Our Support for Moldova and Ukraine

      Our Support for Moldova and Ukraine

20
Jun
2024

2024 Statement on the Right to Live in the Community: Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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2024 Statement on the Right to Live in the Community: Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

June 11-13, 2024 marked the seventeenth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, held at the United Nations. This year’s theme revolved around rethinking disability inclusion, with a special focus on technology, humanitarian emergencies, and the right to decent work and a sustainable livelihood.

Charles Sweeder, President and CEO of Keystone Human Services; Genevieve Fitzgibbon, President and CEO of Keystone Human Services International; and Carolyn Moore, International Policy and Advocacy Lead for KHSI represented KHS.

KHS was pleased to participate in the General Debate, with Genevieve Fitzgibbon delivering our statement on true and meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities, including designing community-based services together with people with disabilities.

The entire statement can be read below:

 

Keystone Human Services International:  COSP 2024 Statement

Thank you Chair.

Excellencies, delegates, friends from civil society,

My name is Genevieve Fitzgibbon, and I am President and CEO of Keystone Human Services International, a subsidiary of Keystone Human Services.

Keystone is an international NGO with over 50 years of experience implementing community alternatives to institutionalization of children and adults with disabilities. Our work is driven by partnerships with self-advocates and representative organizations of persons with disabilities.

Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, affirming the right to live in the community, lies at the core of our work.

The widespread ratification of the CRPD and the adoption of the Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization were significant milestones for the disability movement.

However, the slow pace of States to enact these Guidelines and the continued reliance on institutions continue to prevent the true and meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities.

For children with disabilities, institutionalization has a profound and long-lasting effect on their health, development, and well-being. But without strong and inclusive community services, including supports for families, institutions are too often seen as the only option.

Our work at Keystone, done in close collaboration with self-advocates and OPDs, has shown that establishing sustainable, inclusive community-based services, especially when designed together with persons with disabilities rather than for them; mainstreaming disability in policy frameworks; and strengthening platforms for self-advocacy can lead to the full community inclusion of persons with disabilities.

This year’s Conference of States Parties comes at a critical point. At the upcoming Summit of the Future, world leaders will adopt a Pact for the Future – an inclusive future. We cannot build such a future without the full community inclusion of all persons with disabilities.

We therefore call on member states to:

  • Ensure the full participation and inclusion of persons with disabilities and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), in all their diversity, in all efforts to implement the CRPD, drawing on inclusive practices such as the Listen Include Respect guidelines.
  • Support community living for all persons with disabilities, end all forms of institutionalization and establish inclusive, accessible community-based services.
  • Transform systems of care for children with disabilities to fulfill every child’s right to live with their families and communities; and
  • Leverage the expertise of family members and direct support professionals in these efforts.

Ending segregation is not only possible but it is the only way forward. Keystone stands ready to support this collective journey towards inclusion.