European Day of Disabled People
1999
The European Commission will be celebrating again the European
Day of Disabled People on 3 December 1999. This Day brings together disabled
and non-disabled people in a major effort to promote the rights of the disabled
people across Europe. It is organised in collaboration with the European
Disability Forum.
This year the European Day is devoted to the theme 'Violence and Disabled People'. Violence against disabled people is a phenomenon which is not uncommon in today's society. Research consistently proves that people with disabilities are at greater risk of being abused or encountering violence against themselves than the non-disabled population. Through the 1999 European Day, the European Commission wishes to raise awareness of violence against disabled people and to encourage people, both disabled and non-disabled, to take action to prevent and to combat it.
Several activities will be organised for the European day. A conference on the theme 'Disabled people and violence: root causes and prevention' will take place in Brussels on the 3 December (Charlemagne building).
A film competition has also been organised and, during an award gala evening in Brussels on 2 December, the jury will announce the winner among the 10 films produced.
Internet pages detailing all the information and programmes for the conference and the award gala evening are available at: http://users.skynet.be/ecosolutions/welcomepage.htm
