot testing for a new tactile ballot guide for the upcoming October elections. The CEC met with approximately 25 voters with visual disabilities to test a potential new guide ahead of the elections. The tactile ballot guide, which is a ...

On July 26, 1990, the United States passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark law increasing access to basic rights for persons with disabilities in the country. The ADA’s passage was the result of decades of advocacy by citizens with disabilities, following other successful legal reforms such as ...

For Deaf Libyans, language barriers are a profound challenge to full participation in political life. In Libyan elections – as in many elections worldwide – speeches, voting materials and other essential electoral information are not translated into sign language. This creates an alarming gap in access to information for Libyan ...

Fatoumata Camara, a Guinean with a physical disability, is the Deputy Coordinator for the Association of Persons Living with a Disability of Mamou, Guinea. A brief Q&A with her is available below.   What has been your role in the disability rights community and how long have you been involved in this ...

Disability Rights Alliance, India (DRA), a collective of disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) in India, has taken significant steps to increase access to the political process, recently drafting a 12-point charter on the rights of persons with disabilities to participate politically. The charter highlights availability of personal assistance while voting and ...

The California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) is an American organization focused on increasing equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, namely by strengthening the capacity of Independent Living Centers, which are community facilities that assist in coordinating independent living services for persons with disabilities.    CFILC has an active ...

On June 15, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the Sri Lankan Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and Disabled People's International (DPI) will co-host a side event at the Conference of States Parties for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). How Regional Collaboration Can Lead to More ...

From May 16 to 19, the Election Commission of Sri Lanka (EC) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) held a workshop to design a four-year strategic plan that will bolster the EC’s ability to serve as a model for other election management bodies. As part of this effort, ...

During Myanmar’s historic general elections in November 2015, the Myanmar Independent Living Initiative (MILI), a disability rights organization based in Yangon, worked to ensure that the elections were also the country’s most accessible and inclusive elections to date for persons with disabilities. In the post-election period, and with support from ...

The first ever Pacific Regional Disability Rights Dialogue, co-hosted by the Fijian Elections Office (FEO), the Pacific Disabilities Forum (PDF), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) brought together election management officials and disability rights advocates from across the Pacific. The event, made ...

You were the first person appointed as the Commissioner for rights of persons with disabilities in Ukraine. How the creation of this position has changed the access of persons with disabilities to the political process?   The Office of the Presidential Commissioner for Rights of Persons with Disabilities was established ...

On April 4, Professor Ronald McCallum, former chairman of the Committee on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee), currently teaching law at the University of Sydney, provided expert testimony for the Indonesian Constitutional Court on the proposed Elections Law.   The Indonesian Mental ...

In February 2016, dozens of participants representing disability rights advocates, disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) and other civil society groups convened in Colombo, Sri Lanka to discuss the rights of persons with disabilities in the electoral and constitutional reform process. Led by the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), the meeting ...

Stephanie Ortoleva is the President and founder of Women Enabled International (WEI) and is a highly recognized international human rights lawyer, policy and development consultant, author and researcher on issues of women's rights, disability rights and the rights of women and girls with disabilities. She is the Founder and President of Women Enabled International.  ...

Armenian history over the last 100 years has been marked by three tragedies that would impact the collective consciousness of the nation: the genocide of 1915; the Spitak earthquake of 1988; and the still unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan. Each event left an indelible imprint on Armenian society, as ...