The Disability High Level Group held its second meeting on 23rd October in Brussels, bringing together representatives of the social welfare Ministries from the Member States, EU-level NGOs and the staff of the Disability Unit at DG Employment (at the European Commission). On the agenda was the CRPD implementation, the European Disability Strategy, the UN…
ENIL’s regional members’ meeting took place in Warsaw on 9 and 10 September. The meeting was organized in cooperation with our Polish member – the Independent Living Institute from Warsaw. The meeting provided an opportunity for our members (around 35 participants), from Belgium, Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, and Sweden, to…
FVID – the Independent Living Forum in Spain has expressed concern about the process of deinstitutionalization in Spain, following a successful submission FEVI – the Independent Living Federation – sent to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities earlier this year and the Committee’s recommendations to Spain on Article 19 of the UN…
“No Limits” explores the rise of the disabled people’s movement in the UK and to some extent beyond. At the core have been the struggles waged by disabled people to exercise control over every aspect of life. Central to the story has been the journey away from segregated residential institutions to a comprehensive social liberation…
The Government of the Republic of Armenia has made a decision to donate land areas in Ararat province to the Armenian Caritas (a charity organization), where the organization plans to build a “Children’s City”. The project involves the construction of a “city”, with programmes aimed at children’s care, health, upbringing and education. Around 600 children…
On the 5th June, the European Commission published the Country Specific Recommendations (CSRs), tailor-made policy advice to Member States on how to improve the impact of policies and better invest resources. In the last few years, the European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care (EEG), of which ENIL is a member,…
ENIL has joined key disability rights networks and child rights groups – Disability Rights International (DRI), International Disability Alliance (IDA), European Disability Forum (EDF), Child Rights International Network (CRIN), International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IFSBH), Autism Europe, Inclusion International, Inclusion Europe, Validity and TASH – in a statement calling on the UN General…
On 11th – 13th June, Government and civil society representatives from all over the world met at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the 12th Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The overarching theme of the 12th session was ”Ensuring inclusion of persons with…
ENIL’s annual EU Funds for Our Rights Campaign seminar took place on 18 and 19 June in Brussels. The seminar was the follow up of our previous events organised in 2017 and 2018. Its objective was to highlight the key achievements of the Campaign during Year 1 and 2, to continue the discussion on the…
ENIL’s member in Hungary, the National Federation of Associations of People with a Physical Disability (MEOSZ) published a statement earlier this week rejecting their country’s 2019 – 2036 Deinstitutionalisation strategy and calling on the Government to adopt a new strategy that will include measures to facilitate access to the right to live independently and to…
Earlier in May, we had a chance to take part in this year’s Nordic Network on Disability Research (NNDR) Conference, which was titled ‘Inclusion and Exclusion in the Welfare Society’, and took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference brought together lecturers and researchers in disability studies from across the globe, though most were from the…
On 14 May, the Disability High Level Group (DHLG) came together in Brussels for their annual meeting. DHLG is composed of representatives of the Member States (typically from ministries dealing with social affairs) and is also attended by organisations of and for people with disabilities. ENIL was represented by our President Kapka Panayotova, and Nadia…
Independent living and accessibility are rights of persons with disabilities every society has to provide, and the state has to enable and support them. This is the message that was sent from the event on the occasion of the European Independent Living Day and the Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which was held in Podgorica on…
The month of May is busy with several annual EU level meetings, among them the Work Forum on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Annual Convention on Inclusive Growth. ENIL attended both meetings with several representatives. The 2019 Work Forum on the CRPD brought together…
On 11-12 April, ENIL was invited to Moscow, Russia, by the Delegation of the European Union to Russia to participate in the international conference “Rights and Well-Being of People with Disabilities in Russia and the EU” (find here the programme), organized as part of the EU-funded project “Public diplomacy. EU and Russia“. The main topics…
On 14 January, ENIL, the European Disability Forum, the Validity Foundation and Disability Rights International sent a letter to the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and labour Mobility Marianne Thyssen, asking her to ensure that, in the negotiations on the European Social Fund + (ESF+) Regulations, the wording that that ESF+ should facilitate the…
On 25 April, the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA), in partnership with Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and the TUC Disabled Workers Committee, launched ROFA’s Independent Living strategy, titled ‘Independent Living for the Future – Our vision for a national independent living support system’. The launch took place in the Parliament and was hosted by…
On 13 March, the Association for Self-Advocacy from Zagreb, Croatia and ENIL co-organised a roundtable on ‘The Process of Deinstitutionalisation in Croatia and the European Pillar of Social Rights’. The roundtable was supported by the Office of the European Parliament in Croatia and brought together all the key stakeholders involved in the process of DI…
On 20 September, the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL), the Centre for Independent Living Sofia (CIL Sofia), the Validity Foundation and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) submitted a petition to the Petitions Committee (PETI Committee) at the European Parliament. The petition concerns the planned use of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIFs) for…
In view of the upcoming report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Spain, ENIL and FEVI (Federación Vida Independiente) prepared a submission on Article 19 CRPD – the right to live independently and to be included in the community. The Committee on the Rights of…
