DISABLES PEOPLES´ INTERNATIONAL

VII DPI World Assembly

Korea 2007

Wilfredo Guzmán JaraChairman of DPI Executive Board

Wilfredo Guzmán, native of the Inca town Ollantaytambo, Cuzco - Perú; Undergraduate education in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and Political Science at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos; Post Graduate Diploma Course in Human Rights at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos San Marcos; Masters Degree in Management and Strategic Planning from the Universidad Villarreal. Wilfredo has also been a business pioneer with BRUMSA S.A., which specializes in the fabrication of assistive technology and has generated employment opportunities for people with disabilities and women from poor population. He was elected President of the Latin American Region of Disabled Peoples International (RLOMPD) in 2003; he has also worked for institutional consolidation. In 2005, he was the only speaker on behalf people with disability Organizations at the meeting of the Chancellors at the IV Summit of the Americas, demanding the Declaration of the “Decade of the Americas for Peoples with Disabilities 2006-2015”. In the last year, he has achieved fundraise 320.000 euros for the National Assembly of Peru – CONFENADIP.  At this moment we have to recognize the work and accomplishments of our colleague Wilfredo Guzmán; and, the same recognition that we give to Asia-Pacific, North America and the Caribbean,, Europe and Africa – who guided the movement along with Ron Chandran-Dudley and Venus Ilagan; Henry Enns; Kale Konkolla and Joshua Malinga-, it is time that Latin America offers steps toward improvement and liberation with the leadership of DPI for all of the excluded sectors of the world. Those in Favor of the Candidature of Wilfredo GuzmánDayana Martínez Burke, Congressional Diplomat in the Republic of Honduras, Member of DPI World Council.Hernándo Pradilla Cobos, from Republic of Colombia, Member of the DPI World Council.Wilber Torres Morales, from the Republic of Nicaragua, Member of DPI World Council. Enrique Sarfati, from the Republic of Argentina, Member of the World Council.Magino Corporán Lorenzo, from the Dominican Republic, Member of DPI World Council.

Machu PicchuNew Wonder of the World

Cuzco - Perú

Location for the nextWorld Council Meeting 2009

Enrique Iglesias, Iberian American Secretary General

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Former United Nations

Secretary General

Pérez de Cuellar is one of the most predominant Peruvian

diplomatic figures; Wilfredo has built an auspicious bond with

the Chancery which has helped result in the declaration of the

Decade of the Americas for Peoples with Disabilities.

Enrique Iglesias, Former President of International Development Bank (BID)that joined forces with The Foundation ONCE for Latin America (FOAL), started employment programs for the blind in Uruguay, Argentina and Chile; including the 2006 alliance with Peruvian businesses which approved $600,000 for Project EDAPROSPO which promotes employment for people with disabilities in Peru.

The New World Scenario, where our efforts are not chased out of the routine of institutional administration, today we must confront discrimination and social exclusion at the root of the problem. We must confront the challenges of global social exclusion from multiple angles including social, economic and political.

•We have a duty and challenge, to establish an organization, a system of democratic global governance that is apart from the United Nations that is compromised of the diverse actors and interests including international socio-economics that should guarantee basic conditions social inclusion, this is a tremendous challenge!

•But, we are not alone! We need to separate ourselves from the image of disability as being solely compromised of foolish men and excluded women and unlock the door for a society that is fair, just, fraternal, respectful and inclusive. A world that truly sees people with disabilities as equals.

There is No Inclusion without Equality...

Crisis within DPI Over the past 25 years we have celebrated many advances and achievements as an organization. Yet, we must also reflect on our organizational shortcomings weakness realistically and maturely. We must question our internal waste, confront and deal with our organizational fatigue and confusion, become honest with one and other and become truly representative. ALL of our Assemblies must include national dimensions; they must be able to echo the voices of diverse groups of people with multiple types of disabilities. Within our Regions, our crisis is expressed as a lack of formality, demonstrated through excessively long periods without Assemblies. At World level the crisis is within our Committees and organisms must adapt to their functional capacity. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we have current and accessible from the Headquarter Office, we need to know how the budget is being allocated. As members of the Executive Board and the World Council, we share the responsibility and must overcome our current state of crisis; we have to achieve our new goals. The following are urgent changes we must make: In the internal environment, 1. We must have legitimate representation; we must recognize the true quality of our members; 2. We must make space in our organization for families and friends to participate in our cause; 3. We must effectively execute our agreements; maintain formality, tranparency and our administrative duties; 4. We need strategic reconstructioning within our Headquarter Office; and 5. Must democratize our budget, responsibilities and resources.   In the external environment, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an important achievement, BUT formal right it is not enough. In the majority of countries laws are not upheld because of a lack of political, apathy toward the subject and because our Nation-States have been weakened; they are unable to control their tributaries, nor fulfil their international commitments.  We live a globalized society where the interests of a small group are jeopardizing our interests, governance and have exacerbated differences and inequality. This society of globalization not only affects everyone, it has hit the developing world harder and arguably the population of people living with disabilities the hardest.

First World Campaign for the Employment of Disabled People

One form of oppression people with disabilities face is exclusions from opportunities and access to dignified work. Although this has been formally addressed there has been a failure on the part of politicians, rehabilitation and labor placement they have failed in achieving this. The few successful examples are irrelevant compared to the immense population who has been excluded. Let us remember "The Hour of the Equality in the Work” (ILO - 2003), worldwide there is an 80% unemployment rate among disabled people who are available to work, this percentage is ever greater in developing countries. This is not acceptable because employment is par excellence a vehicle of social inclusion...For that reason, let us take the initiative in 2008 to start the First World Campaign for the Employment of People with disability which also marks 25 years since the ILO´s Agreement 159. which although has had its merits we must evaluate its limits and possibilities along with those of the ILO´s Agreement on The Professional Re-adaptation and The Employment Of disabled people. The First World Campaign for the Employment of Disables People will establish lines and tactics for action as well as concrete goals for employment generation for people with disabilities.

Internacional Moblization For Global Solidarity

The social problems that people with disabilities face culturally constructed. It is believed that in our new global scenario we are lacking a sense of human consciousness and therefore are losing touch with the diverse spheres of human life, becoming more intolerant of our differences and commercializing what we once held sacred. International Mobilization for Global Solidarity, driven by DPI, needs to be a testimony of the lived experiences of women and men where we must fraternally share our abilities and strengths and help each other with our weaknesses in order to address the realities of diverse excluded groups. We must adopt innovative and creative approaches that contribute to new attitudes and radical social change.We live in a society that is focused on and centered around knowledge, our experiences as people with disabilities are ways to educate the public, and to demonstrate to communities the value of our lives, knowledge and abilities that exist despite adversity.

Wilfredo Guzmán, Chairman of DPI Executive Board

Make the difference!

Changes in the Face of Social Exclusion

Alliance for Democrary without Exclusion Inequality and social exclusion are not naturally occurring situations, they are a product of exercise of power from the dominant sectors of society. participation, knowledge and to prepare people with disabilities to participate in the democratic process along with other vulnerable sectors of society. Equity and participation are not a reality for many people with disabilities. Thus, the only way that we will be able to have access to healthcare, education and employment is if we make our voices heard in the political arena, make our opinions and abilities known and in turn reclaim our power, have influence and make an impression. To achieve this I propose an Alliance for Democracy without Exclusion, to promote political