
Our Reports & Publications


Residential Care Controversy: The Promise of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to Protect All Children
By Eric Rosenthal, as published in The International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, November 2021, Vol. 1, No. 1 (November 2021), pp. 95-117
English PDF
English Word document .docx

Still at Risk
Death and Disappearance of Survivors of the fire at Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción (2021)
English PDF
English accessible text .docx
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text .docx
last updated 10/13/2021

Call to action to protect the right to family life & prevent institutionalization for all children
English Call to Action PDF
English Call to Action .docx
Spanish – Llamado a la accion PDF
Spanish – Llamado a la accion .docx
Easy to Read PDF
Chinese PDF
Webinar recording: Group homes for children with disabilities? Disability rights perspectives symposium
Webinar recording: A Call to Action: Protect the right to family life & prevent institutionalization for all children
Webinar recording: A Global Controversy: International Human Rights Implications of Replacing Orphanages with Small Group Homes

Serbia’s Forgotten Children
English PDF
English Word document (.docx)
Serbian PDF
Serbian Word document (.docx)
Serbian Ministers Urged to Resign Over DRI Report

Leading international child welfare experts and clinicians statement supporting the right to family life for all children
Submitted to UN Committee on the Rights of Child Day of General Discussion on Alternative Care September 2021

Joint contribution of disability rights organisations to the 2021 EU-Ukraine Human Rights Dialogue

Crimes Against Humanity: Decades of Violence and Abuse in Mexican Institutions for Children and Adults with Disabilities
English PDF (accessible version)
Spanish PDF (accessible version)
Executive Summary – English PDF
Executive Summary – English Word document
Executive Summary – Spanish PDF
Executive Summary – Spanish Word document
last updated December 7, 2020

Protecting Psychiatric Patients in Guatemala from COVID-19
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text (.docx)
updated 5/8/2020

Urgent Appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Disability
English PDF
English accessible text (.docx)
updated 5/8/2020

Action Steps to Protect Children and Adults with Disabilities During COVID-19 Pandemic
English PDF
English accessible text (.docx)
updated 4/20/2020

A Dead End for Children – Bulgaria’s Group Homes
English PDF
English accessible text (.doc)
Bulgarian PDF
Bulgarian accessible text (.doc)
Bulgarian executive summary and recommendations (PDF)
Bulgarian executive summary and recommendations (.doc)
DRI Video in English with open captions (3:48)
last updated 11/26/2019
BBC Hidden Children of Bulgaria
Al Jazeera - Europe's Recurring Shame: From Bulgaria to Brussels

Joint Shadow Report to the UN CRPD Committee
Alternative report by Mexican civil society organizations submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2019)
Colectivo Chuhcan A.C., Disability Rights International, EQUIS Justice for Women A.C., Information Group on Elected Reproduction (GIRE), Transversal, Action on the Rights of People with Disabilities A.C., and the Mexico Children’s Rights Network (REDIM)
English PDF
English accessible text (.docx)
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text (.docx)
En el país, los discapacitados son detenidos en instituciones altamente peligrosas, según ONG

Recommendations to the UN General Assembly on Behalf of Children Without Parental Care
Autism-Europe, Child Rights International Network, Disability Rights International, European Disability Forum, European Network on Independent Living, Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, International Disability Alliance, International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, TASH, and Validity Foundation
English PDF
English accessible text (.doc)

At the Mexico-US border and segregated from society
Children and adults with disabilities subject to arbitrary detention, abuse and early death inside Mexican orphanages and institutions (2019)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text
Updated May 30, 2019

Position paper: The right to live and grow up in a family for all children
December 2018
English PDF
English accessible text .doc
last updated March 27, 2019
ENIL and DRI - webinar on right to family

Infanticide and Abuse
Killing and Confinement of Children with Disabilities in Kenya (2018)
English PDF
English accessible text (.doc)
last updated April 11, 2019
BBC News - Infanticide in Kenya: 'I was told to kill my disabled baby'
The Guardian - Stigma Pushes Disabled Children Into 'Dangerous' Kenyan Orphanages

Still in Harm’s Way
International voluntourism, segregation and abuse of children in Guatemala (2018)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text
Thomson Reuters Foundation - Guatemala's orphanage children caged, abused - report

Draft General Comment No. 5
Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017)
English PDF
English accessible text (.doc)

International Aid Funds Institutionalization in Guatemala
Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017)
English PDF
English accessible text

After the Fire
Survivors of Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción at risk (2017)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text
The Economist - Deaths foretold: A tragedy at a children’s home in Guatemala
New York Times - Children Who Survived Fire in Guatemala Are Still Not Safe, Report Says

Perspectives on Human Rights
A Mandate to End Placement of Children in Institutions and Orphanages: The duty of governments and donors to prevent segregation and torture (2017)
English PDF
English accessible version (.doc)

No Justice
Torture, Trafficking and Segregation in Mexico (2015)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text
Last updated 7/20/2016
Mexico City Bans Cages, Restraints at Facilities for People with Disabilities - ABC News

No Way Home
The Exploitation and Abuse of Children in Ukraine’s Orphanages (2015)
English PDF
English accessible text (.doc)
Ukrainian Executive Summary (.doc)
last updated 9/6/2017
Voice of America covers DRI's findings of segregation, abuse and trafficking in Ukraine
Ukraine's disabled orphans face abuse, new report shows - Vatican Radio

Twice Violated
Abuse and Denial of Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women with Psychosocial Disabilities in Mexico (2015)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Forced Sterilization in Mexico - Al Jazeera
Mexican women with mental health problems pressured into sterilisation - The Guardian

International Collaboration for Inclusion: A Study Funded by the US Department of State
Lessons from Ukraine (2014)

Left Behind
The Exclusion of Children and Adults from Reform and Rights Protection in the Republic of Georgia (2013)
English PDF
English accessible text version
Georgian language executive summary PDF
Georgian language executive summary accessible text version
Georgia's disabled "locked in a box" - BBC News

The Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities in the new Mexican Criminal Justice System
(2013)
English PDF
Spanish PDF

Guatemala: Precautionary Measures Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(2012)
English PDF
English accessible text
Spanish PDF
Spanish accessible text
Guatemala hospital staff accused of abuse - Al Jazeera
Commission Calls for Guatemala to Protect Patients

Abandoned and Disappeared
Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities (2010)
English PDF
Spanish PDF
English accessible text
Spanish accessible text
The Abandoned Ones: "Hell" at a Mexican Institution - ABC News
Abuses Found at Mexican Institutions for Disabled - New York Times

Torture Not Treatment
Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (2010)
English PDF
English accessible text version
Shock tactics: treatment or torture? - The Guardian
Shock Therapy at Massachusetts School - ABC Nightline

The Rights of Children with Disabilities in Vietnam
Bringing Vietnam’s Laws into Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2009)
English PDF
English accessible text version

Torment Not Treatment
Serbia’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities (2007)
English PDF
Accessible text version
Serbia's horrific institutions a relic of the past

Ruined Lives
Segregation from Society in Argentina’s Psychiatric Asylums (2007)
English PDF
Spanish PDF
Accessible text version

Hidden Suffering
Romania’s Segregation and Abuse of Infants and Children with Disabilities (2006)

Behind Closed Doors
Human Rights Abuses in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey (2005)
English PDF
English accessible text

Human Rights and Mental Health in Peru
(2004)

Foreign Policy and Disability
(2003)

Not on the Agenda
Human Rights of People with Mental Disabilities in Kosovo (2002)
English PDF
Serbian PDF
Albanian PDF

Human Rights and Mental Health, Mexico
Mexico (2000)

PACE
A Recovery Guide (1999)
English PDF
Spanish PDF
Russian PDF
Russian accessible text version
Albanian PDF
Icelandic PDF
Japanese PDF
Hebrew (summary) PDF

Children in Russia’s Institutions: Human Rights and Opportunities for Reform
Findings and Recommendations of a UNICEF Sponsored Fact-Finding Mission to the Russian Federation (1999)

Human Rights and Mental Health, Hungary
(1997)

Human Rights and Mental Health in Uruguay
(1995)