Santiago de Chile hosted an international seminar and exchange workshop jointly organised by the programme and SENADIS from Chile, in coordination with the EU delegation to the country to further this objective
EUROsociAL+, though its social policies department, took part in a collaboration activity with Chile’s National Disability Service (Servicio Nacional de Discapacidad – SENADIS) in Santiago de Chile from 27 to 29 June. This had two objectives: to support initiatives to build consensus about the Bill on the legal capacity of people with disabilities; and to feed the contributions of international specialists into the drafting process for the Bill.
Through this new law, Chile will be able to move from the current system of substitution of personal capacity – characterised by concepts of incapacity and guardianship – to autonomy, in line with international standards, particularly Article 12 of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
EUROsociAL+ facilitated the involvement of a number of experts and public servants from Europe and Latin America (the UK, Spain, Colombia, Costa Rica and Brazil) with experience of developing similar policies. These specialists played an active role in the activities, sharing their experiences and best practices, and working closely with the multidisciplinary Chilean team working on the process.
A seminar was held on the first day featuring representatives of Chile’s legal, academic and professional communities. At this event, national and international experts set out a legal and conceptual framework for the human rights of people with disabilities, the legal capacity of people with disabilities under Chilean law, and the support systems and safeguards in Comparative Law. The event was attended by a number of persons in their official capacity, such as the Social Development minister, Marcos Barraza Gómez, the European Union ambassador to Chile, Stella Zervoudaki, and the Director of the National Disability Service, Daniel Concha Gamboa.
A workshop was held over the following two days for peer review of the first draft of the Bill, which had been distributed to the participating experts in the preceding weeks. The specialists mobilised by EUROsociAL worked closely with Chilean public servants to develop a new draft of the Bill, enriched by their international experiences. The Bill is expected to be presented to, and approved by, Congress during the current legislature.
EUROsociAL+. Área de política sociales / social policies unit, IILA
