Job Opportunity with CBM Ireland

CBM Ireland is currently recruiting an Advocacy Coordinator to assist their CEO in the ongoing work and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities in Irish Overseas development and humanitarian action.  The closing date is April 28, 2010.

The main duties include:

1. Development of an Advocacy strategy
2. Awareness raising and communications
3. Networking and representation of CBM
4. Research

Professional and Personal profile:

• Relevant academic background (social studies, public affairs, legal studies, public health, disability studies)
• Professional experience in the field of disability; either domestic disability issues or disability and international development.
• Professional experience in the field of advocacy policy and/or public campaigning
• Etc.

For more information on this opportunity and on how to apply see here.

Employment Law Conference and Global Colloquium on Disability Law and Policy

The Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway will host two major events this month.

International and Comparative Perspectives on Employment and Disability Law: 24 April 2010

This conference will take place  Saturday 24 April 2010 in Aras Moyola MY129, North Campus, NUI Galway.  The conference programme is available here and information on registration is available here.  The conference is aimed at legal practitioners, academics, NGOs, and those involved in disability issues and practice.  The Conference will examine issues concerning disability and employment from a national and international perspective with speakers who are all key experts in the area.  The Conference will examine issues such as genetic testing, disability and employment, genuine occupational requirements and disability, UK and EU developments in the area of employment and disability and key issues in this jurisdiction. Case law from relevant jurisdictions will be highlighted and discussed. It will also focus on lessons from disability employment law in developing countries.

Global PhD & Researchers Colloquium on Disability Law & Policy: 26 -27 April 2010

This is a two-day Colloquium on disability law and policy, which will take place 26-27 April 2010 at the Carlton Hotel Galway.  A full Colloquium programme is available here and a booklet of abstracts is available here.  A limited number of places to attend the Colloquium are available – for information on registration see here.

The Colloquium is organised in conjunction with the Burton Blatt Institute (Syracuse University, New York) and the University of Haifa (Israel).  The Colloquium will run on an annual basis rotating between the different Universities.

This is the first event of its kind bringing together disability researchers from all around the world, who will deliver over 60 papers.  This is a very timely event as research on disability law and policy reform has never been more urgent given the imperative of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  This two-day event will play a significant part in bringing together an emerging community of scholars in the disability field whose ideas will shape the reform agenda for years to come.  The themes of the Colloquium include:

1. The Right to Legal Capacity
2. The Right to Independent Living
3. Towards Effective National Strategies for the Implementation of the UNCRPD
4. Definitions of Disability
5. Civil Society – Nothing About Us Without Us
6. Intersectionality of Disability: Gender, Indigenous Peoples, Age
7. Employment Law & Policy
8. Mental Health Law & Disability
9. The Right to Inclusive Education
10. Regional & Comparative Disability Law
11. Development Aid, Humanitarian Intervention & Disability
12. The Right to Accessibility

Legal Research Posts with the Law Reform Commission

The Law Reform Commission today posted an advertisement on its website recruiting legal researchers see here.  The Law Reform Commission has not recruited legal researchers since 2008.  Candidates for the post of legal researcher should have a law degree (at least at the 2:1 level or equivalent experience or qualification) and will normally have a postgraduate degree in law.  An essential requirement is practical experience and/or aptitude in conducting legal research and a capacity to write well and competence with IT.  These appointments will be made on a contract basis for one year.  The closing date is noon – 29 April 2010.

MDAC announces project on effective monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) today announces  a yearlong project that seeks to provide direction to governments and civil society on the effective implementation of Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  Article 33 deals with domestic implementation of the Convention.  Practical guidelines and checklists will be developed that will assist governments and NGOs in understanding the obligations of States Parties under Article 33.  The project will also apply these guidelines in order to determine whether State Parties to the Convention are meeting their obligations under Article 33.  A summary report will be submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to assist the Committee in holding States Parties to account.

The UNCRPD is one of only two international human rights treaties to contain a specific provision on the role and structure of domestic implementation and monitoring mechanisms of the Convention (Article 33).  (The only other similar provision is the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture).  The outcomes of this project will be hugely useful to civil society groups, policy makers and researchers here in Ireland.  It will also be very useful in benchmarking the implementation of the Convention here.

Capacity to Undertake Jury Service

The Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper on Jury Service launched by the DPP earlier this week recommends removal of the discriminatory provisions in the Juries Act 1976 (as amended) which exclude persons with disabilities from jury service.  The DPP was supportive of the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in this regard.  The general outline of the Consultation Paper and provisional recommendations are set out in this earlier HRiL blog post.

Combating Hate Crimes Perpetrated Against LGBT Persons and Persons with Disabilities

The Commencement Order for the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009 was issued last week bringing the Act into force.  The legislation creates new statutory offences that protect victims who are attacked on the basis of their disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity in Scotland.   Specifically section 1 of the Act makes provision for offences aggravated by prejudice relating to disability (or presumed disability).  Section 2 of the Act makes provision for offences aggravated by prejudice relating to sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation) or transgender (or presumed transgender) identity.  Under the Act where it is proven that an offence was motivated by malice or ill will towards a victim on the basis of their identity the court is required to take that motivation into consideration when determining the sentence to be imposed.   This legislation builds upon Scottish law on hate crimes carried out on the basis of race and religion or belief under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.  Similar legislation is in force in England and Wales.

Modernising Jury Selection: Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper on Jury Selection

 

The Director of Public Prosecutions will launch the Law Reform Commission’s Consultation Paper on Jury Service this evening.   The Consultation Paper will be available here this afternoon.  The Commission is examining jury service as part of its Third Programme of Law Reform 2008-2014.  It received a large number of submissions as part of its consultation on its work programme in 2007 calling for a review and modernisation of the law regulating juries.   This is the first substantive review of jury service in Ireland since the introduction of the Juries Act 1976 (which was based largely on recommendations contained in Reports of the Committee on Court Practice and Procedure, 1965)