Places of care = places of safety? Violence against persons with disabilities in institutions

The latest report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), entitled Places of care = places of safety?, looks at the breadth and depth of violence and neglect faced by persons with disabilities living in institutions. It highlights the shortcomings by EU Member States in preventing violence and protecting those who are at a higher risk of experiencing it, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The normalisation of violence, barriers to reporting abuse and a lack of effective monitoring undermine the rights of people with disabilities. The report calls for better protection, stronger prevention of violence, and clear accountability.

The collective report by FRA is accompanied by separate country overviews on fundamental rights protection of persons with disabilities living in institutions, covering all EU countries and three candidate countries: Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. The country data was collected within the framework of FRA’s multidisciplinary research network, FRANET. The Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University, together with the Faculty of Law at the University of Turku, currently form the national focal point of FRANET in Finland. The country study on Finland was compiled by Katarina Frostell of the Institute for Human Rights.