In January 2021, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities announced a set of online regional consultations on deinstitutionalisation. Based on the contributions received, the Committee will prepare the first draft Guidelines on Deinstitutionalisation, including in emergency situations. The first consultation, for countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe (non-EU countries) took place on Thursday, 25 February.
When is the consultation for countries in the European Union and the rest of Europe? This consultation will take place online, on Tuesday 25 May 2021, at 10 a.m. Central European Time (i.e. Brussels time).
Which countries will be included? Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Who can take part? Persons with disabilities AND their representative organisations from the countries listed above. Other interested organisations or entities may attend as observers.
How can you take part? To take part, you need to register and submit a short written statement in ENGLISH or FRENCH by 12 May 2021. If you would like to write the statement in another language, you can use an automatic free translation service, such as DeepL.com or Google translate to translate it from your language into English and send to the Committee.
Is it possible to take part in any other way? Yes. If individuals or organisations are not able to join the online consultation, they can send a written statement, a video message or a voice recording to the Committee.
Where can you find more information? The Committee prepared an Informative note for the EU consultation, which explains how to write the statement, where to send the audio or a video recording, and where to register. You can find it here. The general Informative note is also available in Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese from here.
What is ENIL’s role? ENIL is helping the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities disseminate this call and make sure that our members in Europe and other interested DPOs contribute to the consultation. If you have any questions, please write to ines.bulic@enil.eu.