Approaches to independent living in Europe

In “The commitment of the European Union to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the right to live independently and be included in the community”, Lazar Stefanović delves into how problematic interpretations of CRPD-compliant legislation may, in practice, be a framework for actions that are not compliant with the CRPD. Mr. Stefanović reveals a number of “avoidance techniques” that the European Commission utilized to stay away from sanctioning the use of European Structural and Investment Funds in a manner that is not aligned with the CRPD by some member countries. He then goes on to emphasize the role of non-governmental organizations and OPDs in internalizing the CRPD and advocating for the CRPD-aligned wording and measures in European Union financial regulation to improve the monitoring of the use of funds.

As its name suggests – “Overview on Estonian legislative and policy support measures for enabling gradual realization of independent living: A public-private partnership approach for accessible and affordable independent living in Estonia” – Meelis Joost’s study explores the right to independent living within the community in Estonia. The study finds that adopting a public-private partnership approach in Estonia has yielded promising results to provide accessible and affordable support for persons with disabilities to live independently within their communities. One of the challenges to providing services to persons with disabilities that is somewhat specific to the case of Estonia is the fact that it is a sparsely populated country. Mr. Joost recommends that the needs of persons with disabilities are mapped to ensure inclusion in the community at every local level.

There remain considerable efforts to be made on the path to granting persons with disabilities their right to independent living, among other rights. The papers published in this volume, their authors and the”Arab-EU Network on Independent Living” aspire to fill the gaps in research on the obstacles, considerations and ultimately the solutions that facilitate this quest. These studies also support the Network’s objective to enhance evidence-based policymaking and interregional knowledge exchange.