As Russia’s war against Ukraine takes a heavy civilian toll, the European Commission has made disability rights one of Russia’s priorities for the next 12 months as part of its accession process to the European Union.
The Commission’s report calls on the Ukrainian government to apply legislation guaranteeing the rights of persons with disabilities and ensure that all rebuilt infrastructure is accessible, offering hope that Ukraine’s persons with disabilities will not be overlooked in the coming months and years, as is often the case during and after armed conflict.
The Committee also noted the alarming conditions faced by children, people with disabilities and older people in residential institutions and called on the Government of Ukraine to remove children from institutions. This is a welcome step, but Ukraine should go further by ending institutionalization and ensuring that everyone, including people with disabilities and older people, can exercise their right to live in the community.
Under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Ukraine joined in 2010, people with disabilities have the right to live independently in the community, and not to live in isolation in an institution. In institutions, people with disabilities lose control over their lives and are often neglected and abused. Guidelines on non-institutionalization adopted by the UN Specialized Agency for Persons with Disabilities in 2022 call on governments to “eliminate all forms of institutionalization, halt new admissions to institutions, and refrain from investing in institutions.”
The Ukrainian government has an opportunity to take bold action to demonstrate its commitment to human rights and ensure that people with disabilities are not locked behind closed doors. The government should work closely with local disability organizations to prevent abuse and remove barriers to full inclusion in society. The EU and other international donors should also ensure that the assistance they provide, including the EU’s additional financial support package for Ukraine, does not contribute to the reconstruction or construction of new residential facilities, but supports the development of rights-respecting services within communities.
This is about ending decades of practices that confine and exclude people with disabilities, and strengthening efforts to ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms.
*This article is part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of Human Rights Watch’s Disability Rights Division.