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European people with disabilities have the same rights as everybody else.
In Belgium, France and Romania their rights are not always respected. The European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (in short EASPD) is an organisation for people with disabilities. EASPD asked the European Union to help the people with disabilities |
Following recent media reports on care-service infringements on the rights of people with disabilities in Belgium, France and Romania, the European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD) is appealing to European Union (EU) institutions to take immediate action in order to address the current situation.
French newspaper Liberation published a detailed report on the stories of over 6000 French persons with disabilities who have been forced into institutionalized care in Belgium. As no specialized assistance was available in France, families were obliged to commit their loved ones to centres far away from their homes. To make matter worse, images and accounts from Liberation portray the miserable state of the Belgian institutions in questions, where residents were being subjected to conditions far below adequate standards of living.
Other chilling accounts of serious violation of the rights of people with disabilities come from Romania, as reported by both Aljazeera and the Centre for Legal Resources (CLR). As exposed in a study by CLR, and reported by Inclusion Europe in a previous article, extensive human rights infringements were observed in Romania, including torture, refusal of care and inhuman or degrading treatment. These spanned from insalubrious accommodation and facilities to physical and verbal violence, forceful prolonged restraint, and deprival of human contact, medical assistance, food or adequate living conditions (such as appropriate clothing, beds, access to warm water).
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides that people with disabilities have the right to live in the community, and that authorities should take the necessary measures to create an inclusive living environment for them. Therefore, EASPD appeals to EU institutions to take steps towards making this a reality by focusing on the following three issues:
- Convening a European Parliament Public Hearing on this problem, requesting the presence of public authorities, service providers, NGOs, civil society and all other relevant stakeholders
- Diverting all structural funds currently channelled to institutions towards community-based programs in all 28 Member States
- Safeguarding that the European Disability Strategy is not overlooked in the upcoming European Semester
EASPD, a non-profit NGO in the disability sector, promotes the views of over 10, 000 social services and their umbrella associations. The main objective of EASPD is to fight for equal opportunities for people with disabilities through effective and high-quality service systems.
