Disability Rights International

None declared

None declared

Jan 2019 - Dec 2019

350,000€

The budget estimate was calculated from $US to EUR according to the exchange rate by xe.com
Full financial report can be submitted to you by request

none

N/A

Currently implementing a project: Protecting Children Against Violence and Segregation in Bulgaria, Serbia and throughout the world, through which DRI aims to influence donors and governments that investments must be made in compliance with human rights standards that forbid any support for further segregation and discrimination of children and adults with disabilities. Children with disabilities suffer multiple discrimination based both on their age and disability and are most likely to end up hidden and forgotten in the labyrinth of social care institutions across the world. DRI will communicate a clear message that every child matter and must be equally protected from any form of discrimination, segregation, violence and mis-treatment.
Recently, DRI has published a report "Bulgaria's Group Homes - A Dead End for Children" about abuses documented in group homes for children with disabilities in Bulgaria which received significant amount of EU funding. The report is available at the following link: https://www.driadvocacy.org/media-gallery/our-reports-publications/

Findings from DRI’s report on Bulgaria and the video were presented to EU officials on two occasions:
- Seminar on the role of small group homes in ensuring independent living conditions, held on November. The seminar was co-organized by DG Regio and DG Employment
- On December 2nd, ENIL, DRI and Validity organized a roundtable “Group homes – A Defensible investment”, at the European Parliament, hosted by Julie Ward MEP. The event was organized as part of the 2019 European Disability and Development Week, coordinated by the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC).
The roundtable focused on the so-called “Bulgarian Model” – the internationally promoted approach to deinstitutionalisation. DRI and Validity Foundation have presented their research into group homes for children and adults with disabilities in Bulgaria. This was followed by a discussion, with recommendations to the EU and other major donors and international organisations on how to ensure that their investments comply with the requirements set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

DRI has also took part and provided comments in preparation of the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) regulations with relation to position of children and adults with disabilities.

Given challenges to rights enforcement, DRI is increasingly aware of the need to strengthen the disability community and educate donors and development organizations (especially regarding the issue of group homes placement for children). We are not giving up on the importance of traditional rights enforcement techniques and litigation as we believe these approaches will have long-term payoff. And in the interim, our allies have turned to DRI for help with the use of mainstream human rights mechanisms.

To protect children, our advocacy has shifted toward a right to family. Our forthcoming Bulgaria report demonstrates the enormous dangers of internationally-supported programs moving children from orphanages to group homes. In addition to using human rights reporting to educate and engage the public, it has proven necessary to reinforce arguments with strong science and information about the experiences of people with disabilities and families. As the UN authorities work to resolve conflicts between the treaties, DRI is sought out as an expert in law, policy, and practice – including practical steps that can be used to integrate children with disabilities into families while avoiding group homes.
DRI was able to gather support of 10 additional disability rights networks and a child rights network for the position paper on the right to family life for children. This was the first time that disability groups came strongly together on child tights issues which contributed to better representation of disability community in the discussion about the upcoming UNGA resolution on the rights of the child. The joint position paper was used as a basis for negotiations with the State parties by DRI and allies with presence in New York – mainly International Disability Alliance. The document is available here: https://www.driadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019-09-12_UNGA-Right-to-Family-Life.pdf and in accessible format on DRI's website https://www.driadvocacy.org/media-gallery/our-reports-publications/

1 meetings found. Download meetings

The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.

1 July 2024: We have noted that some meetings are appearing in duplicate, ie. some meetings seem to be listed twice. This seems to be because the Commission changes some element of a meeting data after the meeting has first been listed, which causes LobbyFacts to register it as a new meeting. We are investigating further.

• Date	29 Jan 2020	Location	Brussels
  Subject	DRI and ENIL's views on EU disability policy and deinstitutionalisation.
  Cabinet	Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli
  Portfolio	Equality
  Attending	Nora Bednarski (Cabinet member) Silvan Agius (Cabinet member)
  Other Lobbyists	EUROPEAN NETWORK ON INDEPENDENT LIVING BRUSSELS