Last week, the 11th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China has ratified a bill submitted by the Central Government for China’s accession to the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). China has actively advocated and supported to the UN in its efforts in formulating the CRPD Convention.

A preparatory workshop on the IPC Observers’ Programme for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games was concluded successfully in Beijing, China on 26 June. Representatives from the Organizing Committees of all future Paralympic Games (Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014), all Candidate Cities for the Paralympic Games of 2016 (Chicago, Madrid, Rio and Tokyo) and Guangzhou Asian Para-Games 2010 took part in the workshop.

Statement Regarding Beijing 2008 Paralympic Torch Relay Modifications

The IPC Sports Science Committee (SSC) met in Vancouver with local scientific committee members last week, furthering the plans for the scientific programme of the VISTA 2009 Conference. The conference will take place in the city from 22 to 26 March 2009 and will be under the theme of “Paralympic Legacy and Innovation”.

Starting on 21 June, highlights of the ATHENS 2004 Paralympic Games will be available on ParalympicSport.TV.

More than 820,000 tickets for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games will go on sale tomorrow.

The London 2012 Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has formally invited schools, colleges and other learning institutions across the across the UK, to lead the UK celebrations around the Paralympic Handover on 17 September 2008, the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Yesterday, the Regional Summit on Women Leadership in Paralympic Sport was officially opened in Caracas, Venezuela, as part of a series of meetings.

The Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) recently announced that the return of the Asian Youth Para Games would take place next year from 8 to 15 September 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

Six months ago, Miga, Quatchi and Sumi were introduced as the official mascots of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The three friends have since travelled the country, met with celebrities, taken hundreds of photos and are now ready to expand their interactive website.

From 28 to 30 April, the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Azerbaijan launched the Organizational Development Initiative (ODI) at the initial ODI planning workshop.

From 2 to 6 June, the annual SportAccord Conference was held in Athens, Greece.

An agreement was recently signed between WGBH and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to produce ‘Paralympics 2008’, the Official Film of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Today, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board accepted Chicago (USA), Madrid (Spain), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Tokyo (Japan)* as Candidate Cities to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016. The cities were accepted from a total of seven Applicant Cities, which also included Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar) and Prague (Czech Republic)*.

Today, Caja Madrid released a special VISA credit card supporting the Paralympic Movement in Spain and in particular the current preparation of athletes that will participate in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

The Finnish Paralympic Committee hosted the fourth National Paralympic Day on 21 May in the city centre of Helsinki.

The Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) will undergo reconstruction in order to make the airport more accessible to athletes, teams and spectators arriving in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in September.

Bonn, Germany - Today marks the 100-day countdown to the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.