An officer of the Katipunan ng Maykapansanan sa Pilipinas Inc. (Akap-Pinoy) has been nominated to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) for 2011 to 2014.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Lauro D. Purcil Jr., director of the Education, Training & Research Bureau of Akap-Pinoy, was selected as the Philippine candidate to the UN CRPD in view of his recognized competence and expertise on the field covered by the Convention.

Purcil holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines.

He has lectured in various fora in the country and abroad. He was the Facilitator of the National Human Rights Forum on the CRPD of the Presidential Human Rights Committee in 2010.

In 2006, Purcil was the PWD Adviser to the Philippine Delegation to the United Nations International Convention on the Rights and Dignity of PWDs held at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The CRPD is a monitoring mechanism composed of human rights experts whose primary responsibility is to review a State Party’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The membership to the CRPD initially consisted of 12 independent human rights experts, with six elected for two-year terms, and the other six elected for four-year terms.

In compliance with the provisions of the Convention, the 87 States-Parties will elect six more members this year to constitute a total of 18 members.