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Community living for all

                                   

 

Community Living for all

A conference on the Future Role of the European Union Structural funds to Advance Community Living for Older People and People with Disabilities.

In Association with the Irish Presidency of Council of the EU

The conference was generously supported in part by the European Foundation Centre (EFC) Consortium of philanthropies on Human Rights and Disability (Brussels) and Fundación ONCE, Spain.

  

Friday, 3 May 2013.

Aras Moyola, National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland.

To download the programme in accessible format, please click here.

Documents

To read the press release in advance of this event, click here.

To read the press release after this event, click here.

A list of documentation that is relevant to the topic of structural funds and to this event is available here.

1. Purpose of the event

To see this event on the Irish Presidency website, please click here.

This conference marks a significant contribution during the Irish Presidency of the EU to the Europe-wide debate about the future role of the EU Structural Funds.  It will focus on the positive potential of the EU Structural Funds in assisting Member States to achieve community living for older persons and persons with disabilities.  This will be an event ’in association with the Irish Presidency’ of the EU.

It is timely given that new Regulations governing the Funds are due to be concluded in 2013. The event is also timely given that Ireland is to the forefront in developing policies to end congregated settings and the EU is currently considering what role the Structural Funds might play in easing the transition to community living. GENIO– which is part funded by Government and philanthropy (Atlantic Philanthropies) – is also to the fore in Ireland in developing community living models for both older people and people with disabilities.  The EU, in addition to its Member States, has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities that crystallises the right to community living which is based on general human rights applicable to all persons. 

The conference was open to all interested in the development of positive EU social policy in the fields of ageing and disability. 

It was co-directed by Professor Gerard Quinn of NUI Galway and Senator Katherine Zappone of the Senate of Ireland.  The speakers were drawn from a variety of EU-level institutions and others including the European Commission, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions, the United States Federal Administration for Community Living.  European level civil society groups will be represented by the European Disability Forum and Age Platform Europe.  The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (European Region) will also be represented.  The growing role of European philanthropy in achieving community living will be represented by the European Foundation Centre.  It was opened by the Irish Minister for Older People, People with Disabilities, Mental Health and Equality – Kathleen Lynch, T.D.

2. The Programme.

The programme was divided into two parts.  The first part focused on the concept of community living and European-level legal and policy commitments to achieve the same at EU level and the second part will focus more on the added-value of the EU Structural Funds.  The keynote address was given by Professor Jerome Bickenbach (Switzerland) who reflected on the concept of community living/ageing in place as a shared goal by older people and people with disabilities.  That was followed by a more detailed consideration of the evolution of the concept of community living covering both older people and people with disabilities with practical examples from e.g., GENIO. 

The second part of the programme focused on the background to the Structural Funds, the current negotiations in Brussels for the future Regulations, the relevance of new EU Expert Guidelines on deinstitutionalization, the clear and inspiring example set by the new US Federal Administration on Community Living (covering both older people and people with disabilities) followed by an open exchange of views of the future of the EU Funds with a cross-section of European-level stakeholders.  Clear conference messages were drawn by the rapporteur, Raluca Bunea of the Soros-Open Society Foundation, ’Mental Health Initiative,’ (Budapest). 

3. The Speakers:

The speakers were drawn from civil society, policy makers, philanthropy and regional and international organisations.  They included:

 

• Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Older People, Equality & Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch, T.D.
• President of NUI Galway, Dr James J. Browne.
• Senator Katherine Zappone, Senate of Ireland.
• Professor Jerome Bickenbach, Director, Disability Policy Unit, Swiss Paraplegic Research &
Permanent Visiting Professor, Faculty of Humanities and social Sciences, University of Lucerne.
• Camilla Parker, Just Equality, London.
• Professor Meindert Haveman, Technischen Universität, Dortmund Germany.
• Madeleine Clarke, Founding Director, GENIO, Ireland. 
• Pat Clarke, Executive Committee member, European Disability Forum.
• Professor Thomas Sharf, Professor of Social Gerontology and Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI Galway.
• Louise Richardson, Vice President, Age Platform Europe.
• European Commission, DG Justice, Integration of People with Disabilities Unit & DG Regional Policy.
• Professor Gerard Quinn, Centre for Disability Law & Policy, NUI Galway, Ireland.
• Ines Bulic, European Network for Independent Living (ENIL).
• US Administration on Community Living.
  
• Miguel Angel Cabra de Luna, European Consortium on Human Rights and Disability, European Foundation Centre, Brussels.
• Jan Jarab, Regional Representative, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Europe Regional Office), Brussels.
• Ludovica Banfi,  EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Vienna.
• Raluca Bunea, Open Society Foundation, Mental Health Initiative, Budapest.
• Prof Michael O’Flaherty, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.
• Duncan Wilson, European Group of National Human Rights Institutions (led by the Human Rights Commission of Scotland).
• Minister of State for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works, T.D, Brian Hayes.
• Andor Ürmös, DG Regional Policy.

Session chairs will include Senator Katherine Zappone, Hywel Ceri Jones (European Foundation Centre) and Martin Naughton (European Network for Independent Living).

4. Background to the Organizers.

The event was jointly directed by Senator Katherine Zappone, member of the Senate of Ireland and the Centre for Disability Law & Policy directed by Professor Gerard Quinn.

Senator Katherine Zappone is one of Ireland’s foremost thinkers and legislators on equality issues.  She was formerly a member of the Irish Human Rights Commission (2002-2012) and currently serves on the Irish Parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).  She took a leading role in the pioneering Irish Senate hearings on the rights of older people which published a landmark report in March 2012 (’Report on the Rights of Older People’).  The Irish Senate was one of the first parliamentary bodies in the world to consider the human rights of older people.  Her previous work with the Joint Equality and Human Rights Forum of Ireland (North & South) on multiple identities established her as one of Ireland’s foremost thinkers on the overlaps between identities such as disability and age (’Re-Thinking Diversity: the Challenge of Diversity’, 2003)

The Centre for Disability Law & Policy (CDLP) at NUI Galway, Ireland, was founded by generous support from Irish philanthropy (Atlantic Philanthropies) in 2008 to develop innovative policy solutions based on best international practice on the rights of persons with disabilities.  Its members were directly involved in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities and are very closely involved in European-level debates about the development of effective pan-European strategies. 

The CDLP is a founding member of the Lifecourse Policy Institute at NUI Galway which encompasses age (Irish Centre for Social Gerontology), children and families (UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre) as well as disability (CDLP).  The Institute aims to develop coherent policy options from an integrated lifecourse policy perspective. 

This event was in part a result of active collaboration and consultation between the CDLP and the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology – one of the many tangible benefits of moving to an integrated policy perspective on ageing and disability.

 

5. Further Information.

For any queries please contact Suzanne Doyle at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway:

Email:  suzanne.doylenuigalway.ie

Phone: +353 (0)91 49 4273

Fax: +353 (0)91 49 5569

 

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