News

We are introducing our second EVS volunteer, 28-year-old Lauri Heikkinen from Finland.

Professor Gerard Quinn has shared with ENIL a legal memorandum, entitled “Segregation and segregated facilities as a prima facie form of discrimination: the impermissibility of using the ESIF to invest monies in long term care residential institutions for persons with disabilities”.

On 21 February, ENIL’s Advocacy Officer Frank Sioen and EVS volunteer Miriam Graute attended the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs’ public hearing concerning the Directive on “Work-life balance for parents and carers” launched by the European Commission last April.

The Independent Living Institute (ILI) in Sweden is launching a free online quarterly newsletter, focused on using legal action to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

It has been a busy beginning of the year for the EU Funds for Our Rights Campaign. We are finishing a briefing on the use of EU Funds for Independent Living and preparing two events.

Lithuania ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2010, but many people are still not aware of this commitment, or even the rights of people with disabilities.

On 15 and 16 February, ENIL’s Advocacy Officer Frank Sioen attended the Bulgarian Presidency Conference ‘Investing in people – the way forward’ in Sofia, Bulgaria. Until June, Bulgaria will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU.

In this article we present you of ENIL’s two new EVS volunteers in the Brussels office – Miriam Graute.

ENIL is preparing a submission for the 9th Session of the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing. This group, which meets at the UN in New York, is considering if there is a need for a new UN convention to protect the rights of older persons.