The World Health Organisation have launched its European Declaration on the Health of Children and Young People with Intellectual Disabilities. The declaration aims to improve health care for children with intellectual disabilities in order to enhance their lifelong development, inclusion and participation in society. Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, The European disability Forum and the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre have all welcomed the declaration. In their joint statement they focused on the right to live independently in the community and closing institutions.

On 26 November, the WHO launched the European Declaration on Health of Children and Young People with Intellectual disabilities and their families in Bucharest, Romania. At the launch conference, Inclusion Europe, together with Inclusion International, the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) and the European Disability Forum (EDF) released a joint submission on the Declaration.

The WHO Europe Declaration aims to improve health care for children with intellectual disabilities in order to enhance their lifelong development, inclusion and full participation in society. There are around five million children with intellectual disabilities in Europe, who are often subject to neglect, discrimination, increased risk of poverty and face major barriers in accessing appropriate and effective health care. The launch conference in Bucharest was attended by representatives from the Member States, from disability and children’s rights organisations, including Inclusion Europe, EDF, UNICEF and LUMOS, the European Commission and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, academics, parents and self-advocates.

The WHO Declaration highlights the following priorities for action:

1. Protection of children and young people with intellectual disabilities from harm and abuse.
2. Enabling children and young people to grow up in a family environment.
3. Transferring care from institutions to the community.
4. Identifying the needs of each child and young person.
5. Ensuring that good quality mental and physical health care is coordinated and sustained.
6. Safeguarding the health and wellbeing of carers.
7. Empowering children and young people with intellectual disabilities to contribute to decision-making about their lives.
8. Building workforce capacity and commitment of staff in all settings and sectors.
9. Collecting essential information about needs and services and assuring service quality to monitor the quality of care.
10. Investing to provide equal opportunities and achieve the best outcomes by ensuring fair and if necessary, preferential spending on services for children with intellectual disabilities and their families.

In their joint submission on the Declaration, Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, MDAC and the EDF endorse the Declaration as “a first attempt at intergovernmental level to set out in specific terms how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is to be implemented in a specific region for a specific groups of people”. The submission emphasizes the role of civil society organisations in the negotiation of the CRPD and elaborates the international standards set out under the CRPD to ensure human rights in all areas of life for children with intellectual disabilities on an equal basis with others. It describes how the WHO Europe Declaration should be applied to reflect a human rights framework. 

The joint submission puts a strong focus on Article 19 of the CRPD on Living independently and being included in the community. It points out the synergies between the CRPD and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in its obligation to Member States to ensure that children with intellectual disabilities enjoy a full and decent life, through promoting self-reliance and facilitating the child’s active participation in the community.

People with intellectual disabilities have been and are still often confined to institutions, as well as being deprived of their freedom and their right to make decisions. Additionally, their families are often put under insurmountable pressure, facing major challenges to support their child without adequate support.

If children with intellectual disabilities are to fully exercise their rights as set out in the CRPD, adequate support and services must be provided for them and their families. In order for them to live a full life included in the community, they must have equal access to mainstream services including education, health care and transportation, which requires significant action to be taken by governments, communities and service providers.

Children with intellectual disabilities should benefit from personalised services including personal assistance and home care services. Financial support should also be provided to children with intellectual disabilities to reflect the additional costs associated with a person’s disability.

Families play an essential role in the promotion of human rights and the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities, yet they often suffer from discrimination by association as well as financial deprivation. Adequate support should be provided for them through financial assistance, respite care and access to information about services.

To see the joint submission by Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, MDAC and the EDF, click here.

For more information about the WHO Declaration and launch conference, click here.

For more information please contact: