European Coalition for Community Living - Press Release
ECCL publishes a new resource on advocating for Community Living
London, 10 December 2008 - On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL) is proud to announce the
publication of its advocacy manual for disability organisations and service providers entitled 'Creating Successful Campaigns for Community Living'. The purpose of the manual is to assist individuals and organisations who want to achieve the changes that are needed to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in community life as equal citizens. It provides information and advice on how to conduct campaigns and other activities to attain the goal of community living for all people with disabilities. Speaking about the manual, John Evans, one of the founders of the Independent Living movement in the UK and ECCL, said: "Every day, millions of disabled people in Europe living in institutions and receiving services they have no control over, are having their rights violated. It is our duty and responsibility to change this". He added that "This manual has the possibility of changing the lives for thousands of disabled people in Europe, especially Eastern and Central Europe."
According to Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, all persons with disabilities have the equal right to live in the community, with choices equal to others. However, across Europe, more than 1.2 million people with disabilities - including children and young people - still live in long-stay residential institutions, segregated from society. In order to make the UN Disability Convention a reality, Governments must put in place quality services in the community as alternatives to institutional care. No disabled person should be forced to live in an institution because of the lack of alternatives.
The new manual of the European Coalition for Community Living provides organisations with a range of ideas on how to encourage the development of quality community-based services and accelerate the process of de-institutionalisation in their country by carrying out lobbying activities and campaigns, forming coalitions, working with the media etc. The manual gives examples of successful initiatives from across Europe, such as lobbying for direct payments in the UK, establishing self-advocacy groups in Croatia, using a pilot programme on personal assistance in Norway to influence legislation on social services and organisation of a lobbying week in Brussels with representatives of EU institutions.
The main part of the manual is accompanied by four annexes. In addition to the case studies, these contain explanations of all the terms relevant to advocacy for community living, an overview of the relevant European and international policies, and suggestions about how to use them in lobbying activities.
The manual is aimed primarily at organisations in Central and Eastern Europe, but will also be helpful to organisations in other parts of Europe looking for new ideas for future advocacy activities. The European Coalition for Community Living hopes that it will be a useful tool for anyone working towards getting Article 19 of the UN Disability Convention implemented in their countries.
The manual is currently available in English and can be downloaded from the ECCL website www.community-living.info/?page=292. Translations into Easy-to-Read, Serbian and Albanian will be available at the beginning of the next year. For other translations, additional advocacy resources and advice on how to present the manual at local or national advocacy workshops, please continue checking the ECCL website.
The production of the manual was funded by Socires Foundation from the Netherlands.
Background information:
The European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL) is a Europe-wide initiative working towards the social inclusion of people with disabilities by promoting the provision of comprehensive, quality community-based services as an alternative to institutionalisation. Membership in ECCL is open to any organisation or individual committed to community living for
people with disabilities.
For further information, please contact Ines Bulic (ECCL Coordinator) at
coordinator@community-living.info>
coordinator@community-living.info, tel: (+44) 20 7587 3982 and fax: (+44) 20
7582 2469. |
