The importance of policy analysis in the context of the CRPD

Estonia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 30 May 2012 with a declaration to Article 12. According to this declaration, the Republic of Estonia interprets Article 12 as not forbidding the restriction of persons’ active legal capacity in cases where a disabled person is unable to understand or direct their actions due to mental illness, mental disability or other mental disorder; Estonia retains the position that there are circumstances under which it is necessary to restrict the active legal capacity of disabled persons.[1] De-institutionalization for persons with disabilities has nevertheless been taking place from the early 1990s through the dismantling of institutions and the movement of their inhabitants to community-based living units. The process is ongoing and the aim is to establish the community-based units in major urban centres. The present paper seeks to explore whether the current policies and programmes in place for independent living are achieving their purpose. It aims to explore the possible solutions and shortcomings in this process. The paper also analyses and discusses the availability of assistants, the optimization of unit accessibility and the availability of high-level support.

Article 19 of the CRPD highlights that “Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement”. The de-institutionalization processes have been taking Article 19 into account and experiencing various shortcomings in the process, some of which are analysed in this paper.

The Estonian Chamber of People with Disabilities also highlighted shortcomings related to Article 12 in its alternative report[2] to the State report. It has called for the creation of supported decision-making mechanisms and the withdrawal of the declaration issued when the CRPD was ratified.

The present analysis aims to determine whether the proposed intermediate step to full independent living is effectively assisting all stakeholders in a satisfactory way and contributing to finding independent living solutions. It is important for policy makers and civil society alike to understand the shortcomings and challenges that may arise in establishing independent living and to avoid mistakes in the ongoing de-institutionalization process.

Challenges also arise from the fact that Estonia is a sparsely populated country, where many municipalities have a small number of inhabitants; municipal populations range from 179 inhabitants on Ruhnu island to 458,586 inhabitants in the capital city Tallinn, with only a few other major urban areas. These challenges are also addressed in the analysis.