19TH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF STATES PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES SIDE EVENT

Citizen Data on Residential Institutionalization for Persons with Disabilities

June 9, 2026
4:45-6:00 pm EDT
CR-12, United Nations Headquarters
Watch live: tinyurl.com/CitizenDataCOSP

This side event will focus on improving data collection methods, including OPD-led citizen data, and transparency on persons with disabilities in institutions globally. The event will include presentations from governments, organizations of persons with disabilities, disability advocates, and UN experts.

This event aims to:

• Share findings from a global survey on the barriers in accessing institutions,
• Propose recommendations to strengthen available data and ensure more, and better data are collected on persons in institutions, and
• Highlight how citizen data, especially citizen data initiatives led by organizations of persons with disabilities can collect vital missing data to complement official statistics, especially around data on persons in institutions.

Speakers:

• Eric Rosenthal, Executive Director, Disability Rights International (Moderator)
• Katja Pehrman, Ambassador for Human Rights of Finland
• Jarrod Clyne, Deputy Executive Director, International Disability Alliance
• Silvia Quan, President, Colectivo Vida independiente de Guatemala
• Dovile Juodkaite, International Cooperation Coordinator at the Lithuanian Disability Forum; member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• Anders Lago, Chair, Riksförbundet FUB
• Yongyi Min, Acting Chief, Development Data and Outreach Branch, UN Statistics Division