In a moving speech on 28 August at UN Headquarters in Geneva, Dr Amalia Gamio, Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, highlighted a worrying reality: the lack of implementation of deinstitutionalization guidelines by Member States.
Despite significant efforts by people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, their organizations and various working groups, discrimination and human rights violations in institutions, including psychiatric institutions, persist in the 21st century.
Despite the adoption of these guidelines two years ago, virtually no State has taken concrete steps to implement themDr Amalia Gamio, Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Dr. Amalia Gamio stressed that despite the adoption of these guidelines two years ago, virtually no State has taken concrete steps to implement them. In State party reviews, it has been observed that measures contrary to articles 12, 14, 17 and 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are wrongly justified as protection of persons with disabilities.
This approach ignores the guidelines of Article 14 and General Comment No. 5 on Article 19, which promote non-discrimination, respect for dignity, equality and deinstitutionalization.
To persist in institutionalization is to perpetuate the medical model that ignores gender, age and, above all, dignity. Dr. Amalia Gamio, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Institutionalization perpetuates an outdated medical model that ignores personal dignity and autonomy, increasing the potential for violence and limiting legal options for restorative action. And in fact, as has been proven time and again, the right to live independently and be included in the community involves living outside of residential institutions, a principle that continues to be ignored.
Dr Gamio stressed that all human rights treaties uphold the right to freedom and non-discrimination. Failure to comply with the guidelines not only violates these rights but also hinders the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, she said, affecting poverty eradication, gender equality and inclusive economic growth.
The call is clear: there is no more time to lose. Society cannot continue to allow the rights of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities to be violated. “Every year that passes without the implementation of these guidelines is another year of injustice and discrimination where people continue to be forced, even deceived, into psychiatric institutions with a hope of help that too often turns into betrayal,” said one of the participants at the UN. The international community must act urgently to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are fully realized.
Originally published in The European Times.
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