In these last two days we have been gathered here to discuss policies towards equality of opportunity

State Secretary Hans Olav Syversen Ministry of Family and Children Affairs, Norway Closing speech Conference on Human Rights – Disability – Children, hosted by the Council of Europe Strasbourg, 8. – 9. November 2004 Ladies and gentlemen, friends, It has been a great pleasure for me to take part in this conference on behalf of the Norwegian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. In these last two days we have been together here to discuss policies towards equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. The main focus has been to identify policies and good practice that protects and promotes the rights and dignity of children with disabilities, a society which allows them to fully participate. We have been presented to, and discussed, the European human rights framework for disability policies, and have particularly focused one central theme in present day disability policy; deinstitutionalisation. And we have seen that these topics are reflected in the ongoing processes both in the international convention and in the Council of Europe action plan. Deinstitutionalisation has also been the theme in workshop 1, because this is a major challenge – we all know that institutional thinking is alive in all European countries, even though some countries have stronger tradition for large institutions than others do. We have to have alternatives! Not just to shut down – we need adequate alternatives. In ...