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The disabled Ukrainians facing a lifetime of mistreatment and abuse – BBC News

 

Warning: Viewers may find some images in this report distressing.

BBC News has gained access to institutions in Ukraine where widespread abuse and mistreatment of disabled people has been uncovered. Around 100,000 children and young people live in these institutions, which pre-date the war with Russia. Human rights investigators say Ukraine should not join the European Union until it closes these institutions. The Ukrainian government has promised a series of reforms over the past few years, acknowledging that its system of institutionalisation needs to change.

Left Behind in the War

Left Behind in the War: Dangers Facing Children with Disabilities In Ukraine’s Orphanages

In late April 2022, Disability Rights International (DRI) brought a team of people with disabilities and family activists, including medical and disability service experts, to visit Ukraine’s institutions for children with disabilities.  DRI visited three facilities for children aged six to adult, and one “baby” home for children from birth to age six.  DRI finds that Ukraine’s children with disabilities with the greatest support needs are living in atrocious conditions – entirely overlooked by major international relief agencies and receiving little support from abroad.  
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Online launch of the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Global Report

On 22 October 2020, Validity Foundation, the European Network on Independent Living, Disability Rights International, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, the International Disability Alliance, the International Disability and Development Consortium, and the Disability Rights Fund/Disability Rights Advocacy Fund will launch the COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Global Report.

COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor (DRM) calls for an end to police violence and abuse against persons with disabilities and their family members

The COVID-19 Disability Rights Monitor Coordinating Group express their alarm about increasing police violence against persons with disabilities in the context of the pandemic, and are calling on governments around the world to take urgent steps to prevent acts of brutality.
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