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Part 1:   Global perspective: Thursday, June 11, 2020, 9 AM EST

Sponsored by the European Network on Independent Living, Validty Foundation, and Disability Rights International

This webinar will be held in English.

Register here for Part 1 (register for (separate registration for Part 2 below)

Part 2:  Americas: Friday, June 12, 2020, 11:30 AM EST

Sponsored by Disability Rights International

This webinar will be held in Spanish.

Register here for Part 2

People with disabilities, international human rights authorities, and activists discuss:

  • Immediate threats to the health and life of children and adults in institutions due to COVID-19;
  • Emergency protections against irreparable harm through international human rights systems;
  • How to protect people with disabilities through community inclusion and emergency deinstitutionalization;
  • The case for an international commission to protect people with disabilities in institutions through inclusion and emergency deinstitutionalization.

Background: Viruses spread like wildfire in institutional settings. The COVID-19 pandemic has created life-threatening dangers for children and adults in congregate living situations – nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, group homes, and orphanages. Elders are particularly at risk, but people with disabilities of all ages are also threatened. At least 30% of deaths in some countries are taking place in residential care facilities. Where there is any response, many governments have simply locked down institutions – making oversight more difficult and creating increased risks of violence, abuse, denial of medical care, and segregation from society.  Instead of providing safety, institutions are places where people are inherently at risk of infection and human rights violations.

How can health and safety be immediately protected for people with disabilities living in institutional settings? What immediate steps can be taken to promote community inclusion and to provide housing and care in communities? How do we implement the recommendation of the UN High Commission on Human Rights to:

  • Discharge and release persons with disabilities from institutions and promptly ensure provision of support in the community?
  • Recover better by adopting and reinforcing deinstitutionalization strategies to close institutions and return people to the community, and strengthening supports and services for persons with disabilities and older persons?

This two-part webinar is a call for immediate action to protect children and adults with disabilities in institutions

Part 1:

June 11, 2020

Safety through inclusion: The case for emergency deinstitutionalization globally

Sponsored by the European Network for Independent Living, Validity Foundation, and Disability Rights International

Moderator: Ines Bulic, Deputy Director, European Network for Independent Living (ENIL) 

Speakers:

Ann Campbell, Co-Executive Director, Validity Foundation

Catalina Devandas, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Dr George Nikolaidis, Chair, Lanzarote Committee, Council of Europe

Danlami Basharu, Chair, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director, Disability Rights International (DRI)


Part 2

June 12, 2020

Safety through inclusion in the Americas

Sponsored by Disability Rights International

Moderator: Priscila Rodriguez, Associate Director, Disability Rights International

Speakers:

Joel Hernandez, President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

Maria Soledad Cisternas, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Disability

Amalia Gamio, Member, UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Commissioner & Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child, IACHR

Silvia Quan, President, Colectivo Vida Independiente, former member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Macarena Sabin Paz, Coordinator of the Mental Health team, CELS, Argentina