Disability Rights International, Validity Foundation, and the European Network for Independent Living, Youth Network Board hosted a webinar on children with disabilities in adversity as part of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The panel discussed practical solutions to protect children within the framework of evolving legal rights under the CRPD and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that apply during a pandemic and as part of long-term sustainable development. Amalia Gamio, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, described the Committee’s Working Group on Emergency Deinstitutionalization. Panelists also discussed research findings, programs, and strategies to ensure family inclusion that have proven effective — including programs funded and supported by international development organizations.
The event was streamed live on Facebook on 4 December 2020 and the video can be viewed on Disability Rights International's Facebook page.
Host organizations and presenters:
- Eric Rosenthal, Disability Rights International
- Steven Allen, Validity Foundation
- Miroslava-Mima Ivanovic, European Network for Independent Living, Youth Network Board
Panelists:
- Amalia Gamio, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Prof. Marinus van IJzendoorn, Erasmus University, Rotterdam & Lancet Commission on Institutionalization and Deinstitutionalization of Children
- Philip Goldman, Maestral/Changing the Way We Care
- Sarah Gesiriech, US Agency for International Development (invited)