Quad Rugby? Huge success! Thanks to Nerina and Riley for organizing the event, and to Nate for his awesome video.

In other news:

• Tirza, Ramiz, and Kim give presentations on victim assistance.
• Ken Rutherford speaks with the U.S. delegation (who are reviewing, not opposing the treaty)
• Shireen makes some royal connections in Middle East lobbying.

Read Tirza’s full update after the jump.

Updates from the last few days in Cartagena:

We must start of course with the QuadRugby game, which was a big

success and a very enjoyable evening. People described it as

experiencing through the heart what we’ve been talking about for

years, and that instead of bland diplomatic conferences we should get

people together in such a manner. The attendance was good; Nerina

tirelessly made sure the speakers are top-notch — the President of

the Summit (Norway), Austria’s delegate, our friend-delegate from

Croatia, and Ken. Prince Mired threw the opening ball. The players

were fierce and the competition, well, the USA easily beat the

Colombians but the Colombians gave a spirited fight back. At the end,

the professional players and some key people from the crowd —

Colombia’s Vice President, Prince Mired, Ken, Firoz (ICBL), Thomas

Nash (CMC), got together for a 10 minute game, all in wheelchair.

We received good responses from the audience.

Nate’s YouTube trailer was featured in the ICBL and in the delegate’s

plenary, and that probably brought some of the crowd. Nate filmed all

of the event and we look forward to seeing the result.

Thanks to Riley and Nerina for all the organizing.

A few more updates:

- We have been active participants at the victim assistance “parallel

program” which takes place parallel to the plenary. I presented there

on laws and policies on the first day, distributing our Connecting the

Dots and CRPD booklets, and demonstrating the alignment of victims

assistance with the CRPD using those booklets and reading through them

together with the participants. Kim Hoa made an intervention on

monitoring and evaluation. Ramiz also actively participated together

with his country delegate.

- Ken spoke at a side event on US policy on joining the treaty. The

discussion with the US delegation was open, with some real exchange

even if positions haven’t yet shifted (with the US not opposing the

joining of the treaty but saying a review is underway).

- Shireen has been very active with Middle East lobbying — connecting

between the CMC and what turned out to be an important meeting with

Prince Mired. Jordan is vacillating with the signing of the Cluster

Munitions treaty and this meeting gave the CMC a way in with the

Prince and perhaps the King. Shireen has also been involved in helping

with connecting the ICBL with Middle East media (Al-Jazirah).

- Today we look forward to a declaration by survivors which will be

given at the plenary. Ken will be participating in this.

Ahmed, Zhanna and Dhyan have joined us today and all is well.

Tirza

December 03, 2009, 11:48am   Comments