Sif Holst, CRPD Candidate. Getting the conversation started



Sif Holst, CRPD Candidate. Getting the conversation started

Sif Holst Vice-Chair of Disabled People’s Organisation Denmark (DPOD), Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), and Nordic Council’s Disability Council is running for candidacy to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee. Ms. Holst is for sure a well-qualified woman with disabilities from our region. EDF and our member DPOD call on the disability community to support Sif’s candidature.

Getting the conversation started

Sif during her meeting is the Permanent mission UN

On the 7th of February 2022, Sif Holst spent the day in New York, at the permanent mission of Denmark to the United Nations (UN). During the day she took a series of bilateral meetings with representatives of the permanent missions of several Member States as well as representatives from several organizations. A few themes were present in most conversations: learning from the COVID-pandemic and addressing the consequences and how to engage the Member States and putting the CRPD front and centre in their thinking.

Another topic close to the heart of both Sif Holst and many of the nations she talked to is the further inclusion of civil society in the work of promoting, implementing, and reviewing the CRPD. The experiences and resources of civil society are crucial to the implementation of the CRPD.

In addition, during the meetings, Sif Holst took the opportunity to highlight the importance of intersectionality: “No one is just a person with a disability. We are women, mothers, teachers, bricklayers and so on. And we often forget that persons with disabilities face the same problem as every other woman or man, on top of their issues with disabilities,” Sif Holst explained.

Ms Holst will speak this Friday 18th of February at the Disability Platform, one of the flagship initiatives of the European Commission’s Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Disability Platform replaces the now ended High Level Group on Disability as an expert group where representatives from the European Commission, the EU Member States and civil society discuss disability rights in EU policy making.

#VoteSifCRPD

About Silf Holst

You can find all the information on Sif Holst’s website

Ms. Holst was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She has over 20 years of experience as a disability rights advocate. EDF interviewed her about her candidacy to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Committee.
Read the complete interview below.

Working together to achieve more. Sif Holst, Vice-Chair DPOD nominee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee