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	Looking Differently at Disability and Decision Making by HRW, Civicus, Cross Disability Alliance, agencies   Somaliland: People With Disabilities Abused, Neglected. (Human Rights Watch)   People with mental health conditions in Somaliland are increasingly forced into institutions, where they face serious abuses and poor conditions. The Somaliland authorities should provide oversight for all mental health facilities, prohibit chaining, and establish voluntary community-based services for people with mental health conditions.   The 81-page report, “‘Chained Like Prisoners’: Abuses Against People with Psychosocial Disabilities in Somaliland,” finds that men with perceived or actual psychosocial disabilities face abusive restraints, beatings, involuntary treatment, and overcrowding in private and public health centers.   Most are held against their will and have no possibility of challenging their detention. In private centers in particular, those with psychosocial disabilities face punitive and prolonged chaining, confinement, seclusion, and severe restrictions on their movement. The findings highlight the importance of mental health services in post-conflict regions. According to the World Health Organization, Somaliland has high rates of psychosocial disability.   “Rather than providing appropriate and voluntary medical care or rehabilitation, these centers subject residents to prison-like regulations, isolation, and involuntary treatment,” said Laetitia Bader, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Somaliland authorities should act quickly to address the abuses inside mental health institutions.”   Human Rights Watch conducted research in Hargeisa, Berbera, and Gabiley, and interviewed over 115 people, including 47 with actual or perceived disabilities who have been placed in institutions. Most had faced abuse. Basic due process, judicial oversight, and channels of redress are non-existent. The research focused primarily on privately run residential centers in Hargeisa. As most centers hold men, the findings largely address their situations, though women with psychosocial disabilities also suffer serious abuses.   Somaliland does not keep official data on the prevalence of mental health conditions, but existing research points to alarmingly high levels because of violence and trauma from the civil war, lack of health services, and widespread use of the amphetamine-like stimulant khat.   For years, people with mental disabilities have been left on their own to confront significant social stigma or have had to rely largely on relatives who have little information and understanding about their conditions and have nowhere to turn to for assistance.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/10/25/somaliland-people-disabilities-abused-neglected http://www.hrw.org/topic/disability-rights http://bit.ly/28TfjJi http://bit.ly/291n0Ke http://bit.ly/28Rg0Qq   Looking Differently at Disability and Decision Making, by Michael Bach   Having legal capacity means having the right to make decisions that affect your own life. It’s a fundamental right that people with disabilities are routinely denied.   Around the world, people with disabilities—particularly those with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities—are invisible in the eyes of the law, which often doesn’t fully recognize them as people.   They are left legally disempowered—unable to open a bank account, get married, vote in elections, consent to or refuse medical treatment, and in some cases even receive items in the mail.   Whether motivated by benevolence or prejudice, the cumulative result of this disenfranchisement is the same: people with disabilities are rendered non-persons before the law, barred from making decisions about their own lives.   Michael Bach of the Institute for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society talks about how “supported decision making” can allow those of us with disabilities to contribute to and participate more fully in society.   http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/looking-differently-disability-and-decision-making/ http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/topics/disability-rights   Violence against people with disability a national shame. (Australian Cross Disability Alliance)   In August 2015 the Australian Cross Disability Alliance appeared before the Senate Committee inquiring into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in institutional and residential settings.   The Senate Inquiry process has already revealed many hundreds of horrific stories that testify to the significantly high levels and myriad forms of violence experienced by people with disability in institutional and residential settings. The ‘closed’ nature of these settings, away from public scrutiny, means that this violence is very difficult to detect, investigate and prosecute.   “The Australian Cross Disability Alliance (ACDA) knows that these stories are just the tip of the iceberg and are indicative of a widespread and far-reaching problem. It is not limited to a few rogue individuals, it is not confined to disability support settings, and it is not confined by state or territory borders. It is a national epidemic”, said Ms Carolyn Frohmader, CEO of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA).   ACDA''s submission detailed wide ranging systemic failures in legislation, policies and service systems in Australia that underpin the conditions that give rise to violence abuse and neglect.   ACDA calls for a Royal Commission into violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability in Australia. We call for an overhaul of the criminal justice system so that, at every step of the process people with disability are supported in accessing the same legal protections and redress as the rest of the community; and we call for the establishment of an independent national statutory watchdog to protect, investigate and enforce findings regarding violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability.   http://www.pwd.org.au/latest-news/violence-against-people-with-disability-is-a-national-shame-call-to-action.html http://plan-international.org/news/2016-06-16-children-disabilities-not-protected-violence http://www.handicap-international.us/news http://www.handicap-international.us/press_releases http://www.unfpa.org/news/youth-disabilities-face-staggering-loss-rights http://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/ http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/en/advocacy-work http://www.iddcconsortium.net/resources-tools/advocacy/sustainable-development-goals http://www.unicef.org/disabilities/ http://bit.ly/1tz7ZaC http://bit.ly/1YuZjxz http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/06/gender-disability/ http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml
	Older people say that they are being subjected to abuse and discrimination because of their age by Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People   Age Demands Action say campaigners in 40 countries.   The Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People will bring attention to elder abuse and the importance of a new UN convention on the rights of older people.   “Older people repeatedly say that they are considered useless, incompetent and a drain on resources by their families and by society, as well as being subjected to abuse,” said Bridget Sleap, Senior Rights Policy Adviser at HelpAge International.   “Not enough is being done to stop this abuse and protect the rights of older people,” said Sleap, who wrote the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People (GAROP) report on behalf of the alliance.   The report entitled ‘In Our Own Words’ is based on consultations with older people across 50 countries who were asked how they feel they are discriminated against in older age. The report revealed elder abuse occurs in different settings.   A resident from a nursing home in Serbia said, “In the home they take all our money, they don’t give us allowances and they constantly threaten we’ll be kicked out if we don’t behave.”   Nzingo, 67, from Kenya has suffered from elder abuse at the hands of a relative, which also resulted in the death of her 90-year-old mother.   “The man slashed me on my head and I immediately fainted. I used the money I had saved to pay for my hospital bills. I still don’t know what was the cause or reason for that kind of brutality,” said Nzingo, whose attacker was arrested but later released on bail.   “I am very scared. I don’t sleep well. When I hear any noise I am alarmed. In my dreams I see that person following me,” she said.   Despite these kinds of cases, older people’s right to be free from violence and abuse is not currently protected under international law. There is also inadequate research into elder abuse, which makes tackling the problem even more difficult.   “The Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014 shows elder abuse is the least surveyed of the different types of violence in low-income countries,” said Sleap.   The report, by the World Health Organization and UN agencies, reveals that of the 133 countries surveyed, two thirds do not have adult protective services in place to support older people subjected to elder abuse despite the growing global population of older people.   The number of older people vulnerable to elder abuse is predicted to rise with a growing global population of older people. Currently, there are more than 895 million people aged 60 and over, representing 12% of the global population. By 2030, this is projected to rise to 1.3 billion or 16%.   “A UN convention would take us a step closer to ensuring human rights are for everyone, at every stage of our lives,” said Sleap.   The United Nations Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, calls on all States to ensure that the concerns of older persons are reflected in the post-2015 development agenda in a cross-cutting manner.   On occasion of the 24th UN International Day of Older Persons, Ms. Kornfeld-Matte urges Governments around the world to promote full inclusion of older persons in society by combatting ageism, age discrimination and stigmatization.   “We can turn a blind eye to many issues as if they do not concern us. But getting old is part of life and we will all pay the price for our inaction.   Today there are around 700 million persons aged 60 years and over and it is estimated that this figure will double by 2025 and will reach nearly two billion by 2050 - the vast majority of them in the developing world. By 2050, older persons will constitute 20 per cent of the global population.   A demographic revolution is underway and we cannot afford to leave behind millions of older persons. Age, as well as gender and where people live, affect the enjoyment of human rights by older persons, who are often stigmatized as ‘non-productive’ or ‘irrelevant’.   I call on all States to combat ageism, age discrimination and stigmatization, which are among the obstacles older persons face in the enjoyment of their rights, in order to achieve and sustain the inclusion of older persons in society.   Today, on the International Day of Older Persons, I urge all Governments to ensure that the concerns of older persons are reflected in the post-2015 development agenda in a cross-cutting manner.   The post-2015 development agenda presents a unique opportunity to ensure a rights-based approach to older persons and can help changing attitudes and perceptions from older persons being considered recipients of welfare to rights holders with responsibilities.   Ageing is not an affliction, it is an opportunity to make use of resources acquired over the life course, and older persons all around the world make significant contributions to society.”   http://www.rightsofolderpeople.org/ http://www.helpage.org/ http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/ http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/status_report/2014/report/report/en/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/RightsOfOlderPersons.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15152&LangID=E http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/SForum/Pages/SForumIndex.aspx Visit the related web page
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