The main finding of this report is that Bulgaria has replaced a system of large, old orphanages with newer, smaller buildings that are still operating as institutions. While the new facilities are officially referred to as “family-like” residences or “small group homes,” DRI’s investigation finds that they are neither small nor are they family homes.

This report is submitted to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter “The Committee” or “CRPD Committee”) for the working group of the pre-session 12, which will be held from September 23 to 27, 2019, to determine the list of issues for the CRPD Committee’s evaluation of Mexico.

All children have the right to live and grow up with a family. The preamble of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognizes that for their “full and harmonious development”, all children “should grow up in a family environment.”

Throughout the world, children with disabilities are separated from families due to stigma, discrimination, and economic marginalization. Children with disabilities are more at risk of being placed in institutions than other children, and they are often left out of deinstitutionalization and community programs.

The product of a two-year investigation by Disability Rights International (DRI) into institutions and orphanages across the country. DRI visited twenty-one children’s institutions – both public and private – in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi and rural and coastal communities. There were approximately 3,400 children in the facilities investigated by DRI.

This report documents the human rights violations, exploitation, and trafficking of children with and without disabilities in Guatemala. Guatemala has failed to create the protections and support needed to help children live with a family – especially children with disabilities. DRI is also concerned that private charities and international donors are supporting orphanages and perpetuating discrimination. International support – including “voluntourism” – leaves children open to segregation, abuse, and further exploitation by traffickers.

Este informe documenta violaciones a derechos humanos, explotación y trata de niñas, niños y adolescentes con y sin discapacidad en instituciones Guatemala. Guatemala no ha creado las protecciones y el apoyo necesarios para evitar que niñas, niños y adolescentes, especialmente aquellos con discapacidad y viviendo en condiciones de pobreza, terminen en instituciones. A Disability Rights International (DRI) le preocupa que organizaciones privadas y donantes internacionales, en lugar de apoyar a las familias, están apoyando instituciones. El apoyo internacional, incluyendo el "volunturismo,” a instituciones expone a las niñas, niños y adolescentes a segregación, abuso, explotación y trata.

Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017); On the right of people with disabilities to live independently.

Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017)

Entre el 7 y 11 de marzo de 2017, investigadores de Disability Rights International (DRI) viajaron a Guatemala. Durante este viaje visitamos a los sobrevivientes del Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción (Hogar Seguro), una institución pública en Guatemala que albergaba a más de 700 niños y en la cual se produjo el incendio el pasado 8 de marzo que ha cobrado la vida de más de 30 niñas (el número ha seguido aumentando en los últimos días).