Plans and Steps Forward

When asked about government positions regarding deinstitutionalization, interviewed public officials tended to take a pro-deinstitutionalization stance, although to varying extents. Despite outward support of independent living, interviews revealed a lack of the concrete deinstitutionalization policies needed to progressively realize Article 19. Instead, public officials cited programs intended to improve service provision and increase inclusion in schools and the workforce. Only Jordan provided a detailed, time-constrained action plan that outlined the closure of residential institutions. 

The Bahraini and Iraqi public officials reported that their governments support independent living by providing long-term social support services, such as educational opportunities, psychosocial support and rehabilitation services. Without disclosing a specific strategy, the Bahraini official stated that the Government is trying to eliminate obstacles to deinstitutionalization. When asked about de-institutionalization, the Iraqi official reported that there are new policies being created to address inclusion, including laws to combat discrimination and programs to ensure inclusion in the labour market.

The State of Palestine incorporated independent living in its Sustainable Development Goals strategy for 2030. The Palestinian official reported that the Government is equipping persons with disabilities with necessary medical equipment, redesigning their houses to make them more inclusive, and providing their families with funding for care at home.

The Lebanese public official, while expressing pessimism regarding the integration of persons with disabilities into society, reported that the Government aims to keep persons with disabilities living within their families and communities. She focused on the educational aspect of integration and expressed a need to integrate persons with disabilities into public and private educational institutions. The official in Morocco also discussed educational inclusion and stated that the Government intends to address inclusion by making all public and private education facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. In Morocco’s 2016 Decree on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, educational institutions for persons with disabilities are considered part of the country’s national educational system, and subject to the same regulations, though the official from Morocco stated that the country hopes to make separate facilities the exception, rather than the norm.

The Saudi Arabian official reported that while the number of institutions is increasing, the government has a short-term, two-part project to initiate deinstitutionalization. The official’s comments reflected a pattern of apparent misconceptions about actions that constitute deinstitutionalization: the described plan entails privatizing public institutions, followed by the creation of a national “day-care service,” in which teams throughout the country visit the homes persons with disabilities to provide medical assistance and training to families. The official did not clarify how the privatization stage will help further deinstitutionalization goals. (Similar ambiguity was seen in comments from the Tunisian public official, who, when asked about deinstitutionalization, cited the upcoming creation of five new institutions for persons with disabilities.) Persons with disabilities in Saudi Arabia currently also have the ability to stay with their families and receive a monthly allowance that varies according to the degree or severity of their disability, in addition to other factors. According to the Saudi Arabian official, in 2017, the Government of Saudi Arabia spent approximately 5 billion Saudi Arabian riyals (US $1.3 billion) per month on contributions for 400,000 citizens with disabilities. 

The Yemeni official reported that the Government encourages deinstitutionalization and believes that persons with disabilities, particularly children, should stay with their families. Policies of residential institutions mandate that residents visit their homes on weekends and official holidays. To keep persons with disabilities with their families, the Government plans to provide day-care centres outside cities.

According to its government official, the Sultanate of Oman is currently working on an alternative to institutionalization that is focused on the provision of rehabilitative services in home environments and day centers. It is important to note that Oman only has a single, state-owned residential institution that accommodates 69 residents.  When asked about Oman’s medium-term deinstitutionalization plan, the public official stated that the Government does not intend to issue licenses for any new residential institutions. 

 Jordan has made perhaps the most significant progress toward deinstitutionalization in the region, specifically through the release of new action plans on deinstitutionalization, educational inclusion and accessibility. The Jordanian official stated that, based on Articles 27 and 29 of Law No. 20 of 2017, in 10 years there will no longer be any residential institutions in Jordan. According to the action plan on deinstitutionalization, all existing residential institutions will be converted to community care centers that provide rehabilitative and educational services. The public official also commented that independent living will be supported by training families on how to assist their children with disabilities and by offering technical and material support through trained and specialized personnel certified by both the Ministry of Social Development and Jordan’s Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Jordan also intends to launch the “Alternative Family Programme” for institutionalized individuals who have no biological families and are less than 18 years of age. They will be provided with a home offered by volunteer families until they turn 18. The Government will launch additional programmes to develop day-care or independent living centres for different age groups and disability types. The centres will provide vocational rehabilitation and training to enhance the employability of persons with disabilities. The Jordanian Government also intends to focus on early diagnosis and intervention, which will help people with disabilities manage their lives and explore their options at an earlier stage in life. The governmental plan for deinstitutionalization entails creating group homes that consist of four to five persons with disabilities living with a supervisor or foster families.