Media release. Brussels, 4th December 2023.
UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Persons with disabilities have the right to live independently, included in the community, and to family life. To mark the 2023 UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the COFACE Disability Platform places the spotlight on family carers. Their crucial role can significantly boost the fulfillment of the rights outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, provided they receive adequate support. A COFACE Disability “Thematic Note” was developed to contribute to policy discussions and help find constructive solutions.
As the formal Long Term Care sector is facing dramatic shortages in services and staff that has consequences on the entire society[1], the pressure on family carers is increasing. With the implementation of the European Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Care Strategy, the COFACE Disability Platform, while keeping the human rights of all as guiding objective, wants to stress the need to urgently address the needs of all family carers beyond measures to support access to the labour market. The impact on their physical and mental health related to the provision of care and support is real, especially as they are advancing in age.
Chantal Bruno, Co-president of the COFACE Disability Platform said : If the EU is serious about transforming long-term care systems in a human rights-centered manner, it should not consider care only as an economic good but as an enabler of rights and dignity for all.”
Since the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the COVID-19 crisis, family carers have entered the political discourse. After being neglected and forgotten and after years of advocacy from COFACE Disability Platform, the European Union and the EU Member States seem to have finally recognised that care and support is not a private matter only but a public and political one and should be addressed as such. However, to respond to the needs and challenges in an appropriate manner, family carers must first be identified.
Annemie Drieskens, COFACE President said: It is crucial during the transformation process of the care system to identify the role and responsibility daily taken by millions of family carers across Europe. Caring is timeless, family carers of all ages should be recognized for their valuable role in caregiving and receive targeted support adapted to their situation.”
In the newly released Thematic Note, the COFACE Disability Platform offers reflections on the life course perspective adopted in the 2022 Council Recommendation on access to affordable high-quality long-term care, to explore how family carers of different ages face different challenges and how to support them in accessing resources, time and services.
On the 2023 International Day, COFACE Families Europe calls on the European Commission and to EU Member States to swiftly implement measures under the European Strategy of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the European Care Strategy that ensure a global reform of the care and support system based in the community and aiming to promote the human rights of all.
Read the thematic note here.
ENDS//
Note to editor
- Joint statement: Building up European care capital – sustainable investments, not burdensome costs, (COFACE, 2023)
- Family Organisations welcome the European Care Strategy and call for swift adoption by EU Social Affairs Ministers (COFACE, 2022)
- EU Work-life Balance Directive transposition in action: A mixed picture (COFACE, 2022)
- From Words to Actions: Shedding light on the S.H.I.F.T. towards meaningful inclusion in Europe (COFACE 2021)
- S.H.I.F.T. A guide to shift towards meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities and their families (COFACE 2019)
- EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR FAMILY CARERS, (COFACE, 2017)
For more information, please contact Bettina Guigui: bguigui@coface-eu.org
[1] October 2023 Joint Statement of 17 European and international NGOs
