FIMITIC

The Strasbourg Freedom Drive was a rally to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. It was an opportunity for people with disabilities from all European countries to join together and unite at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where they met MEPs of different countries, the forthcoming Disability Intergroup of the European Parliament and representatives of other key EU institutions.

Between 14th and 17th September, 440 people from 21 European countries met in Strasbourg for the Freedom Drive. The group included disabled people with their personal assistants. The common cause being Independent Living: deinstitutionalisation, the right to personal assistance and the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability.

“The segregation of people with disabilities in long-stay institutions is a violation of disabled people’s human rights” says Freedom Driver Ines Bulic of the UK. She was one of the speakers at Monday’s conference “Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability” which kicked off the Freedom Drive week.

The UN Convention is the first legally binding instrument with comprehensive protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. Therefore, one of the 8 demands of Freedom Drivers handed over to EU Parliament President Jerzy Burzek and to Richard Howitt MEP on Wednesday 16 September was for the European Community to ratify this human rights convention. Freedom Drivers furthermore asked for a continuation of the development of community-based services to achieve de-institutionalization across Europe. They call for the implementation of their human right to a personal assistance service, which is fundamental to guarantee the enjoyment of Independent Living.

When handed over the demands, Jerzy Burzek and Richard Howitt said they were committed to fight for the rights of people with disabilities. They also encouraged Freedom Drivers to keep lobbying their national MEPs to promote Independent Living in their countries.

Freedom Drivers ended the week with a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) which is one of the organisers of the Freedom Drive. The Freedom Drive week in Strasbourg is one important event in ENIL’s ongoing campaigning for disabled people’s human rights.

8 Freedom Drive Demands:

1. We call on the European Community to ensure that Independent Living is central in the disability policies of the European Union, as expressed in the EU Disability Strategy, the Disability Action Plan and Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.

2. We encourage the European Community to continue to assist the development of community-based services to achieve de-institutionalization across Europe.

3. We call for the implementation of our human right to a personal assistance service, fundamental to guarantee the enjoyment of Independent Living.

4. We call for the opportunity to equally enjoy the right to freedom of movement with the portability of personal assistance services.

5. We call for an earmarking of 5% of EU development funding to go to the development of Independent Living programs in developing countries.

6. We call on the European Community to fully ratify the UN Conventionon the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to sign and ratify its Optional Protocol and for its articles to be implemented in EU legislation and policy. Incumbent in this is the application of pressure by the Institutions and representatives on member states to transpose the convention into law domestically as soon as possible.

7. We call for a disability specific directive to uphold and protect the full rights and entitlements of people with disabilities across Europe.

8. Disabled people and our organisations must be decisively involved at all levels of policy-making including planning, producing and implementation.

Nothing about Us, Without Us.