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The European Network on Independent Living (for short ENIL) and the European Coalition for Community Living (for short ECCL) had an event. At the event, they talked about their new report. The report was about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (for short UN CRPD). The UN CRPD says all people with disabilities should be supported to live independently. The report said that too many people with disabilities are kept in institutions. People with disabilities actually have a right to live in the community. |
The European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) and the European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL) have launched their shadow report assessing the actions taken by Member States to implement Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).
Article 19 of the UN CRPD calls for state parties to recognise the equal right of people with disabilities to live in the community, highlighting that each person with a disability also has an equal right to access to community and residential services. It also states that governments must provide the services and support necessary to facilitate community living.
The report was launched at an event organised in cooperation with the Zero Project of ESSL Foundation and the European Foundation Centre and took place on 14 November. The publications focuses on four main topics: EU’s obligations under the CRPD, the current situation of people with disabilities living in the EU, using structural funds to promote independent living and promoting personal assistance.
The launch featured open discussion from a wide array of stakeholders from European institutions and organisations working in the disability field. Among the speakers at the event were Maria Luisa Cabral, the Head of Unit D3 on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the European Commission and Raluca Bunea of the Open Society Mental Health Initiative.
Cabral made an interesting presentation outlining the response of the European Commission to the report, which highlighted, among many other things, that austerity measures in the European Union (EU) had led to increased levels of institutionalisation in many EU member states.
The discussion also highlighted a number of concerning cases of the misuse of EU structural funds for the refurbishment and, in some examples even constructions of institutions.
The launch event was funded through an Open Society Mental Health Institute grant.
To read the report, please click here.
