Annual Report 2010-2011 Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2.19 The Commission has been advocating for the harmonization of disability laws in the country ever since the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted. Accordingly, it gave its recommendations to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India suggesting recasting of the legislation entitled Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The Commission also gave its comments on the working draft pertaining to the said legislation that was prepared by the drafting Committee constituted by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. 2.20 The Commission also forwarded its recommendations to the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development as well as to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, with regard to “The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010” as it was not found to be friendly to the print disabled persons. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2.21 The Commission advocated to the Government of India for ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is of the view that the Optional Protocol will reinforce the accountability mechanism and serve as an additional tool for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. National Conference on Silicosis 2.22 A one-day National Conference on Silicosis was organized by the NHRC at New Delhi on 1 March 2011. The main objective of the Conference was to assess the measures taken by all the States/Union Territories across the country to deal with the problem of silicosis, a disease of lungs caused by inhalation of dust containing crystalline silica. National Seminar on Protecting Human Rights of Older Persons 2.23 The NHRC organized a National Seminar on ‘Protecting Human Rights of Older Persons’ in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on 20 January 2011 in collaboration with a Delhi based NGO, named ANUGRAHA. The Seminar was also supported by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission Limited. Smt. Margaret Alva, Governor of Uttarakhand was the Chief Guest of the National Seminar. Shri P.C. Sharma, Member, NHRC presided over the National Seminar. Reproductive Rights and NHRIs 2.24 At the 13th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Forum (APF), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2008, the APF Forum Councillors had considered and formally approved a proposal to undertake joint activities with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in the area of reproductive rights. The principal activity agreed between the APF and UNFPA related to the development of a publication on integrating reproductive rights into the work of APF member institutions. A detailed questionnaire devised for this project was distributed to all the APF member institutions including NHRC-India during 2010-2011 which was completed.  NHRC