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I must also share some thoughts with you about recent events and deliberations at the United Nations. Among these is that the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution, the first new human rights treaty of the twenty-first century, one that addresses the needs of persons with disabilities. Adopted unanimously, without a formal vote, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees the same rights to disabled people as those enjoyed by the general population, recognizing persons with disabilities as rights holders and active members of society. The convention is an interesting document, which notes that women and girls with disabilities are often at greater risk than men and boys; both within and outside the home they are more frequently victims of violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreat ment or exploitation. The convention also states that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children; the document formally requests participating States to recognize this fact and to undertake actions that will resolve and ameliorate the existing distinctions, noting as well that the majority of persons with disabilities live in poverty and this condition itself should not exist. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be presented for signature to indi vidual nation-states on March 30 of this year. The document has 18 articles and must first be ratified by State Parties. Ratification is the simplest step of the process; to implement the convention and to follow the letter of the law is a greater hurdle and is one that will probably be most efficient and effective at a grass roots level. The UN has many conventions and some of them are ratified by all the representatives of the individual states; what is done in reality, however, is the responsibility of the governments of those states, and especially the local governments. People with disabilities expressed their needs at the briefing that preceded the adoption of the resolution; one observed that the greatest of those needs was the right to be part of a society and not an outsider. They want to be productive and not a burden on society, but this can work only if the society they live in provides the means and ways for them to be productive. Our organization has a tradition of assisting and supporting individuals disabled by disease or by catastrophic accidents. And yet, we as individuals and as members of the UNWLA should become more aware of the problems of the disabled as they apply to daily life. Citizens of our country and citizens of our world, people with disabilities should be assisted not only with their physical handicaps but also assisted in their struggle against societal handicaps that prevent them from being productive members of a society with equal rights under the law in every phase of living. We can all contribute to the spirit of the UN convention by seeing what we often do not see and by taking appropriate action to ensure that people with disabilities who live among us are given access to the ways and means they need and want. REMEMBERING CH0RN08YL Over the last two decades, Our Life has published numerous articles, poems, and reports dealing with the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. For commemorative poetry, see Iryna Zhylenko's "In the Country House" (April 2004) and Natalie Mason Gawdiak's "M. Gorbachev Speaks" (April 1996). For a chilling fictional account of Chornobyl's legacy, see "The Midwife" (April 1998) by Ania Savage. For a sobering look at political machinations and cover-ups before, during, and after the nuclear disaster, see Martha T. Pelensky's account of Iurij Andropov's top secret memo about construction flaws at the Chornobyl nuclear plant (April 2000). Also see Christine Durbak's "The Misinformation and Ethics of Chornobyl" (April 2006), which includes information about politicized medicine since the disaster, and Ulyana Horodyskyj's "Poisoned Nations: The Aftermath of Chornobyl," which focuses on post-Chornobyl ecological changes in and around the Zone as nature attempt to heal itself (September 2006). For a more sanguine perspective, see Chrystia Sonevytsky's "Chornobyl: Seeds of Hope" (April 1997).
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