Ghana's Fefoame Gets CRPD Leadership Mandate

Ghana’s Fefoame Gets CRPD Leadership Mandate

By Chinomso Momoh
March 8, 2023

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has elected Ghana’s Gertrude Fefoame as its new chair.

Development Diaries reports that the Sightsavers Global Advocacy Manager for Social Inclusion was elected to the position during the CRPD’s 28th session held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The CRPD is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the convention by state parties. It comprises 12 independent experts.

‘I am humbled and honored to have been elected as the Chair of the UNCRPD on March 6th, 2023, in Geneva. It is with great pride that I accept this position as the first African woman to hold this office’, she tweeted.

I am humbled and honored to have been elected as the Chair of the UNCRPD on March 6th, 2023, in Geneva. It is with great pride that I accept this position as the first African woman to hold this office. pic.twitter.com/s9BdQ6FqOp

— Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame (@gofefoame) March 7, 2023

Sightsavers Deputy CEO, Dom Haslam, described Fefoame’s election as a result of her commitment and dedication to the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly women and girls.

‘Getty is a true force for the realisation of the convention and I have no doubt will lead the work of the committee with the same energy and passion that she shows every day in her work for Sightsavers’, he said.

Fefoame, who is a lifelong disability rights advocate and champion of inclusive education, particularly for girls with disabilities, has been a member of the committee since 2018.

She was first nominated for the role by the government of Ghana, her home country. Fefoame originally joined the CRPD following the Sightsavers Equal UN campaign, which has called for gender equality on UN committees since 2016.

In her new role as chair of the CRPD, Fefoame will lead the committee in its mission to promote, protect, and monitor the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities around the world.

This includes overseeing the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by over 180 countries.

According to a report by GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion, women have held just 12 percent of the top jobs at 33 of the biggest multilateral institutions since 1945. It also noted that more than a third of those bodies, including all four large development banks, have never been led by a woman.