EBU Resolutions 2003

The following resolutions were passed by the EBU Seventh General Assembly, Athens, 26-28 November 2003

A. Resolutions Submitted by the Women's Forum

A1. Towards a culture of equality

Whereas the EBU Women´s Forum and General Assembly 1999 called for a plan on equality,

The EBU Women’s Forum gathered in Athens 21st-24th of November 2003,

- adopts the equality plan proposed by the EBU CAIBPSW and urges the EBU to implement this plan in the working period 2003-2007 as a basis to achieve a strong and democratic organization, that truly defends the interests of ALL blind and partially sighted people in Europe ;

- requests the EBU Board to explore possibilities for funding activities that are needed for implementing the plan.

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A2. Balanced representation

2.1 Whereas the Women’s Forum held in Athens from 21st-24th November 2003 notes with regret the lack of gender balance in the composition of national delegations to the 7th EBU General Assembly,

Whereas the Women´s Forum notices that the constitutional amendment, adopted by the 6th General Assembly in 1999 does not show the expected outcome,

The Women’s Forum gathered in Athens, Greece 21st – 24thof November 2003, resolves :

- That national members should be urged to respect and comply with the EBU constitution,

- That as from the start of the 8th General Assembly :
Sanctions should be imposed on those members whose delegations do not comply with the constitution
By depriving that national member of any votes which are in excess of the number it could cast were it complying with the gender balance rule.

Sanction would not be applied against these delegations if their inbalanced gender composition compensates the result of the overall gender inbalance in the General Assembly.

2.2 Whereas balanced representation in the EBU bodies is still not a fact,
Whereas balanced representation is a matter of democracy,
The EBU Women´s Forum, gathered in Athens, Greece, 21st–24th of November 2003 resolves that every commission’s membership is composed of a minimum of one third of a different gender, with exception of the women´s commission, respecting its specific function and tasks.

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A3. The right to motherhood

Whereas it is stated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article One, that every one is equal in rights and dignity,
the EBU Women’s Forum gathered in Athens 21st – 24th November 2003 advocates every blind and partially sighted women’s human right to decide whether or not to have a child.

We request the EBU board and national members to make the appropriate authorities responsible for maternity services aware that accessible information must be available for all perspective parents taking into account the views of blind and partially sighted women. However we defend the human right of the blind or partially sighted woman to make the final decision.

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A4. Right to adoption

The EBU Women’s Forum gathered in Athens 21st – 24th November 2003
calls upon the EBU board and national members to campaign for and inform the adoption services on the following statement :

Blindness or partial sight may never be an a ground to be refused to adopt, nor be an obstacle to have the same opportunities regarding the right to adoption.

And that all information must be provided in accessible formats.

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A5. Violence and discrimination

Whereas it is a human right to live without violence and discrimination,
Whereas the EBU Daphne project results show that a great number of blind and partially sighted European women do suffer or have suffered all kinds of violence,
Whereas these results only are a first step towards combatting violence,

The EBU Women’s Forum gathered in Athens November 21st – 24th 2003

- resolves that the EBU and all national members must recognise and support all action to eliminate all forms of violence,

- urges the EBU to seek funding to follow up this very important project in the framework of the EU Daphne Program, in order to continue campaigning for research and work in raising awareness, combatting and preventing all kinds of violence against blind and partially sighted women,

- resolves the campaigning for inclusion of selfdefence courses and assertiveness training in rehabilitation programmes offered to all blind and partially sighted.

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A6. ICT for all

Whereas IT literacy in our days is indispensable to access information, to equal opportunities to become full and active members in society and to employment,

Whereas in most countries subsidies for computer equipment and adaptations are limited to those who are working or are students,

Whereas women do not have equal opportunities to access these subsidies as they are under represented, especially in employment,

Whereas training, software and hardware because of their price are not accessible for many, especially women,

Be it resolved at the EBU Women’s Forum 2003, gathered in Athens 21-24 of November

That the same provisions should be available for all blind and partially sighted people, regardless of their employment or student status,

That EBU and its members lobby for this with the governments,

That ongoing training is provided by national members to ensure equal opportunities to using equipment and programmes and thus increasing employability,

That hard and software should be made available by offering these at an accessible price or by a lending system, including a maintenance and upgrade contract.

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A7. Elderly women

Whereas the elderly women represent more than half of the blind and partially sighted people in this age group, the Women’s Forum gathered in Athens, Greece 21st-24th of November 2003,

Urges the EBU Board and national organisations to pay more attention to the day-to-day needs of the growing numbers of elderly blind and partially sighted women.

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A8. Solidarity

Whereas people with disabilities in developing countries are often among the poorest of the poor,

Whereas women with visual impairment in developing countries are suffering from multiple discrimination, for being blind or partially sighted, and secondly for being women,

The EBU Women´s Forum, gathered in Athens 21st-24th of November 2003

Requests the EBU Board to encourage the national members
to take up projects in developing countries which include the gender aspect.


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B. Resolutions Submitted by the Board

B1. Mobility

The Mobility and Transport Conference, held on 14 and 15 October 2002, in Paris, organised by the European Blind Union Commission on Mobility and Guide Dogs, and the Commission on the Partially-Sighted, resolves that :

Resolution 1
Concerning mobility training for blind and partially sighted people, and the education of instructors in mobility :

1. Mobility training should be available to all blind and partially-sighted people in all age groups, and should include people with additional disabilities. Mobility training must be funded and regulated by national government.

2. Information about where and how blind and partially-sighted people can obtain mobility training should be widely available in all reading formats.

3. Mobility instructors must be well trained including the use of various mobility systems and technical aids, and special needs provisions. The mobility instructors need not be guide dog instructors, but they should know about guide dogs.

4. The quality of training of mobility instructors should be appraised on a regular basis, involving users of the service.

5. High quality mobility training should be available to children in both ordinary and special schools.


Resolution 2
To enable blind and partially-sighted people to travel at all times, independently, safely and with confidence :

 1. All relevant travel information should be available in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print, tape and disk.

2. All public transport vehicles should be designed to reflect the needs of blind and partially-sighted people.

3. All vehicles, and bus and rail stations should be adequately staffed at all times when in use.

4. All forms of public transport, including taxis, must accept guide dogs, without imposing extra charges.

5. Travel concessions should be standardised throughout Europe.


Resolution 3
 All public buildings should be so designed as to be fully accessible for people with physical or sensory disabilities, and guide dogs should be admitted free of charge.


Resolution 4
 To enable all blind and partially-sighted people to walk and travel safely and independently, we should work with local and national governments to achieve standardisation throughout Europe, which should include pavements, tactile paving, road crossings and traffic signals. There should also be standardisation in the design of public facilities such as toilets.


Resolution 5
All drivers should have five-yearly medical checks, including eye tests, and both health checks and eye tests should be annually after age seventy. They should be instructed to cease driving if their eyesight falls below an acceptable standard. All drivers should understand the significance of the white cane and the guide dog harness, and also the deafblind symbol cane.


Resolution 6
 Each country should provide a guide dog training course, available free to any blind person who requires a guide dog as their mobility aid. This training should be of a high quality standard, approved by organisations of blind people. This high standard of training should be maintained throughout the life of the dog.

The following resolution was added by the EBU Commission on the Activities of Elderly Blind and Visually Impaired People :


Resolution 7
 It is acknowledged that the majority of blind and partially sighted people are over the age of 65. The needs of older people should be particularly considered in the provision of facilities. Special areas include :

mobility skills training to meet the needs of elderly persons ;

provision of door to door transport and properly trained guides ;

accessible public transport that accommodates the specific needs of older people who are also frail.

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B2. Youth

The EBU Youth Commission have submitted the following resolutions :

Resolution 1
European Blind Union and Unity among Visually Impaired Youth

Centralisation is a double edged sword, as the decision making will be further from the citizen, and the poorer countries can get directives which would be to expensive to follow. Even so the European Blind Union's Youth Commission (EBUYC) is convinced that centralisation can be to the disabled people's benefit. How ever, this depends on the European Blind Union's (EBU) ability to balance between the edges. The EBUYC see it at as imperative to work for central decisions that are economically possible for all EU countries to apply, and in the spirit of universal design. As such, it is at least as important to stop all directives that might result in any kind of discrimination.

As young people are a minority in the EBU there are certain measures which need to be taken to ensure an active political environment among youth, and the recruitment to the EBU : It is a must to have frequent gatherings that include all interested youth in Europe. The Youth Commission find European youth camps - like the one held in Poland in July 2003 - and conferences to be the most suitable venues. To help make a good community for visually impaired youth in Europe, it is important to have an open and informal discussion forum. This will be attractive to youth who are not already politically active, and thus hopefully increase participation. The EBUYC intends to encourage the creation of an informal meeting place on the Internet.

It is of great importance that youth are included in the political work of the EBU. The visually impaired youth of Europe are concerned about their future. The EBUYC would like the EBU to focus more on integration. It is also necessary to work more actively on changing the attitudes towards visually impaired.


Resolution 2
Abled by Disability

Can it be that disabled people see things others don't ? We think yes. The improvements that are considered necessary to make society accessible for disabled people point out solutions that make everyone's everyday life easier :

- Signs that are good for visually impaired are great for the rest of society.

- The aural information blind depend on when using public transport, will be to your benefit whenever you go to an area you don't know.

- If a place is easy to get around in a wheelchair, it is also easy to get around with a pram. When counters, switches, information, etc. is at a convenient height to a person in a wheelchair, it is also a good solution for anybody who is below average height. - Standardisation and logical infrastructures are important means of making buildings and surroundings possible to navigate for visually impaired. Obviously this is an advantage to anyone - in case of fire, the stairs should be by the elevators and not hidden away.

- Don't you get tired of reading all those long e-mails ? Visually impaired and dyslexics get the computer to read them out loud. By using the technology of speech synthesis you could close your eyes, lean back and work at the same time. If you could do that, you wouldn't have to waste resources on printing out documents because the screen makes your eyes weary.

So always keep in mind that a disability makes people able to give you better solutions - simply because the blind man sees things you don't.


Resolution 3
 Age has always been a way of measuring wisdom, but is it still a valid way to judge someone’s experience by ? Of course it is - but only to a certain extent. In our modern world, the most experienced group in high-tech communication is by far youth and young adults. Now as earlier, a young person does a continuous qualitative study of the educational systems around the world - harvesting experiences that could never be gathered by an older person without actually confronting the students.

Due to the changes in society the strong hierarchic structure between generations is no longer valid to the same extent. Only fifty years ago terms as “youth culture” and “young adults” were not used, but today these are commonly accepted as important factors in society. In itself, this shows that youth make certain exclusive experiences. Thus this supports the idea of the youth as a valuable partner in all activities - simply because knowledge is power.

We say that youth have unique knowledge on certain issues, but obviously this applies to all other groups in society as well. So, are there really any boundaries ? Or are the boundaries of age artificial ? As long as we keep in mind that people meet their challenges in different ways, and that equal respect is the key to good cooperation between generations, we think that the artificial boundaries of age will disappear.

In consequence, it is imperative that both youth and older members of the EBU forget their prejudices and let the better argument decide the course - not the age, gender or appearance of the person mediating it.



B3. Partially Sighted People

Resolution : To approve the EBU Policy Statement on Low Vision submitted by the Commission.

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B4 Commissions and Committees

1. Italy has submitted the following resolution :

"Whereas considerable financial resources are needed to enable commissions to work,

"Whereas a considerable number of members of commissions, for various reasons, can only participate in the work of their commission occasionally, and in some cases they do not participate in any meetings during the whole work period,

"whereas the issues some commissions should deal with are very similar,

This general assembly resolves that EBU Board, in the execution of its duty to appoint commissions (see Section 1.1 of Article VI of the EBU Constitution) should limit the number of commissions to the bare minimum whenever possible, extending the tasks assigned to them if necessary."

2. The Commission on Human and Social Rights proposes that its name should be changed to the Commission on the Rights of Blind and Partially Sighted People.

3. The Commission on Mobility and Guide Dogs proposes that its name should be changed to the Commission on Mobility, Access and Guide Dogs.

4. The Chair of the Rehabilitation, Vocational Training and Employment Commission proposes that "rehabilitation" should be deleted from the remit of the Commission.

5. The Nominations Committee proposes that the general assembly should appoint a credentials committee.

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B5. Genetics

The Board proposes the adoption of its policy paper on genetics (previously circulated).

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B6. Postal Services

The EBU Working Group on Access to Information have submitted the resolutions below.

“The following principles should be recognised in relation to postal services for blind and partially sighted people :

1. Postal services for blind and partially sighted people should be available from all service providers in the market, not just from one national universal service provider.

2. Postal services for blind and partially sighted people should be reliable, secure and have a guaranteed priority delivery speed.

3. Postal services for blind and partially sighted people should be physically accessible, i.e. service providers need to maintain a number of collection points and special collection and delivery arrangements in rural areas.

4. Postal services for blind and partially sighted people should be free of charge (freepost).

5. No distinction should be made between postal items and items of correspondence for or from a blind or partially sighted person or their organisations. All of these should be carried without charge. The same should apply to all special aids or equipment for blind and partially sighted people. A realistic weight allowance should be applied.

6. Liberalisation of the postal services market in any country or region should be conducted with carefully crafted guarantees for blind and partially sighted people, at it could otherwise seriously undermine these basic principles.“

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B7. Deafblindness

In line with all United Nations conventions on Human Rights and the United Nations Standard Rules on Equalisation of Opportunities for People with Disabilities :

We, representatives of the deafblind people in Europe, united at the 5th EBU Deafblind Conference on October 20th 2003, in Fredericia, Denmark, urge all governments in Europe

- To recognise deafblindness as a unique disability ;

- To recognise all persons with deafblindness as persons with the right to full participation in all areas of society including education, information, communication, employment, social and political life ;

- To ensure the quality of life, social inclusion, opportunities of employment, mobility, and full participation of all persons with deafblindness by providing the necessary services including :

Quality special education ;

Qualified interpreters ;

Personal assistants and guides ;

Rehabilitation ;

Accessible information ;

Full access to all aspects of the information society ;

Accessible communication in the format and language needed by each individual deafblind person ;

Provision of technical aids ;

Assistive and adapted devices ; and

Accessibility in the entire environment.

- To ensure a legal basis for the necessary provisions and services, as well as ensuring that the development and delivery of services take place in partnership and dialogue with deafblind persons and their organisations.


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C. Resolutions Submitted by the Resolutions Committee

C1. Optional Introduction of Quota Systems In the Labour Market

The 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that in such countries where the organizations of the blind consider it appropriate and useful to introduce special systems to promote the job for their members, legislation or other appropriate legal measures should be introduced to establish a quota system at private enterprises and state institutions. Such measures aim at improving the possibilities for young professionals with higher education to obtain employment in the labour market.

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C2. Cooperation with Professionals in Europe

The 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that the EBU includes on its website a list covering a list of professions and occupations which blind and partially-sighted persons can carry out. This would serve as means to inspire others in their choice of professional career.

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C3. The UN Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Dignity and Rights of Disabled Persons

Background : The United Nations is preparing for a new convention on disability. Such a convention has been worked for among persons with disabilities for more than 20 years. The disability movement has clearly stated that such a document must lean on the basic principles of human rights.

Recommendations : On the basis of this, the 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that all national members of EBU enlighten and educate themselves concerning this and other United Nations conventions,
that national members be urged to lobby their national governments in support of a convention,
and that EBU urge national members to use existing lobbying documents in this work such as the WBU manifesto on the UN Convention.

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C4. The Need for In-depth Information on Legal Matters pertaining to Visually Impaired Persons in EBU countries

Background : The society is rapidly changing. Conditions facing blind and partially-sighted persons within the EBU change with the same speed.

Liberalization of public services and drastic changes in the social benefits systems are developments that come close to the heart of the visually impaired and their organizations.

Restructuring of countries, enlargement of the European Union and a greater migration of people between countries are but some of the important international and cross-border events that take place and affect the everyday life in all areas.

Information technology is pounding its way into the lives of everybody and consequently, accessibility issues become increasingly pertinent.

In many countries, the awareness amongst politicians, in governments and at authority level on the needs and conditions facing visually impaired citizens is far too low if existing at all.

In view of the above, the 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that EBU through the Board takes necessary measures to :

A) Take stock of all available reports regarding legal issues pertaining to visually impaired in member countries, listing the issues and circulating the list to any interested member,

B) Map out key areas where information about legal issues is missing or very scarce (including educational, employment, health, social rights, and accessibility issues),

C) Develop necessary comprehensive questionnaires to obtain information from all national member organizations,

D) Do the utmost to oblige all members to reply to the circulated material and emphasizing that "no information" about an issue is better than no reply,

E) Compile, follow up and analyze replies from the member countries to produce understandable and persuasive reports which can be used in the campaigning and lobbying of any interested or needy organization.

F) The EBU Board should, when considered appropriate, present such information from the final report to European bodies such as the Council of Europe and the European Union. It should also present the reports to the European Disability Forum and use the information gathered as a means of highlighting the specific conditions and demands pertaining to visually impaired persons in Europe. When called upon by national members, the Board may also, in liaison with these members, present reports or parts thereof to the National governments to raise awareness and promote the necessity of improving the rights of the visually impaired in those countries.

A plan for implementation of the above actions should be set up by the board before the end of April 2004. The actions should, if possible, be carried out before the end of 2004.

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C5. The need to constantly modernize and keep the EBU Constitution up-dated

Background : An organization such as EBU is constantly under change. As the surrounding society develops, it is necessary constantly to review the legal framework determining the functioning of the EBU.

It is also necessary to adapt and adjust the EBU Constitution in accordance with the changes that the WBU constitution undergoes.

There is a particular need to look at the status of Board members including their national delegate position and the system on how to ensure a wider disbursement of delegation votes. It also is necessary to formulate a forceful, convincing text dealing with the strive towards gender balance which can be used at General Assemblies and when establishing commissions.

Resolution : In this perspective, the 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that the board of the EBU urgently take the necessary steps for reviewing the present constitution, including the above mentioned subjects, which can be presented at the 8th General Assembly of EBU in 2007.

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C6. Requirements to Exhibitors at Assemblies

Background : Braille is the special and only immediate way that blind persons may receive the information from documents in writing. Likewise, partially-sighted use large print.

At Assemblies, to offer manufacturers and distributors of equipment and devices for the visually impaired an opportunity to make their products known to potential users, they are given the opportunity to exhibit.

Regardless of the fact that the exhibitors mostly encounter visually impaired persons at general assembly events, they rather rarely present product information in relevant accessible formats for immediate reading (braille, large print).

Resolution : For the above reasons, the 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that the Board and arrangers of the 8th General Assembly of the Union to put it as a indispensable demand to exhibitors at the Assembly site, that a substantial portion of brochures and other information material be available in relevant accessible formats (as a minimum, braille and large print).

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C7. Documentation depicting the specifics of Blind and Partially-sighted Persons

Background : Given the importance of the issues regarding the special conditions, needs and characteristics of partially-sighted persons that have been raised during deliberations at this General Assembly,

Resolution : The 7th General Assembly of the EBU convened in Athens from Nov. 25-28 2003, resolves that the incoming EBU Board is commissioned to prepare and adopt a declaration outlining the specific needs and characteristics of the blind and partially sighted respectively as expressed at this General Assembly, and to urge all EBU national members to disseminate and make public this declaration as widely as possible.



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