Fifth and Final Regional Symposium on Leprosy and Human RightsAnnouncement of Follow-Up Recommendations to UN Resolution

Time: June 18, 2015 (Thursday) 9:00 – 18:00
Location: Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Ivan Pictet Auditorium (Geneva, Switzerland)

The Nippon Foundation organized the Fifth Symposium on Leprosy and Human Rights, which was held as outlined below.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2010 calling for the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members. Since then, the Nippon Foundation has organized five regional symposia around the world with the aim of implementing a set of guidelines for specific actions to be pursued by countries to eliminate discriminatory laws and structures. The previous symposia were held in Brazil (for the Americas) and India (for Asia) in 2012, Ethiopia (for Africa) in 2013, and Morocco (for the Middle East) in 2014, and this fifth symposium was held in Switzerland (for Europe) in 2015. The final symposium built on the discussions of the previous symposia to release a report that contains follow-up proposals to the UN resolution and an action plan.

Approximately 100 people from 13 countries, including representatives of former leprosy patients, human rights specialists, persons involved in public health, and representatives of NGOs, international organizations, and governments, attended the event, which was held as follows:

Time June 18, 2015 (Thursday) 9:00 – 18:00
Location Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Ivan Pictet Auditorium (Geneva, Switzerland)
Organizer The Nippon Foundation
Program Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation and WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination, delivered a keynote address, and Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, addressed the symposium via video message.
The full program is available: “Symposium on Leprosy and Human Rights” (PDF / 295KB)
Participating countries Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, India, Indonesia, China, Jordan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Brazil, Colombia, Japan (13 total)
Participants Representatives of former leprosy patients, human rights specialists, senior public health officials, representatives of NGOs and international institutions

Contact

Public Relations Section, Communications Department
The Nippon Foundation

E-mail
cc@ps.nippon-foundation.or.jp