On 29 January 2020, the European Commission published its 2020 workplan. ENIL has analysed it and decided to highlight some of the most promising initiatives in the area of social policy. Please read on for an overview of what to expect from the EU’s social front this and next year. Green Pillar? Remember the European…
The European Network on Independent Living is deeply concerned about the continued institutionalisation of disabled people in Hungary, and the Government’s plans to build new institutions. MEOSZ – the National Federation of Associations of Persons with Physical Disabilities, a member of ENIL, set out a list of current problems in the country, with regard to…
On 20th February, our Petition in relation the use of Structural Funds in Bulgaria was discussed by the Petitions (PETI) Committee in the European Parliament. The petition was submitted in 2018 by our member, the Centre for Independent Living (CIL) Sofia in Bulgaria, and has been supported by ENIL, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and the…
Traditionally, Independent Living, Personal Assistance or even De-institutionalisation were not among the priorities of the governments and the “official” disability movement in Greece. Last years, these issues started to be slowly addressed, because of the pressure by Greek and international disabled Independent Living (IL) activists, as well as because of the UN Convention on the…
It is morning in the special residential home ‘Michel Chapuis’ near Lyon, brand new and run by the association OVE; it was opened only a year ago (9 years after France ratified the UN CRPD). Tom (modified name) is a young autistic man who was placed in this institution without being asked what he actually…
Time to celebrate or to take to the streets? 20 years since the closure of Sweden’s larger institutions for disabled people. It has been 20 years since Sweden’s deadline for the closure of country’s larger institutions, on January 1, 2000. People who have spent a short time or up to a whole lifetime, sometimes 70…
On 16th January, the European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care (EEG) marked 10 years of its work by organising a conference on deinstitutionalisation, supported by the European Commission. ENIL (with the European Coalition for Community Living) has been a member of the EEG since the very beginning, when it was…
Last week, Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli announced that a new Disability Equality Strategy will be put in place, replacing the one that expires in 2020. The work to shape the new strategy has begun and today, the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL Committee) debated a draft resolution on the EU disability…
As we schedule our ‘out of office’ replies at the European Network on Independent Living and start counting down to the end of yet another year, I would like to briefly reflect on 2019 and what it meant for us. Firstly, we will remember this year by turning 30 and taking the first steps into…
On 2 December, the European Network on Independent Living, Disability Rights International (DRI) and the Validity Foundation organised an event in the European Parliament entitled ‘Group Homes – A Defensible Investment?’. The event was hosted by MEP Julie Ward (Socialists & Democrats) and took place in the framework of the European Disability and Development Week,…
In Brussels, 10 December 2019 – To mark the International Human Rights Day, the European Network on Independent Living – ENIL is launching its second Myth Buster, this time on “EU Funds and Independent Living”. Illustrated by our European Solidarity Corps volunteer, Hatiye Garip, and published as part of the “EU Funds for Our Rights”…
On Monday, the 2nd December, ENIL, Disability Rights International and the Validity Foundation are holding a roundtable on investments into group homes for children and adults with disabilities in Europe. The roundtable, hosted by Julie Ward MEP, is aimed primarily at Members of the European Parliament, who will have a chance to learn about research…
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…
