Ukraine must ensure the rights of persons with disabilities due to international obligations, – UN

The Ukrainian authorities must ensure the rights of persons with disabilities, defined by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD – ed.) and other universal international documents in the field of human rights that have entered into force in Ukraine. This is stated in the Briefing Note on the situation with human rights of persons with intellectual and psychosocial forms of disability in Ukraine, which was presented by the United Nations Monitoring Mission on Human Rights in Ukraine (UNHRM – ed.).

“A decade after Ukraine ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, no measures have been taken to start the implementation of article 12, on equal recognition before the law,” the document says.

The mission emphasizes that in Ukraine there is still a widespread tendency towards the practice of deprivation and limitation of legal capacity. “Currently, more than 40 thousand people are not allowed to make decisions about their own lives,” UN experts emphasize.

The document also emphasizes that:

• A human rights violation per se, the denial of legal capacity of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities also affects other human rights.
• The law (in Ukraine – ed.) explicitly prohibits incapacitated persons from voting in elections and referendums, establish or join civil society organizations and political parties, dispose of their property and social payments.
• A complete move away from institutionalising persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities and amending the civil legislation on legal capacity could take years or decades.

An important start to this process are the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to develop access to social services in the community.

“Individuals with intellectual and psychosocial forms of disability make up the group with the highest percentage of representatives in residential institutions, which still remain in fact the only available format for organizing accommodation and providing social services. More than a hundred people live in many institutions, making it impossible to provide individualized social services and support. Persons living in these institutions are isolated from local communities, relevant social and medical services, as well as formal employment opportunities,” the report emphasizes.

Experts of the UN mission emphasize that persons with disabilities “are rarely able to reintegrate into the community. Most fall into the “trap” of such institutions for the rest of their lives.” They also draw attention to the fact that “serious violations of human rights, such as torture, ill-treatment, involuntary treatment, forced labor, deprivation of personal freedom, take place” in such institutions.

You can read more about the recommendations contained in the information note here.