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EBU General Assemblies

DAB (the Danish Association of the Blind) hosted the 9th EBU General Assembly in 2011. This took place from 4 to 7 October 2011in Fredericia, Denmark, where DAB runs the Fuglsangcentret, its well-known training and holiday centre. See more on the dedicated page.


This page contains:

  1. Resolutions, Eighth General Assembly (Antalya, Turkey 24-26 October 2007)

  2. Resolutions, Seventh General Assembly (Athens, Greece, 26-28 November 2003)

  3. Resolutions, Sixth General Assembly (Prague, Czech Republic, 24-27 November 1999)

  4. Resolutions, Fifth General Assembly (Giardini Naxos, Italy, 6-9 November 1996)

  5. Resolutions, Fourth General Assembly (Ustron, Poland, 7-9 October 1993)

  6. Resolutions, Third General Assembly (Lisbon, Portugal, 11-13 October 1990)

  7. Resolutions, Second General Assembly (Varna, Bulgaria, 3-5 June 1987)

  8. Resolutions, Founding Assembly (Hurdal, Norway, 27 August 1984)


Minutes of the European Blind Union (EBU) 9th General Assembly 4-7 October 2011, Fredericia, Denmark

Organised with the financial support of the Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS) of the European Commission

 

Session I - Tuesday 4th  October: 14.00-15.30

In the chair: The President, Lord Colin Low, CBE.

 

Welcomes:

 

The President opened the 9th EBU General Assembly, welcoming all present and noting an impressive turnout of nearly 300.  Thanks were given to the host of this year's assembly, the Danish Association of the Blind (DAB), and appreciation expressed for the EU PROGRESS Programme's support.

Welcoming speeches were made by:

  • Thorkild Olesen: President of DAB [celebrating 100th  anniversary this year]
  • Maryanne Diamond: President of World Blind Union (WBU)
  • Yannis Vardakastanis: President of European Disability Forum (EDF)
  • Thomas Banke: Mayor of Fredericia

 

Roll Call:

 

Birgitta Blokland (Netherlands), Secretary General, read the list of  forty-five national members, www.euroblind.org/about-ebu/ebu-membership/nr/19.

All were represented with the exception of Armenia, Belarus, Latvia and Malta.

Unn Ljoner Hagen (Norway), Chair of the Credentials Committee, gave the following breakdown of the delegates and votes:

41 accredited delegations were represented by 115 delegates.  Of these, 44 delegates were women and 71 men.  11 delegations had perfect gender balance; 3 delegations had more women than men; 1 delegation had only women and 11 delegations had only men.

These 115 delegates were entitled to exercise 246 votes, plus 4 Board members making a total of 250.

 

Approval of Programme:

 

The programme had been circulated previously.  The President suggested a slight change in the order which had been discussed at that morning's Board meeting, and with that change the programme was approved.


Appointment of Scrutineers and Resolutions Committee:

 

The following were appointed.

Scrutineers: Hans Kaltwasser (Germany), Chair; Romain Ferretti (EBU Office), Lise Aaro (Norway) and Sonja Ronkainen (Finland).

Resolutions Committee: Alan Suttie (UK), Chair; Alenka Bera (Slovenia); Maria Kyriacou (Cyprus), Gunilla Loffman (Finland), Philippe Chazal (France), Ann Jönsson (Sweden) and Rafael Gonzalez Millan (Spain).

First Report of the Nominations Committee - presented by Branislav Mamojka (Slovak Republic), Chair of the Nominations Committee, and circulated to members beforehand.

The current Nominations Committee consisted of: Branislav Mamojka, Chair, Lesley-Anne Alexander (UK), Barbara Martín Muñoz (Spain), Kicki Nordstrom (Sweden) and Rudolf Volejnik (Czech Republic).

Mr Mamokja reported that the WBU Executive requires three EBU representatives in addition to the President.  As four nominations had been received, an election would therefore be necessary.

Only two of the four positions on the Nominations Committee for the next work period were filled through nomination and so in accordance with Article 4.3.9 of the Constitution, the President could accept nominations made at the General Assembly in order to ensure that these positions were filled.  The two names consequently proposed were Birgitta Blokland (Netherlands) and Barbara Krejci-Piry (Slovenia).

All other positions had received only one uncontested nomination.


Obituaries:

 

Boris Zimin (Russia): Chairman, All-Russia Association of the Blind, 1958-86; President, World Council for the Welfare of the Blind, 1974-79; Vice-President of EBU, 1984 and President, 1986-7; Honorary Life Member of EBU and WBU - do.  11 March 2008.

Mike Barrett (UK): General Secretary of the National League of the Blind and Disabled for many years who made a major contribution to EDF and its predecessor organisations - do.  August 2008.

Sir John Wall (UK): EBU Secretary General, 1994-96, and President, 1996-2003; Chairman, RNIB, 1990-2000 - do.  30 November 2008.

Aage Nigardsoy (Norway): President, NABP, 2000-07; he was a member of the Technology Commission and made a major contribution to the DAISY Consortium - do.  20 October 2009.

Per Hagermalm (Sweden): a senior member of SRF.

Ron Colombo (Malta): President, Malta Society of the Blind and member of the Liaison Commission - do.  5 February 2011.

The President paid tribute to the work of these distinguished gentlemen for blind and partially sighted people and a moment's silence was observed in their memory.

 

Further Announcements:

 

John Heilbrunn (Denmark) informed the Assembly that all plenary sessions would be streamed through ACB Radio and recorded for the benefit of those unable to attend in person, and proposed that an electronic voting device (clicker) be tried later in the Assembly.  Another innovation for the Assembly would be the use of a piece of music specially composed by himself and a Ghanaian musician to act as an indicator to delegates that the next Session is about to begin.  There would be an exhibition with 19 stands outside the Assembly hall for the duration of the Assembly.

 

Session II: Tuesday 4th  October: 15.50-18.00


In the chair: Birgitta Blokland, EBU Secretary General.

 

Silver Sponsor presentation:

Bjórn Lófstedt  of Index Braille gave a short presentation to the Assembly in his capacity as a Silver Sponsor, outlining EBU members' importance to Index Braille and introducing their latest 'Braille Box V4' Braille Embosser.

 

Board Report and Draft Strategic Plan 2011-2015 - presented by EBU President, Colin Low, and circulated to members beforehand,

 

The President was pleased to offer a longer report than in 2007, reflecting the increased work of EBU.  Points highlighted included: the more professional approach EBU has taken to lobbying; the raised profile of EBU (demonstrated by fundraising successes, in particular with the EU's PROGRESS Programme facilitated by Romain Ferretti's work; the increased effectiveness of the Office under Mokrane Boussaïd's leadership; the professional communications strategy and new EBU identity developed by the Communications Working Group and EBU Office; the increased efforts to improve gender balance on commissions and steering groups (noting that 71 % men, 29 % women was, however, down on previous work periods); the greater integration of EBU campaigning with that of constituent organisations; the ever-increasing emphasis on partnership (with WBU, EDF, etc.) which continues in the next Strategic Plan; the need to prioritise and streamline EBU's activities, which it is hoped the workshops later in the Assembly will help with; and the need to revisit the issue of subscriptions at the next Assembly, given that reserves are down by 20000 euros on last Assembly despite generous individual donations.

 

Honorary Life Membership:

 

In accordance with the General Assembly's prerogative to confer Honorary Life Membership of EBU, the Board had received two proposals and agreed to recommend both:

- Kristina (Kicki) Nordstrom

- Colin Low (the outgoing President)

In addition the Board wished to recommend Julien Aimi, the outgoing Treasurer, for honorary life membership.

These names were put to the Assembly who approved all three proposals.

The Assembly received the Board Report and Draft Strategic Plan.  Comments and suggestions made relating to the plan during the course of the Assembly and workshops will be incorporated by the new Board into a revised Strategic Plan.

 

Treasurer's report:

 

Julien Aimi (Treasurer), with the assistance of Rui Goncalves, EBU's accountant, presented an overview of the report (circulated to members beforehand), It was in three parts:

 

  1. Past: EBU has been mainly reliant on contributions of members.  Mr Cardinaux's generous donations have influenced a healthy balance in the budget, but we must not rely on one big donor
  2. Recommendations: to use the Communications Strategy to raise EBU's profile so as to secure more sponsors and be able to take on more activities; to strengthen EBU's internal funding base made up of members' contributions.  At present it is not proposed to increase contributions but this is something the next Board will need to consider.  All countries who can afford it should be encouraged to upgrade their contribution category.  It was noted that there was still much to do at all levels, particularly in sourcing private donors and companies.
  3. Provisional budget 2012-2015: it is essential to increase income in order to realise the potential of EBU.  The amount allocated for staff salaries would need to increase as the Information Officer was presently only on a temporary contract.

 

The Assembly discussed contributions of Group 2 countries and the suggestion to increase these.  France highlighted the fact that they also subsidise the EBU Office on top of their subscription.  One suggestion was that there could be individual discussions with the countries in Group 2 over the level of their contribution.  Denmark felt it was important to ensure that as many countries as possible were able to attend the Assembly and suggested some sort of solidarity in economic arrangements in taking on hosting duties.

Recognising the need for full discussion, Colin Low, President, suggested the following 3 measures, which the Assembly gave their support to:

  1. Recognition of the additional contribution of France in subsidising the EBU Office (which could not be quantified in the accounts but should be borne in mind when reviewing the level of contribution of countries in Group 2).
  2. Comments made should be recorded and taken account of by the Board in reviewing subscription proposals.
  3. The new Board is licensed to have discussions (particularly with those in Group 2) recognising the voluntary contribution of France.  If they can come to an agreement for an increased contribution from other countries they are at liberty to do so in the next work period.

The Assembly approved the Treasurer's report and the reappointment of the current auditor.

 

Executive Director's Report:

 

Mokrane Boussaid, Executive Director, referred the Assembly to his report (circulated to members beforehand), and added the following points:

  1. The EBU Office: he felt this 'behind the scenes' part of EBU deserved more visibility, thanking the work of his assistant, Marie Ménager (unfortunately precluded from attending through ill health--the GA joined in wishing her a speedy recovery); Romain Ferretti, in particular his work on the PROGRESS Programme application which was crucial to funding the present Assembly; Gary May, Information and Communications worker, now full time but only on a temporary contract to deal with the implementation of the communications strategy.  He also thanked RNIB, UK, for providing support with publications.
  2. Projects: over the last four years project activity had supported EBU's strategic objectives, e.g.  the Intergen project, completed in 2010, promoted the core objective of valuing diversity through experience sharing between the generations, and the ongoing VIE (Vision in Enterprise) project promoted self-employment as a path for blind and partially sighted people.
  3. Face to face versus virtual meetings: given the difficulties of holding face to face meetings, virtual conferencing is to be introduced and promoted in the coming work period as another option.  EBU has hired Talking Communities' virtual server option which will enable up to 5 virtual meetings to be held simultaneously with up to 50 participants.  The system does not require advanced computer skills but the Technology Commission feels basic training would be advisable and guidelines have been developed which will be circulated to members.

He thanked everyone for their continued support, reminding members that the Office is there to help EBU carry out its work and make every effort to ensure that people's needs are met.

The Assembly accepted the Report.

 

Effective implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) - introduction to the implementation process at national level:

 

Ana Peláez Narváez, Vice-Chair of EBU Liaison Commission, gave a very motivating presentation (made available to delegates) on the implementation of the UN CRPD outlining 4 key themes:

  1. The key consequences of the UN CRPD;
  2. The obligation of implementation;
  3. Monitoring process;
  4. Recommendations.

 

i) On 3rd  May 2008 the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force.  It consists of 50 articles that consolidate the key issues facing disabled people, such as anti-discrimination, universal accessibility and reasonable adjustments for disabled people.  Its ratification and implementation represents a new way to address disability with a disabled person being a rights holder and not a subject of charity.  It presents a great opportunity to educate society and make people with disabilities visible.  The Convention establishes certain clear, concise obligations and tells governments what must be done to ensure that the principle of equal rights for all is a reality.

ii) Countries that ratify the Convention must include it in their own legal systems at national level, taking necessary measures to ensure its implementation.  They must undertake a full review of their legislation and modify any of their laws not currently in line with the Convention.  All policies and programmes protecting or promoting human rights must refrain from any acts which are incompatible with the Convention and bodies must act in compliance with the Convention so that, for example, no company can discriminate against a disabled employee.  They must promote research into new and accessible technologies and promote training for professionals in this sector so far as resources allow.  During this review process, inclusion of, and consultation with disabled persons is necessary in drawing up all subsequent policies relating to implementation of the Convention.  Countries are not allowed to remove rights if their current system is ahead of what is required.

iii) The Convention must be implemented and monitored at a national level.  The presenter focused on Article 33 of the Convention which outlines requirements and processes in relation to the operating of monitoring mechanisms within governments:

Application  and monitoring at government (central and regional) level must take place in all ministries and departments (not just health and disability specific ones), with an overall coordinated implementation framework that includes representation from all ministries, and involvement and engagement with persons with disabilities and/or their representative organisations.  This may present issues if a disability movement is not sufficiently united in their country.

iv) How should civil society and persons with disabilities be involved with and engaged in the process? What are the implications for organisations such as EBU? Disabled people's organisations, such as EBU, should take a full part in the international monitoring framework.  The presenter spoke about the importance of studying and analysing the legal systems (perhaps in conjunction with university research centres or using the resources within EBU) in each member state to find out what points need to be addressed and subsequently play a role in monitoring to ensure compliance with the Convention.  EBU is developing actions to raise awareness, such as the 'Toolkit' which will educate people about how to enjoy the freedoms and rights granted to them by this Convention.

Having reminded the Assembly of the other treaties (such as that on the rights of the child) which remain key tools for equality and inclusion, the presenter emphasised the importance of EBU, as advocates in the fight for human rights, taking a full and active part in the processes of the Convention's implementation and offered her support.

 

Presentation of 2011 Survey Results Assessing National Members' Involvement in EBU's Work:

 

Birgitta Blokland spoke briefly about the survey (results circulated to members beforehand which, on the 25th  Anniversary of EBU, offered an excellent opportunity for all EBU members to voice their needs and opinions.  A response rate of approximately 50 % was not a bad outcome, although it would have been helpful to have more responses from those less active countries to find out how EBU could support them more.  Members were thanked for their participation, with the results already feeding into the Strategic Plan and shaping of workshops taking place during the Assembly.  The Assembly was reminded that EBU is as strong and as active as its members, who need to feed into review processes so that they can get the support they need.  The Assembly was encouraged to read through the results of the survey in preparation for later workshops.

 

Session III - Wednesday 5th  October: 09.00-10.15


In the chair: Wolfgang Angermann (Germany), EBU Board Member.

 

Second Report of the Nominations Committee - Presented by Branislav Mamojka:

No comments had been received following yesterday's report and recommendations.  Therefore only one election is needed - to the WBU Executive - to select three of the following four candidates:

  • Emin Demirci (Turkey),
  • Uun Ljoner Hagen (Norway),
  • Alexander Neumyvakin (Russia),
  • Sinan Tafaj (Albania).

Elections would take place later in the Assembly.

 

Constitution Committee Report and Adoption of Constitutional Amendments - presented by Colin Low, Chair, Constitution Committee.

 

The President began by explaining that he took over after John Wall, the previous Chair of the Committee, sadly died in 2008.

The report and amendments (circulated to members beforehand) were presented.  The Board had considered a large number of suggestions for constitutional change which were substantially refined (from 26 down to 5).  A further change to the circulated paper was now proposed following the Board meeting held on October 4th.  This involved withdrawing proposal number 3, which would leave a total of 4 proposals.

The President went through the proposals--offering the Assembly the chance to respond on each:

  1. Reword Article II, section 1,7 for the purpose of updating terminology to reflect recent developments in the field of rights, and to make reference to the UN CRPD;
  2. Delete a couple of provisions relating to 'sponsoring members' (Article III, section 1.d and section 5), and renumber accordingly for the purpose of removing 'sponsoring member' as a category of membership and making it clear that sponsors do not have voting rights.  Distinguishing between members and sponsors would also enable sponsors to be charged a differential rate;
  3. [dropped by the Board] Article IV, section 4.2.2 to be changed to reflect the fact that commission reports are now incorporated into a single report from the Board.  The Board felt this was not a constitutional matter, but rather a matter of practice to be determined from Assembly to Assembly by the Board;
  4. That the deadline for appointing the Credentials Committee in Article VI, section 6.1 should be shortened from six to three months before a General Assembly in order to enable the Board to choose from persons known to be attending the General Assembly;
  5. To reword Article IX, section 3.3 so that both the Treasurer and the President are enabled to sign documents relating to EBU's finances (currently only the Treasurer may do so).  Furthermore, that the President be enabled to authorise other persons to sign documents where appropriate and efficient.

Regarding this last (point 5) there was lengthy debate amongst the Assembly with concerns raised about the appropriateness of the second part (the delegation of authority relating to EBU's finances).  The President explained that this was intended to expedite decisions which had to be made quickly, or when common sense would save the decision having to be referred to the Board, saying that he felt the President should have sufficient authority to do this.  Further concerns were raised about whether such delegations would be permanent or on a case-by-case basis; how they would be notified to the Board to ensure transparency, and a perceived lack of precision in the proposed wording which referred to 'other persons'.  The President proposed by way of solution that in the 2nd  sentence, instead of 'the President' it should read that 'the Board may authorise other persons' and then the Board would have to develop a procedure for dealing with this (such as putting standing delegations in place at the start of each term, which would be properly documented and minuted for transparency), and perhaps a procedure for emergency delegation.

This modified proposal was agreed by the Assembly.

The Assembly furthermore agreed to Points 1, 2 and 4 (and to drop point 3).

The President then spoke of the last minute receipt of a substantial package of amendments from the Women's Network, proposed by Sweden and Iceland, largely concerning gender equality within the Constitution.  Given their late arrival, the Committee had not had sufficient time to be in a position to advise the Assembly, and so proposed (in a note circulated the previous week) to remit all but four of these new amendments to the new Board to be examined in detail and brought back to the next General Assembly.  The Board meeting in Istanbul in August took the view that four of the proposed amendments were non-controversial and simply 'tidied up' terminology within the Constitution to make it gender neutral,  and therefore could be considered at the current Assembly.

Opened to the floor, Birgitta Blokland stated that many of the 52 amendments were textual, or were separate amendments to make the same change in several different places within the Constitution.  Barbara Krejci-Piry (Slovenia), coordinator of the Women's Network and Steering Group, pointed out that the amendments were drawn up by a group of law and gender experts and submitted within the prescribed timeframe, and that it is time that such gender-equality points were made concrete in the Constitution.  Extracted from these for further discussion was the substantial amendment relating to the Nominations Committee, which would give the Committee the power to be more active in contacting members to ensure a more geographically and gender balanced set of nominations.  Concerns were raised that, given that there are already criteria about gender balance in the letter sent out to members by the Committee, a more demanding approach would be difficult to execute, and possibly inappropriate in interfering with the authority of national members.  There was disagreement about whether the Nominations Committee should be more proactive in encouraging a specific make-up of nominations, although Birgitta Blokland pointed out that the Nominations Committee is already proactive in making contact with countries to ensure nominations are received.  The lengthy discussion was felt to indicate that further discussion was appropriate, in accordance with the proposal to remit.  However Emily Brothers (UK) suggested a faster way of executing changes needed to be considered, such as the Board being empowered to consult and make changes in the form of bye-laws.

The President thanked all for their contributions but affirmed that the Board would wish to maintain its proposal that all but the four non-controversial amendments should be remitted to the new Board for consideration, rather than risk a substantial proportion of the current Assembly being taken up by discussion of them (given that his own analysis had indicated that some are unworkable, need redrafting or are not all consistent with one another).

The President moved to accept the Board's proposal to accept the four amendments and remit the rest, which was seconded and voted on by the Assembly.  The result was 32 countries in favour, 3 countries against and no abstentions.  The Motion was therefore carried.


Workshops on the Board Report and Draft Strategic Plan

-  priorities for implementation in the next four years in the context of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and including the diversity dimension:


The Assembly split into four groups to take part in facilitated workshops.

 

 

Session IV: Wednesday 5th  October: 11.45-13.00

In the chair: Vaclav Polasek (Czech Republic), EBU Board member.

 

Reports back from Session III workshops:

 

Rapporteurs from the four workshops were introduced and invited to report back on outcomes and suggestions of their groups:

- Group 1: Bart Simons (Belgium) reported that his group would be happier to see a much shorter and more readable Strategic Plan.  The group would prioritise items 8 (rehabilitation standards), 9 (UN CRPD work), 11 (accessibility legislation), 14 (the Development Fund) and 19 (employment issues).

They welcomed the specific items on children and the elderly in the 'Equality and Diversity' section (5-8) but felt in addition that those with multiple disabilities should be included in item 5 (on 'cross-cutting' monitoring).  The idea of collaboration with another organisation (the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment--ICEVI) in item 6 was considered good, but it was felt this could be strengthened without naming specific organisations to broaden potential.  In Item 8 the workshop would change 'minimum standards' to 'binding standards', and 'low vision' to 'blind and partially sighted'.  They felt it was important to limit the scope of item 9 (UN CRPD) to more realistic aims, with EBU concentrating on specific needs of blind and partially sighted people.  Training was felt to be necessary, with the virtual meeting facility being a potential tool to enable this.  Likewise, item 10 (development of legislative database) was felt to constitute an unfeasible burden, and that it should focus on visual impairment issues and not circulate intensive specialist surveys to national members that are not directly relevant to this.  Item 11 (lobbying) was felt to require more advance notice from the Office for members to be able to lobby in their country with sufficient preparation.  The Mobility Card (item 12) was considered important to pursue.  Item 13 (on silent cars and shared space) was felt to require redrafting to take into account problems of bikes and pedestrians, and campaigning against shared spaces was considered unrealistic (collaboration with WBU would be logical since this is a worldwide issue that requires a united approach).  On Item 14 they queried where work with developing countries has gone? On item 15 and WIPO, it was felt that large print books should also be included under the Treaty.  The workshop asked the Plan's authors for clarity about what item 18, Access to Culture, meant.  Item 19 on employment should have a wider scope than just self-employment.

- Group 2: Birkir Runar Gunnarsson (Iceland) reported that his group suffered from technical problems, but that their discussions centred on EBU using a more professional approach to strategic planning and project management, taking account of the experience of the Icelandic delegation.  This would involve being clear about EBU's identity (human rights organisation or service provider), values… Using this model, the second part of the Strategic Plan would benefit from more concrete goal setting and evaluation, and it was felt the title of this year's Assembly provided a good example, with the UN CRPD providing a roadmap to direct EBU to its desired goal.  Strengths and challenges of the EBU should also be more explicitly identified.

- Group 3: Maria Kyriacou (Cyprus) reported the priorities arising from her workshop as: promoting self-employment of blind and partially sighted people, and identifying professions suitable for employment; lobbying on a European level for all forms of accessibility; for items 2 (fundraising) and 3 (communication) to work together; continuation of work on shared spaces and silent vehicles (item 13); encouraging national organisations in countries yet to ratify the UN CPRPD to establish regional coordinators and national champions (item 9); and braille and large print labelling to be facilitated by bar code technology.  Beyond the Plan, the group discussed the importance of capacity building to promote discussion with politicians; EBU promoting reasonable compensation benefits; and the importance of blind and partially sighted people continuing to receive necessary benefits in the current economic crisis.

- Group 4: Kevin Carey (UK) succinctly summarised his group's request to the Board to select a reasonable number of strategies to implement with realistic goals and timeframes.

 

Implementing the diversity principle in practice--implications for national work:

 

Alan Suttie (UK) gave an engaging presentation on behalf of the Diversity Working Group pointing out the continued importance and value of implementing diversity on a practical level, particularly given the minimal expectations prevalent amongst many blind and partially sighted individuals.

He referred to the extent of employment discrimination reported to EBU, and the findings of a benchmarking exercise which showed that the majority of Boards of visual impairment organisations, EBU included, are dominated by blind, middle-aged men (whereas in society the majority consist of elderly women with newly acquired partial sight).  He spoke of the positive outcomes of previous inter-generational discourse via diversity events in EBU (trading technological awareness with expertise and experience).  EBU needs to be exemplary in this area as well as creating an environment where people feel welcome, supported and encouraged to get involved in working for blind and partially sighted people in Europe.

 

Findings of the Working Group:

 

  1. Diversity issues should not be looked at in isolation, e.g.  by convening the women's forum outside the General Assembly;
  2. Commissions need to engage with the diversity agenda, and integrate it into their work to ensure their future plans reflect the needs of all groups;
  3. The need to engage with other communities and network to form partnerships to ensure that we are part of the wider debate on discrimination.

 


Session V: Wednesday 5th  October: 14.30-16.00


In the chair: Alenka Bera (Slovenia).

 

Presentations by Commissions and Steering Groups:

 

Alenka Bera reaffirmed the importance of keeping diversity in mind in all aspects of EBU work and introduced three speakers.  Their presentations were supplemented by recordings of a diverse range of blind and partially sighted individuals speaking on each topic to remind the Assembly of the importance of inclusion and the need for practical solutions to everyday problems to improve confidence, independence and safety.

 

1.  Bart Simons (Belgium), Chair of the Access to Information Commission, summarised the work of the Commission in the previous work period:

It rewrote the EBU brochure on making information, printed and digital, accessible to all (downloadable from EBU's website in five languages); and created a new inventory of libraries catering for blind and partially sighted people, indicating which are able to circulate material abroad.

He spoke of various solutions to the copyright problem, the most exciting being e-books, where DAISY is moving towards an e-pub standard.  Noted too the positive step of the e-pub group being chaired by a blind man.  Feedback from last week's Braille 21 conference, and some of the labelling innovations--such as tactile marketing that you don't need Braille to understand and barcode scanning.

The recordings of various individuals' experiences of access to information covered issues such as: accompanying leaflets and instructions being issued in print (including medication); a partially sighted non-braille reader would not benefit from the suggestions of including braille information with medication; letters from doctors arriving in print; the lack of audio description facilities in cinemas; and the lack of awareness of access software for computers.

The next work period would see the Commission focus on following up the written declaration on accessible labelling passed by the European Parliament in July, and the importance of internet and computer access and training to enable users to make the best use of equipment and solutions available.

2.  Ronny Blidberg (Sweden), Mobility and Transport Commission,  spoke on the Bus and Coach Directive and problems with silent cars and public transport.

The recordings raised concerns about shared surfaces; hybrid and electric vehicles and the dangers they presented for blind and partially sighted people; and the problems of accessing public transport independently.

3.  Ulrika Norelius (Sweden), Chair, Rehabilitation, Vocational Training and Employment Commission,  outlined the two studies taken during the period by the Commission:

 

  1. 'The hidden majority' --focusing on those who are economically inactive and distant from the labour market.  This is a qualitative study of four countries based on interviews with experts on their employment services.  The results indicated that economically inactive persons want to work but don't know how to get work.
  2. A survey of self-employment, the challenges facing self-employed people and the help they need.  16 countries responded and the results indicated that self-employed people need professional training and the same opportunities as those in employment.  There also needs to be a network of those in the same situation.

The recording raised concerns about changes required through deteriorating eyesight or sight loss; the problems of having to give up current careers; the importance of social services, training and guidance in giving a sense that you are not alone; teaching on how to use computers; rehabilitation is very individualised but essential to help people move on if losing or having lost their sight; the problem of poor services and treatment which can lead to low aspirations and teaching blind people how to be disabled rather than how to be independent.

All stressed the importance of good rehabilitation which has been a point of discussion in the last work period and will likewise be important in the next.  The difference between East and West Europe needs to be addressed.  It is imperative to lobby and educate recruiting companies who place people on short-term contracts to take on blind and partially sighted people.  Also to facilitate self-employment and work towards accessible formats being integrated into companies to remove barriers, and inform and educate employers.

 

From the floor:

- Gareth Davies (UK) informed the Assembly about Project Guttenberg which has 37000 (out of copyright) titles free to download.

- An Iceland delegate brought up EU Mandate 376 (which means that accessibility must be considered when taking on new technology) and which Bart Simons said the Technology Commission had been looking into.

 


Session VI: Wednesday 5th  October: 16.30-17.30


In the chair: Rafael González Millán (Spain), EBU Board member.

 

Strengthening Our Organisation:

 

Three presentations were given to the Assembly:

 

1.  Sinan Tafaj (President, Albanian Blind Union and EBU Board member) gave a presentation on 'Twinning Projects'--an example of good practice.  Outlining the provisions under a Communist regime, he spoke of the efforts made by Rodolfo Cattani and the Italian Union of the Blind (UIC) which helped establish the Albanian Blind Union (ABU) in 1991.  This relationship has continued, with financial assistance alongside support and guidance from UIC encouraging development of ABU, particularly in times of political unrest.  ABU now has numerous branches, good links with other groups, and a growing reputation, with continued support from UIC and the Health Ministry.  Projects include identifying all blind people in Albania, inclusive education (partnering with ONCE), capacity building, and various regional projects engaging blind and partially sighted people in cultural, sporting and other activities.  They recently submitted legislation to their government which was approved without any alteration.  At the Board meeting in Tirana earlier this year they were able to put on an impressive exhibition of technological equipment.

2.  Henk de Jong, EBU Capacity Building Working Group, gave a presentation on the Capacity Building Training Manual, aimed mainly at East European organisations of the blind.  Ex-Soviet block countries' employment problems post 1991-2 were improving overall but organisations of the blind were struggling to catch up with economic developments in their countries.  Based on his work with the Moldovan Blind Union (MBU), the Capacity Building Working Group is developing a toolkit for organisations of the blind addressing issues of:

- Finances: being funded primarily by charity, donors, competitive funding and government, lobbying is unstable.  There is a need to establish sustainable means of supporting themselves that allow the organisation to retain their core goals (in Moldova, new businesses such as second-hand shops, laundries and new furniture shops provide a self-sustaining funding stream).

 

- Structure: older pre-1991 structures are not sufficient when commercialisation and speed are key.  Governance of an organisation needs to be separated out (lobbying from services; commercial from social), and the toolkit gives methods of achieving this.  He stressed the importance of marketing the organisation to underline that it is part of society, and approaching governmental contacts as part of the solution to problems of integrating and supporting blind and partially sighted rather than a problem needing to be solved.

Elements of the toolkit could also be of value to western European countries, particularly in the current financial crisis.  The presenter's strategy, which he had employed in the Netherlands, of speaking with CEO's of large companies to encourage the employment of blind and partially sighted people could also be integrated as part of the approach.

The toolkit is currently work in progress but with EBU and RNIB support it will be finalised at the end of 2011, with training sessions on its use starting in 2012.

 

Results of election for representatives on the WBU Executive:

 

Branislav Mamojka, Chair of the Nominations Committee, announced the results of the vote:

Of the votes possible, 242 were returned:

 

  1. Emin Demirci (Turkey)--117 votes
  2. Unn Ljoner Hagen (Norway)--195 votes
  3. Alexander Neumyvakin (Russia)--175 votes
  4. Sinan Tafaj (Albania)--149 votes

All other positions were elected automatically, there being only one nomination for each position. 

Thanks were expressed to the members of the Nominations Committee and to the scrutineers, and also to all Board members and officers stepping down.

 


Session VII: Thursday 6th  October: 09.00-10.30


In the chair: Sigrun Bessadottir, EBU Board member.

 

Presentations on Nordic models of welfare: different approaches and best practice

 

Helena Lagercrantz, from the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues, spoke about the work of her organisation and its aim to improve the quality of social policies in the Nordic countries.  Their mission is to identify and put welfare challenges on the agenda and stimulate change by identifying future challenges for the Nordic welfare model, and offer practical solutions.

The characteristics of the current welfare model were summarized as: extensive public responsibility; the strong role of the state; a relatively even distribution of income; greater gender equality; a well organised labour market; and a high degree of financing through taxation and redistribution.

The relatively low unemployment rate in the Nordic region was highlighted, but there are issues of concern as they move forward.  These include: the forthcoming potential 'welfare gap' with the ageing population meaning there will be less providing for more; some groups remaining outside the labour market (such as education drop-outs, immigrants and those with disabilities) creating pockets of poverty which, added to the current economic climate, means the model is under pressure.  There is some scepticism and misunderstanding about the model too, with the assumption that generous welfare and strong labour schemes are only possible because they are a wealthy region (rather than the wealth stemming from the models of generous welfare and rigorous labour schemes).

Helena spoke about how they, as a small Nordic centre, contribute and influence politicians to direct their policy most effectively, giving examples of the Work Inclusion Project, running from 2010-2012, which studied the inclusion of three groups (youth, disabled people and senior citizens) currently most at risk of exclusion from the labour market, and proposed solutions.  She also spoke about technological solutions aimed at disabled people and senior citizens which are essential for a good quality of life and increased opportunities for independence.  Nordic countries have a fairly common structure, so they can work across borders.  In all these areas the Centre organises seminars and lectures and produces reports designed to highlight best practice for political decision makers.

 

Timo Kuoppala (Finland) then spoke on 'what has the Nordic Welfare System given us', focusing on the positive outcomes: that, as a result of Nordic Welfare thinking, we have reached good basic security for persons with disabilities.  This includes compensation payments relating to disability over and above basic security, help in finding work, assistive technologies being provided free to both employers and employees, various levels of publicly funded transport and libraries which cater comprehensively for blind and partially sighted people--confirming that the safety net of public services is rather good both for congenitally blind and partially sighted people and those who develop sight problems later on.  The close consultation with disabled people's organisations has guaranteed this good quality of service and gives a good chance for influence.

 

Unn Ljoner Hagen (Norway) spoke on the user perspective, highlighting some of the negatives of the system and the high expectations in the light of the region's prosperity which perhaps leads one to take for granted benefits such as state educational loans to enable further study, free medical treatment, low cost childcare, visual aids provided free of charge, much free transport, and the provision of a guide to accompany her to the EBU GA, for instance.  However, she expressed disbelief and anger that Norway has yet to ratify the UN CRPD, and noted that the unemployment rate among disabled people remains extremely high, with greater demands placed on the system by growing immigration (although their labour is needed).  The tendency for those who do not fit the 'a4' profile of Norwegian society to be pushed onto benefits rather than helped into work is a 'disincentivisation' to work.  Also, whilst technology is provided free, there is not the training to enable people to make the best use of it.

Questions from the floor elicited the following responses: the growing problem of educational drop-outs may be due to an inflexible system geared towards university rather than vocational paths.  In Norway, the mainstream education of blind and partially sighted people could lead to feelings of social isolation amongst sighted peers, and problems of teachers not being sufficiently trained in all subjects.  There is currently a big debate as to whether specialist schools should be introduced as an option for older students.  Sweden has recently introduced a strategy on inclusion of people with disability and Norway is introducing one next month.  They both focus on 'Attitudes': in education, whilst there may be new technology, there are still old systems and teachers; and in work there is a need for greater employer awareness of what support is available.  Indeed it was discovered that people would rather employ people with a criminal background rather than someone with a guide dog.

 

EBU Communication Strategy - An Investment in the Future of EBU:

 

Gary May, EBU Information and Communication Officer, gave a presentation stressing the importance of EBU's communication strategy.  EBU has a history of communication both to its members and with the wider public via press releases, brochures and the website, etc.  This relies on the active participation of members and Gary encouraged members to help in creating a network of communication officers.  A Facebook page will shortly be ready, and members were urged to 'share' pages from the EBU website where helpful.  An electronic version of the newsletter is in progress.  With the goal of modernising the image of EBU, the Communication Working Group and EBU Office (with much help from Sigrun Bessadottir and Birgitta Blokland) has led to the creation of a new logo, strapline and website, and presentation brochure to create a fresh brand image.  To develop further it was decided to work with an external communications consultant to get professional input in making most of limited resources.  The first meeting pointed up the difficulties (and cost) of communicating on a European scale, given linguistic and cultural barriers.  A logical choice was therefore to select a key issue of EBU campaigning (perhaps silent electric vehicles, public transport and the availability of books) and hold an event in the spring, in Strasbourg or Brussels, involving European decision makers in order to promote it and draw attention to EBU.  Parallel events across Europe would maximise impact.  It is hoped that the new Board will back and be involved in this strategy, as it requires investment and commitment.  Vincent Michel expressed support and urged members to mobilise behind this project.

 

 

Session VIII: Thursday 6th  October: 11.00-13.00


Concurrent workshops on Creative Campaigning

(led by Carine Marzin, European Campaigns Officer, RNIB, UK) and

Fundraising

(led by Romain Ferretti, EBU Project Officer).

 

 

Session IX: Thursday 6th  October: 14.30-16.00


In the chair: Colin Low (UK), EBU President.

 

John Heilbrunn welcomed visitors from Africa, Japan and Malaysia who were present as part of capacity building programmes through which the Danish Association of the Blind has partnerships with developing countries.

The EU disability strategy, 2010-2020--what's in it for blind and partially sighted people?

 

Mr Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, Director for Fundamental Rights and Citizenship in the European Commission DG Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, attending on behalf of Commissioner Reding, Vice-President of the Commission, was welcomed, and gave a presentation on relevant developments in the Commission, relating to EBU and blind and partially sighted people.

 

  • The Commission and EBU had enjoyed a close partnership for the past 6 years.  They were currently nearing the end of year one of a three-year partnership which provides EBU with an operational grant for internal and external capacity building.  Mr Ciobanu-Dordea commended the effectiveness of EBU for its members and as an example of engagement and continuous improvement.  EBU's input on a national and European level was appreciated.  For example, it is through cooperation with EBU that braille labelling and access to books are being kept high on the agenda.
  • The ratifying of the UN CRPD means that respect for disabled people's rights is now a matter of law, and the Commission is working closely with EDF and other organisations to prepare a monitoring report to the UN on behalf of the EU in 2013.
  • The European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, adopted last year by the Commission, has two strands: to empower disabled people to enjoy their rights by removing barriers, and to implement and comply with the UN CRPD (via legislation such as their 2008 proposal on non-discrimination based on article 19 of the Treaty) to ensure concrete outcomes for disabled people.  In other areas, 'soft law' approaches and non-legislative instruments such as awareness raising campaigns may be used.  The strategy also encompasses financial and statistical support to develop systems of data collection on the realities of disabled people's rights to feed into and guide decision making.

 

The strategy is grouped into 8 thematic areas in line with the UN CRPD: accessibility; participation; equality; employment; education and training; social protection; health; and external action.

Most of these actions do not target specific groups of disabled people.  He noted however that accessibility, a key issue for blind and partially sighted people, is top on the action list for the 2010-2015 work period.  The second 'Access Award' will be made to a European city, raising the issue's profile and representing an example of good practice to others.

The European Accessibility Act has been announced for the end of 2012 and details of this legal instrument are currently being worked out.  This will not replace the afore-mentioned directive on anti-discrimination but will try to address concrete problems for both industries and consumers of products and services.  It will cover ICT, the built environment, transport and mainstream access to goods and services.

In the area of copyright the Commission continues to be constructively involved in negotiations for a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) agreement on the cross-border transfer of copyright works in accessible formats.  Going towards the next meeting of the WIPO copyright committee in November 2011 we want to have a strong text that has good practical results.

The promotion of fundamental human rights is an important issue for the Commission, which has produced guidance to its services on carrying out impact assessments for all legislative proposals to take into account fundamental rights, and specifically the rights of persons with disabilities (based on the binding nature of the UN Convention).

Following the adoption of the new Structural Funds Regulations on October 5th  by the College of Commissioners, the Commission will update their toolkit for non-discrimination and accessibility in the implementation of structural funds.

With a view to finding solutions relating to the rights of persons with reduced mobility, including blind and partially sighted people, the Commission is looking, for instance, at the US and what they have done to make goods and services accessible.

EBU and EDF were also encouraged to provide the Commission with a structured inventory, as exhaustive as possible, of cases of non-compliance or violations detected at national level.  There are many existing legal instruments and the emphasis should be put on their enforcement.  Mr Ciobanu-Dordea concluded by calling for ideas and feedback on the usefulness of the strategy.

 

Rodolfo Cattani, Chair of EBU's Liaison Commission with the European Union, then gave a presentation encompassing some issues of concern:

  • Accessibility: EBU will continue to lobby and campaign to secure strong and binding EU legislation.  EBU has been leading work into accessible websites via a coalition of DPO's and the Liaison Commission will submit proposals to address this in early 2012.
  • WIPO: EBU actions will include campaigning to ensure adoption of a WIPO treaty.  Here he disagreed with the Commission's soft law approach and the conservative attitude of Europe in prioritising the protection of the interests of copyright owners over the needs of blind and partially sighted people.  Saying that soft law does not work, he emphasised the need for binding legislation.  This was strongly supported by the Assembly.
  • Enabling free movement of blind and partially sighted people within the EU through accessible transport.
  • Equality: continuing to work to eradicate discrimination on the grounds of disability.
  • Employment: EBU will continue to share information with the Commission about barriers that blind and partially sighted people have to overcome to access and retain jobs, also considering self-employment (a more innovative perspective) alongside the more traditional employment paths.
  • Social Protection: the financial crisis is having a devastating effect on social targets as poverty and social exclusion become more widespread.  Using the targets of the European Disability Strategy to reduce social exclusion by targeting support through concrete actions, assessing the adequacy of systems and ensuring the mainstreaming of disability issues in legislation, EBU will develop initiatives to create a strong and long-lasting campaign to provide national members with the means to take action to safeguard programmes, collect data on the realities of living conditions and monitor EU developments to safeguard free movement.

Mr Cattani concluded by reciprocating the value of the partnership with the EU Commission, with EBU hopeful to convince the Commission where there are disagreements.

From the floor, Carine Marzin (UK) questioned Mr Ciobanu-Dordea on two issues:

  1. Why the Commission is not supporting a binding WIPO treaty; and
  2. The Commission's use of an IPM tool for consulting, which is not accessible to those using screen readers.

Mr Ciobanu-Dordea responded that:

  1. The Commission, as a single voice acting and speaking on behalf of the EU, is politically and economically bound to listen to all parties (including the economic heavyweights that play a large role and often combine their forces with the US).  The Commission is obliged to listen to the voice of those actually involved in the producing, marketing and distribution of copyright material, as well as social organisations such as EBU.  The Commission will continue to work in the framework of WIPO to find the right instrument and content to make exceptions more effective to the benefit of disabled people, but he urged the Assembly to exert pressure at national level.
  2. The Commission will be in a position to conduct the consultation on the European Accessibility Act on a site that will be fully accessible and linked to the IPM tool--a pilot that, if successful, can be replicated by the Commission for all future public consultations.

 

Session X: Friday 7th  October: 09.00-10.30


In the chair: Alenka Bera, coordinator, EBU Low Vision Steering Group.

 

Vincent Michel (France), President of the French Federation of the Blind, spoke briefly about the importance of the Louis Braille Museum in Coupvray and about the current funding difficulties of keeping it operational.  He made an urgent appeal to EBU to take on some of the financial burden.  Last year the Federation contributed more than 40000 euros, and cannot continue contributing at this rate.  He also hoped to see an increase in WBU's contributions (currently $5000 a year).

 

Diversity and the Strength of networking:

 

A series of speakers gave presentations on the means and advantages of networking for blind and partially sighted:

Krister Inde (Sweden), a lecturer, trainer and rehabilitation consultant who grew up with low vision, spoke about the current situation in Sweden and Eye Clinics that incorporate surgeons, clinicians and rehabilitation.  The Jónkóping Centre's team includes optometrists, low vision therapists, social workers, computer teachers, secretaries and ophthalmology consultants, and he encouraged other countries to take a similarly holistic approach.  He also stressed the importance of groups such as EBU pursuing research and lobbying once a good role model for service providers had been established.

Rosaleen Dempsey (UK) works for RNIB Children's Services in Belfast and also for the Albino Fellowship, and spoke about the various networks she is part of, on a personal, social, educational and professional level.  She outlined the value of working with other disability networks to share ideas and experience, pool resources and find more integrated and joined-up ways of providing support to people with disabilities.  Her experience with the Albino Fellowship gives her an opportunity to speak with others in the same position, who have many similar concerns and aims, and provides a sense of belonging that many disabled people may not feel if they are surrounded by non-disabled peers.  Whilst networking is undeniably a challenge, its rewards are manifest.

Liz Scott Gibson (UK), Director of Deaf Action and President of the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters, gave a presentation on the synergies between sight loss and hearing loss.  Whilst speaking as an individual, she also brought to the Assembly the good wishes of those in the European Federation of the Hard of Hearing.  She outlined the initial resistance to the Scottish Government-funded 'one stop shops', part of the 2012 Year of Active Ageing, where people's needs will be met in a holistic manner.  Deaf and blind organisations each questioned what the other knew about their issues and aims.  But there are many similarities, e.g.  shared aims of full equality, participation and access; the central place of service users; the importance of working within a human rights framework; the need for communication; and a concern with social exclusion from the mainstream and fighting society's poor understanding of sensory needs.  In order for such a partnership to work however, cooperation at all stages is necessary, with open sharing of information, ideas and experience.  Difficulties of different management styles and operational systems must be acknowledged and overcome, with respect for each other's continued separate identity.  This will create opportunities to reach those with dual sensory loss, and will hopefully act as a way of wrapping services around users rather than 'putting them through' the service.  She ended by encouraging members to make partnerships with deaf organisations in their own country.

In response to the session, it was suggested that the Board should find means of getting delegations to interact more easily, given the potential difficulty of 'water cooler' networking.


Session XI: Friday 7th  October: 11.00-11.30


In the chair: Unn Ljoner Hagen, EBU Board member.

 

Working with EDF and the Social Platform:

 

Two presentations were given:

Rodolfo Cattani, Vice-President of the Platform of Social NGO's (the Social Platform), and Secretary General of the European Disability Forum (EDF):

Mr Cattani outlined the background and aims of the EDF: its mission to promote equal opportunities for disabled people and protect their human rights; its status as a human rights organisation which works with, rather than is officially affiliated to, any particular country, institution or body; its make-up of national councils and organisations from 27 states with a further pillar of European organisations representing specific disabled groups and their families (such as EBU); and its distancing from the out-of-date charitable approach to disability.

In accordance with one of the themes of this year's EBU Assembly he stressed the reality of diversity within the organisation.

Its work programme for the forthcoming year includes: working with key EU policies and laws to improve the lives of people with disabilities and ensure effective protection against discrimination; standardisation projects; research and innovation programmes geared towards universities; campaigning and visibility; and a focus on women and young people with disabilities.

Harry Geyskens (Belgium) spoke about the Social Platform, an alliance of NGO's in the social sector which promotes social justice and participatory democracy, on which he is the EBU representative.  Stemming initially from discussions following the green paper on social policy in 1994, the Social Platform was established in 1995, and now represents thousands of organisations at local, regional, national and European level on a diverse range of issues.  It insists that NGO's have a key role to play in the protection and advancement of human rights, and seeks to strengthen and develop dialogue.  Meetings, open to all members, take place four times a year, ensuring that members' views are adequately represented in the identification of areas of work and policy positions.

Objectives include: eradication of poverty and elimination of social exclusion; promotion of equality for all; promotion of participatory democracy; engagement with EU policy makers to enable members to pursue their objectives at EU level; and the development of common positions.  It likewise is committed to gender parity.

Funding is from the European Commission's Community Action Programme as well as membership fees and project funding.

The Assembly commented on the value of EBU members such as Mr Cattani and Mr Geyskens rising in the ranks of EDF, which extends the power and influence of EBU whilst not dissipating its own core objectives and activity.  EBU's involvement with both these networks is further testimony to the value of intelligent networking and engagement with other organisations.

 

Standardisation - Enhancing EBU's Participation in Standardisation Work:

 

Chiara Giovannini of the Design for All Working Group of ANEC (the European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation) spoke to the Assembly about standardisation.

ANEC is the European consumer voice in standardisation, representing and defending consumer interests in the creation of technical standards, especially those  developed to support the implementation of European laws and public policies.  Funded in part by the EU and based in Brussels, experts contribute to working groups elaborating standards at European and International level.  The Design for All Group work with organisations including EBU and EDF and Ms Giovannini thanked EBU for helping them achieve high standards.

A recent survey conducted by ANEC highlighted the need for all groups' needs to be taken into account regarding standardisation and accessibility, particularly given the ageing population.

She outlined the importance of standards as an issue for EBU: they are a tool to complement legislation to achieve accessibility, and also determine the way a product or service is developed (through guidelines issued to manufacturers and providers).  Newly established technical committees are working on a range of access areas, and things are moving in the right direction.  The successful launch of a joint campaign with EBU, AGE, EDF and ANEC, 'Access Denied', calls for legislation to make all websites accessible, and is part of the Digital Agenda Assembly of the European Commission.  EBU could also find standardisation a useful approach in the field of accessible labelling, e.g.  on medication and other consumer products, on which ANEC would be happy to collaborate.

Speakers from the floor questioned whether standardisation could stand in the way of innovation--how could standards better keep pace? Whilst acknowledging that some sectors do provide examples of standardisation impeding progress, Mr Cattani pointed to the case of DAISY, where standards actually drove innovation.


Examples of Good Practice:

 

Six short presentations from national members outlining examples of good practice in their country were given:

  1. Sinan Tafaj (Albania) described the experience of collaboration between visual impairment organisations in the Balkan region, with a focus on capacity building projects with help from the European Commission and Italy.
  2. Maria Kyriacou (Cyprus) spoke about the Vision in Enterprise (VIE) project, which is looking at self-employment and opportunities within companies and businesses for blind and partially sighted people, to which Cyprus contributed data and feedback, and from which they are now adapting the resulting toolkit to the specific situations and needs of Cyprus.
  3. Ksenia Siminciuc (Moldova) outlined the various projects and initiatives of the Moldovan Blind Union in the fields of integration, anti-discrimination, education and employment, and the recent launch of their first radio station for blind and partially sighted people.  She ended by reading a document about concerns that blind and partially sighted people are going to suffer specifically in the current economic crisis.
  4. Rodrigo Godinho Santos (Portugal) informed the Assembly about their work on a management quality system that entailed defining what representation of blind and partially sighted people means, and then elucidating ways of achieving this.  He mentioned the areas of cooperation and development, campaigning and direct representation, and the need to strive for concrete and measurable objectives that were systematically applied.
  5. Branislav Mamojka (Slovakia) spoke about a project that was developing optically activated tactile displays, Nano Optical Mechanical Systems (NOMS), to expand beyond the capabilities of braille in display formats.
  6. Arvo Karvinen (International Association of Blind Esperantists) spoke about the value of blind and partially sighted people's involvement with Esperanto, noting Colin Low's salutation to the last conference and the support of EBU, and alerting the Assembly to the forthcoming congress in Kiev in 2012.

Other countries were invited to send any other examples of good practice to the EBU Office.

 


Session XII: Friday 7th  October: 14.30-16.00


In the chair: Emin Demirci, EBU Board member.

John Heilbrunn introduced Jannie Hammershoi, a Danish representative of the International Blind Sports Association who encouraged the Assembly to join in a closer relationship between EBU and IBSA in safeguarding blind sports.  Mr Heilbrunn suggested this may be something for the Board to consider.

Report of the Resolutions Committee--presentation and adoption of resolutions:

 

Alan Suttie, Chair of the Resolutions Committee, thanked the Committee for enabling compromise to be reached in agreeing on the final proposed resolutions (made available to the Assembly the previous evening).  The Resolutions Paper begins with a preamble clarifying the principles which the Committee bore in mind when drawing up the final proposed resolutions.

The Committee's meetings during the Assembly involved considering the following resolutions: five from Sweden, one from the Culture and Education Commission, two from the Board, and one from the UK.  In addition, whilst not presented in the form of a resolution, the text of a letter from Moldova expressing concern about the consequences of the current economic crisis was incorporated into a resolution to be put forward (resolution 2011.6 below).

The resolutions were presented to the Assembly for approval:

Resolution 2011-1: on the importance of early, broad and specialist support to children with visual impairments, their families and others close to the children:

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-2: to encourage and facilitate greater diversity in respect of gender, age and sight levels in all bodies within EBU:

Comments from the floor suggested expanding this resolution to encompass large print as well as braille (so as to link to a point in the Strategic Plan).  Birgitta Blokland reassured the Assembly that the Strategic Plan would be used in planning the activities of the Board, so even if this important point was not included in a resolution it would still be taken on board.  Another comment suggested broadening the diversity of the resolution to include black and ethnic minority groups.  Erik Staff (Sweden) raised a point of order that usually resolutions can only be approved or rejected at this point, not amended.  Alan Suttie confirmed that his interpretation of the wording of the resolution was already sufficient to encompass large print.  So far, there has been no working group to consider ethnicity, but this needs to be looked at by the Board.

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-3: Free circulation of labour within the European Union:

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-4: Opening up EBU leadership:

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-5: EU Non-Discrimination Directive:

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-6: Maintaining the financial security and policies of inclusion for disabled people in Europe at a time of financial crisis:

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-7: UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan:

After questions from the floor Alan Suttie agreed that this should be reworded to ensure that it explicitly calls on governments to sign and ratify the Convention and the Optional Protocol, and to extend the targets so as to call 'on all governments throughout Europe and the institutions of the EU'.

With these 2 amendments the resolution was accepted by acclaim.

 

Resolution 2011-8: Effectiveness in EBU work:

Originally from the UK delegation this had been revised to be less restrictive whilst still retaining the spirit.  This resolution provoked lengthy debate from the Assembly with concerns expressed that it may be unnecessary as it is already dealt with in the Strategic Plan for 2011-15, and did not require a resolution to instruct the Board on its implementation.  After a vote of 30 votes to 9 in favour of ending the debate and proceeding to a vote on the resolution,

The resolution was carried with 28 votes in favour and 10 against.

 

Resolution 2011-9: Votes of thanks and appreciation:

It was decided to mention no specific names, except for that of the President to ensure inclusion.

Resolution accepted by acclaim.

 

John Heilbrunn thanked the Assembly for participating in the Clicker trial which had been used for the votes.  It will be considered whether and how to make use of this in the future.

 


Session XIII: Friday 7th  October: 16.30-17.30


In the chair: Colin Low, EBU President.

 

The incoming President, Wolfgang Angermann (Germany), called on the new Board to introduce themselves to the Assembly, stressing that he is simply part of a team.  Mr Angermann then gave a well-received speech introducing himself and looking forward to the next work period.  Key messages included: the importance of reaching blind and partially sighted people and their participation in EBU; financial contributions should be seen as necessary to enable inclusion, rather than a 'benefit to EBU'; allowing children to access inclusive education; the vital need for and the benefits of employment; EBU's dependence on its member organisations, and the importance of diversity and equality at a national level; promotion of networking and sharing good practice; continued work on the structure and operations of EBU for effective communication; and the need to encourage more people to step into leadership positions within EBU.

He thanked Colin Low for his work during the eight years of his Presidency, and the General Assembly for its work on the Strategy which the new Board will strive to implement.  He also extended thanks to the Danish hosts and all those who have helped with the running of the General Assembly.

The outgoing President applauded the award of Honorary Life Membership to Julien Aimi and Kicki Nordstrom.  He expressed his deep appreciation of this honour being conferred on himself, and thanked the team of Board members, officers and the EBU Office who, he feels, really deserve the award.  He further thanked John Heilbrunn and the Danish Association of the Blind, and their Nordic partners, for enabling the Assembly to take place in Fredericia, commending the rich scope of the programme and the exceptional success of the workshops.

With that he declared the Assembly closed.


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