Finnish Disability Activists visit CBM Ireland

CBM Ireland recently hosted a visit of two disability activists from Finland, Mr Kalle Konkkola and Mr Tuomas Turre. Kalle and Tuomas work with an organisation in Finland called Kynnys and are part of an initiative called Disability Diplomacy Initiative where they travel to different countries to learn about the work disability organisations are doing on international cooperation and inclusive development.
 
Finland has a long history of supporting disability inclusive projects in a number of countries in the Global South. Both Kalle and Tuomas brought the good news that Finland has recently ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Finland was the 2nd last EU member state to ratify the CRPD, Ireland is now the last EU member state to ratify.
 
The meeting with CBM Ireland and the Finnish colleagues discussed a number of issues, including how to:

• Work together on disability inclusive development, making sure that persons with disabilities are not left behind in the drive to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Ensure persons with disabilities are included in humanitarian responses and particularly how the recent World Humanitarian Summit was a space to engage with.
• Collaborate more effectively on how to influence governments to ensure that persons with disabilities are included in the political discussions that member states have.

 
We were delighted to host both Kalle and Tuomas, you can read more about their work here