|
|
MindFreedom
International News Release- 24 July 2009
http://www.mindfreedom.org
-
The US media top story tonight?
A war of words between the Cambridge police, a Harvard
professor and
President Obama.
Distracted by the frenzy, much of the media missed how
President Obama
ended his day:
Signing a global UN treaty to protect the human rights of
people with
disabilities. Along with many others, MindFreedom played a
role in
crafting the treaty inside the United Nations.
Here's the MindFreedom News Release:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL NEWS RELEASE:
MindFreedom International Thanks President Obama for
Support of UN
Treaty on Disability and Human Rights
President Obama marked the 19th anniversary of the
Americans with
Disabilities Act by instructing UN Ambassador Susan Rice
to sign an
historic United Nations "convention" or treaty next week
on disability
and human rights, joining 140 other nations.
"It's the first new human rights convention of the 21st
century,"
Obama said at in the White House East Room.
MindFreedom International -- uniting a broad constituency
of mental
health consumers, psychiatric survivors, mental health
professionals,
advocates and others concerned with fighting for human
rights in the
mental health system -- praised President Barack Obama's
announcement
about signing the UN International Convention on the
Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (CRPD).
Celia Brown, MFI Board president, led a team of
MindFreedom members
inside the United Nations during years of meetings to
create the treaty.
Celia has been widely praised by cross-disability leaders
for her warm
and inclusive community-building at the UN.
Said Celia, "We appreciate that the President is
fulfilling the
commitment he made to the Convention during his campaign.
His
leadership indicates that human rights can be a
cornerstone for people
with disabilities in the United States and around the
world.
"The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
represents a
paradigm shift of understanding disability from a medical
model to a
social model. The CRPD recognizes the key principles of
non-
discrimination, freedom to make one's own decisions, and
to have the
opportunity to be actively involved in policies that
effect our lives."
The MindFreedom International UN Team participated in UN
meetings with a
diverse alliance of leaders from disability organizations
including the
International Disability Caucus (now the International
Disability
Alliance), CRPD Forum and World Network of Users and
Survivors of
Psychiiatry.
MindFreedom International was instrumental in conducting
workshops
during the UN convention negotiations to educate people
with
disabilities and governments on the perspectives of human
rights of
users/survivors of psychiatry.
David Oaks, Director of MindFreedom International, and a
board member of
the United States International Council on Disability
(USICD), said, "We
look forward to the Senate reviewing the treaty for
ratification as a
significant step to winning human rights for the 650
million people in
the worldwide disability community."
Judy Heumann, former Clinton Administration appointee,
board member of
USICD, and participant in the negotiations to draft the
treaty, said,
"This treaty reflects the unique insights of disabled
people from around
the world. The participation of disabled people in
decision- making about
policies affecting our lives is changing the way we are
regarded in our
communities and by our governments,"
Susan Rice, the United States State Ambassador to the UN,
will
officially sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons
wih
Disabilities on July 30, 2009 at the UN Headquarters on
July 30, 2009 in
New York City.
For further information, please contact :
office@mindfreedom.org
or Celia
Brown at
Cksean@aol.com
- end -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MINDFREEDOM 2009 SUMMER SUPPORT DRIVE
MindFreedom: For Everyone Who Wants to UNITE to Change
Mental Health
Care!
Join, renew, donate now to MindFreedom International,
click here:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
MindFreedom International is one of the few
totally-independent,
activist nonprofits in the mental health field, with zero
funding from
the mental health system, governments, drug companies or
religions.
That means your membership and donation are crucial to
MindFreedom
International's campaigns for human rights alternatives,
act now:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
Times are tough, making it even more important that each
gives what he or
she can.
Your MindFreedom member benefits include:
* MindFreedom Journal - new issue is going to print soon!
* Member-only web and e-mail networking
* Discount on
http://www.madmarket.org
purchases
* Staffed member-services office
* Affiliate and Sponsor Group grassroots community
organizing
* MindFreedom Shield issues alert for any member at risk
of mental
health human rights violation
* More than two decades of human rights victories
* Most importnatly: *YOU* Build the People Power for a
Nonviolent
Revolution in Mental Health!
Please donate, join now or renew, now, click here:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please forward this important news alert to all supportive
people on and
off the Internet, now!
DENDRITE is a public Internet alert system about human
rights in psychiatry, sponsored by Support Coalition
International, sending out notices to thousands of concerned
people, many of whom take ACTION NOW!
|
|
