WFD Meetings
18-20 July, 2003
| The World Federation of the Deaf meets every four years for a General Assembly and a Congress. The last meetings were in Brisbane, Australia in 1999. The first two days, the General Assembly, are only for delegates from member countries of the WFD, although observers are allowed. This year there were 64 countries represented, a rather remarkable number. Colin Allen, the advisor for Cambodia's Deaf Development Program and also for Albania's program, became the delegate for Albania when their official representatives could not get visas to arrive in time for the assembly. |
 At the general assembly meetings, one of the main tasks was to approve a charter for the future of WFD. The charter looks ahead to 2020 and states the situation in the deaf world that is hoped for at that time. Here the delegates cast a vote, using green or red cards, for one section of the charter. |
 The deaf community is very small and very homogeneous. Deaf people often go to the same schools, the same doctors, the same deaf clubs, and play on the same sports teams, so they know each other well. A congress like this one in Montréal is a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones from all over the world. |
 Three countries--Hungary, South Africa, and Spain--made bids to host the next WFD congress in 2007. Here a group of deaf dancers perform at the South Africa booth to drum up support for their bid. It was not enough, however. Spain won the bid by a margin of two or three votes. |
 Liisa Kauppinen is the out-going president of WFD. She has served twenty years in various administrative posts for the organization. She is from Finland, and replacing her is Markku Jokinen who is also from Finland. That is good news for our Deaf Development Program because it will keep Cambodia and the developing countries in the eye of the leadership of the WFD. |
 After the general assembly, the congress began on Sunday, 20 July. The congress offers commissions, special interest groups, presentations of various kinds, and many discussions on a wide range of topics of interest to the deaf community. Here the delegates take a long escalator to the fifth floor for the official opening session of the 16th World Congress of the WFD. |