[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [WSIS-CT] almost final version 4.3 of WSIS CS statement

[Elizabeth Carll, PhD]

Dear Hiroshi and All,

Thank you for your input, as it is obvious that the Disability Caucus has
given much thought to the WSIS documents as have others

With regard to your request as to the issue of deleting physical and mental
health and in essence deleting mental health, from the document now, seems
surprising, as Sylvia had expressed her concerns all along, and these issues
were posted on the plenary listserv and I do not recall a request for the
removal of mental health from the document after the discussions by the
Disability Caucus.

In addition, while there may have been discussion to which those of us who
were unable to attend the Tunis Summit are not privy, the process of
finalizing the document cannot be based solely on decisions at the Summit,
as obviously that would disenfranchise many who were not able to
participate.  Therefore if that were the case, to be fair and treat all
equitably,  it require the removal of all information by those who did not
attend.

Most importantly aside from the many previous issues and support discussed
for the inclusion of mental health, including most recently comments by UNGA
President Eliasson at the informal briefing with NGOs this past Friday and
the White House report on aging, the inclusion of mental health is essential
to prevent the disenfranchisement of a large group of the worlds' people as
well as the elimination of services to all people affected by traumatic
events.

***Following the logic of Sylvia Caras' argument for the removal of
reference to mental health from the documents,  I would request that the
same be done with removing any reference to those who are disabled as health
should be seen a s a seamless service and not carve out any particular
population which will further contribute to the stigmatization of that
group.  Health services to the disabled are no different than  other
specialties such as cardiac, etc.

The recognition of the importance of addressing mental health needs and
labeling it using clear language which is tied directly to how governments
decide on funding is essential.  To my knowledge there is no funding for
access to emotional and spiritual services by governments.  Furthermore in
many cultures spiritual is viewed as,  and often translates into, religious
terms which brings with it a whole host of problematic and political issues.

In addition, the reference to physical and mental health was included in
each of the health paragraphs in order that each can serve as a stand alone
paragraph should one of the points be picked up by the media or other
organizations and therefore prevent misinterpretation, when taken out of
context.

Having a separate section in the document for one group's (disability)
interest at the expense of another group's (physical and mental health)
interest, by now eliminating reference to that group at the 11th hour, is
the opposite of inclusive society and undermines the previously agreed upon
Geneva CS Declaration.   Therefore,  it is requested that if the language
for physical and mental health is removed from the CS Statement, to be
equitable the same be done with all language references to disability.

Hopefully, this has helped further clarify the issues.

Respectfully,

Dr. Elizabeth Carll
Health and ICT Working Group



-----Original Message-----
From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
Behalf Of Hiroshi Kawamura
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2005 3:59 AM
To: bendrath at zedat.fu-berlin.de; WSIS-CT; WSIS ng
Cc:lvia Caras; plenary at wsis-cs.org; Pwd at wsis-cs.org
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [WSIS-CT] almost final version 4.3 of
WSIS CS statement
Importance: High


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Dear Ralf and others:

As I attached in the body of my posting to CS Plenary List on 19th November,
the Disability Caucus adopted the Tunis Declaration.
Since the Caucus held two major events on 15th and 18th November in Tunis, I
am afraid that none of the Caucus members could effectively commit the
process of CS Statement development.
I really appreciate CS members who are working on this very difficult work
to create a consensus and formulate a CS Statement.

At the last stage of CS Declaration, I must admit that there is still a
serious issues to be dealt with among those health professionals and
disability caucus regarding the language being used in the "almost final
version 4.3". As a matter of fact, the concern expressed by Sylvia Caras,
was also expressed by her at the Global Forum on Disability in the
Information Society in Tunis during the summit and she received no
objections on her contributions. Of course there was no voting but I sense
that there was positive understanding on her statements in general.

Quotation from the posting of Sylvia Caras on 15 December:

I'd be pleased to see, if that pharse "physical and mental" were deleted, an
explanation that "health includes biological, emotional, social, spiritual
and vocational well-being"  which seems to me would embrace all aspects of
health and thus not reuqire carving out mental health.

--end of quotation.

As the CSB Focal Point on Disability, I must address the fact that there is
a serious disagreement on the language used in the WSIS CS Statement clearly
expressed by Sylvia as quoted above. Even though Elizabeth Carl reported
that there were only one objection among the Caucus on Health and ICT, I
have to point out that the feeling of the Global Forum in Tunis was in
support of Sylvia and she addressed the concerns to the WSIS-CT list on
behalf of all attendees of the Global Forum in Tunis.

In addition, there was no disability specific active input to the CS
Statement due to the fact that WSIS Disability Caucus was focusing on its
own declaration which was adopted on 18th November based on all disability
specific WSIS process since 2002, I would like to ask the editors of the CS
Statement to refer to the Tunis Declaration as attached as one of the
delarations and statements of CS that may be listed or attached to the CS
Statement rather than inserting paragraphs or sentences at this stage.

Best regards,

Hiroshi Kawamura
WSIS CSB Disability Focal Point