COVID-19 pandemic: disability issues in Europe

May 6, 2020

COVID-19, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN CRPD

On the 10^th of April EUD participated in the webinar “COVID-19 pandemic: disability issues in Europe”, organised by the European Disability Forum (EDF).

The COVID-19 pandemic and in its containment efforts by the European countries created significant challenges to persons with disabilities and their organisations. During the webinar EDF members from across Europe shared the pressing issues in their countries regarding this pandemic, their experiences, and best practices.

The webinar was opened by Yannis Vardakastanis, EDF President, highlighted that what we are going through now is a very historic period for our societies, economies, our lives, and our rights. The discussions that we’re going to have after this pandemic about the UN CRPD and the SDGs will not be the same as before. It was also highlighted that we need to start acting now at the national, European Union and international levels, and to influence the recovery plans so that the persons with disabilities are not forgotten and not left behind.

Catherine Naughton, EDF Director, presented the European Disability Forum’s work on the pandemic. EDF focuses on human rights monitoring, and is collecting the violations of the rights of people with disabilities across Europe in all the domains. EDF is also aiming at influencing all of the initiatives that the European Union are taking and monitors them very carefully.

EUD encourages National Associations of the Deaf to report the violations of their rights to the European Disability Forum via this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14Ykxr7bPPXRMT3h37jCMPQFxmuycNgvjEhlHn6fgCcM/edit?usp=sharing

The webinar is in International Sign. It was recorded and is available here: http://www.edf-feph.org/webinar-covid-19-pandemic-disability-issues-eu