Baroness Sheila Hollins, a former president of
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, delivered her maiden speech in
the House of Lords today (2 December 2010).
Speaking during Lord Alton of Liverpool’s
debate on human rights abuses worldwide, Baroness Hollins told the
chamber: “Today, I will share my concerns about the rights of
people of all ages who live with learning disabilities. I have just
returned from Romania where I was invited to introduce the
Bucharest Declaration and Action Plan at a World Health
Organisation (WHO) Europe high-level conference. The Declaration is
called: ‘Better Health, Better Lives: improving the health and
wellbeing of children and young people with learning disabilities
and their families’. The Romanian Minister of Health signed the
Declaration on behalf of Ministers of Health from across the WHO
Europe Region of 53 countries.
“In many ways this Declaration was an unlikely
occurrence. Noble Lords will have heard about the terrible
conditions in which thousands of abandoned babies, disabled
children and young people live, and may have seen pictures of
children being kept in caged beds, in buildings which are little
more than warehouses for abandoned children. Media attention in
recent years has focused particularly on Romania, Bulgaria and the
Czech Republic. But these countries are not the only ones to be
failing children.
“There is still poor practice in many parts of
our Region. As many as a third-of-a-million disabled children and
young people still experience discrimination, neglect and abuse in
institutions in Europe, as well as in other countries throughout
the world. Most disabled children and young people and their
families are poor, with little formal support being provided for
them. Negative attitudes and stereotypes are the norm, and they
experience barriers in gaining access to health care. These are
human rights issues.”
Baroness Hollins continued: “I am encouraged
that the Noble Lord, the Minister, Lord Howell of Guildford has
convened an advisory group on human rights challenges to inform his
work at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I sincerely hope that
this group will have regard to the human rights abuses affecting
disabled children and young people in many parts of the world. I
would like to ask the Noble Lord, the Minister, to convene a
roundtable to discuss how expertise in this country can best be
used to improve the human rights of children and young people with
intellectual disabilities internationally.”
The House of Lords Appointments Commission
named Baroness Hollins as a non-party-political peer in October
this year, in recognition of her work focusing on the mental and
physical health of people with learning disabilities. She sits as a
crossbencher.
For further information, please
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Department.
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