IDDC

Welcome present from IDDC to the new High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy

Brussels, 2/12/2009 - The newly appointed EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Baroness Ashton, had her first exchange of views with the European Parliament. On that occasion, Lars Bosselmann from IDDC's EU Task Group welcomed her in her new position and surprised her with a symbolic gift: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Braille!

Although the exact scope of her new mandate still needs to be defined, Lady Ashton will have some responsibility for the EU delegations. Consequently, her work will determine how the EU delegations at field level will work on disability. For this reason it was important for IDDC to bring this dimension to her attention right at the beginning of her new mandate.

In her reaction to the hand-over of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, she said that this was among the first gifts she had received for the walls of her new office. She also emphasised that she was involved in disability-related issues in the United Kingdom, namely in the launch of an employment forum for persons with disabilities. Thanks to this previous engagement, she has an interest in including the disability perspective when designing the new structures and actions of the EU’s external policies.

IDDC looks forward to taking her up on her invitation to discuss the human rights of people with disabilities in EU's external relations in her term in 2010.