A/HRC/40/27 being placed into institutions, frequently upon the advice of medical professionals. There is ample evidence demonstrating that institutions are detrimental to a child’s development and well-being. Children growing up in institutional environments experience delays in their development, especially in early childhood, and potentially irreversible psychological damage, including that caused by emotional neglect. Institutionalized children run a much higher risk of psychological, physical and sexual violence. Moreover, institutionalization is one of the most serious barriers to inclusive education. 21. Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for the right to live independently and be included in the community, which precludes segregation and institutionalization for the purposes of care or treatment. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has repeatedly identified deinstitutionalization as a matter of priority. It has stressed that States are required to have a strategy and a concrete action plan for deinstitutionalization that requires the closure of institutions as well as systematic transformation leading to the creation of community-based inclusive support services. 18 These strategies must be cross-sectoral, involving social welfare, social protection, health, education and finance ministries, in order to establish coherent and sustainable community and family-based services. They should engage all actors to the same end, including training and awareness-raising among community and social workers, as well as health and education professionals, in order to foster a commitment by the entire community. 22. Engagement with the community is necessary to facilitate empowerment. No child is an island; children flourish when they are included in their community, and they should be exposed to multiple spaces where they can participate and feel that they belong. School should not be portrayed as the only option; sports and peer support and exchange are also activities and spaces that foster their inclusion and empowerment. 23. In spite of the ongoing practice of institutionalizing children with disabilities, targeted efforts towards deinstitutionalization are being made in a number of countries. In its submission, Croatia described its plan of deinstitutionalization and transformation of social welfare homes and other legal entities, a national strategy to implement deinstitutionalization and the transformation of care institutions, particularly by developing the range of non-institutional services for children with developmental disabilities, and supporting their full inclusion in community life by ensuring the availability of the requisite services. A variety of community services have been developed to support the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in community life. These include organized housing with support, counselling and other services provided through mobile teams, psychosocial support services, and early intervention and assistance to facilitate the inclusion of children with disabilities in education. The strategy includes specialized training for education assistants and efforts to increase the involvement of children with disabilities in the community through sport, alongside the expansion of accessible sporting and other community facilities. 24. According to the submission of Romania, the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and Adoption is implementing a project on the development of plans for the deinstitutionalization of children deprived of parental care and their transfer to community-based care, with the aim of continuing the process of deinstitutionalization of children, including children with disabilities. The project supports the capacity of local authorities to close down institutions and to develop alternative services for children through the social protection system. Children with disabilities are involved in the assessment of activities carried out within the project, and their opinions are taken into account when the placement centres where they reside are in the process of being closed. 25. In Sweden, in order to promote the full participation and equality of children with disabilities, all institutional accommodation has been phased out, replaced by alternative forms of community-based financial support and targeted services, developed to enable children with disabilities to live independently. The Försäkringskassan administers targeted 18 See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 5. 7