A/HRC/40/27 context, councils have been set up to support the participation of persons with impairments in matters affecting them, in coordination with associations of parents of children with disabilities. Ombudspersons also play an important role in supporting the participation of children and adolescents with disabilities in decision-making at the municipal level. 18. In its submission, Denmark described how the Danish Disability Council supports campaigns to raise awareness and promote respect for the rights of persons with disabilities. The Act on Social Services stipulates that municipalities, in cooperation with parents, are to involve the child or young person with impaired physical or mental function when identifying their needs, taking into account their views, age and maturity, as well as their best interests. A caseworker tool, developed to strengthen the support given by municipalities to children with disabilities, stores relevant information on their circumstances, including on the individual views of the child. III. Core elements of an enabling environment A. Living and being included in the community 19. Families can be a fundamental channel to a child’s empowerment. The importance of growing up in a supportive family environment for the full and harmonious development of a child’s personality is recognized throughout the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 14 Article 23 of the latter treaty guarantees the equal rights of children with disabilities with respect to family life, and sets out the State’s obligation to provide early and comprehensive information, services and support to children with disabilities and their families in order to prevent concealment, abandonment, neglect and segregation of children with disabilities (para. 3). It prohibits a child’s separation from their parents against their will unless deemed in the child’s best interests, precluding any separation on the basis of a disability of either the child or one or both of the parents (para. 4); and where the immediate family is unable to care for them, every effort should be made to provide alternative care within the wider family and, as a measure of last resort, within the community in a family setting (para. 5). The standards clearly show that, for children, the core of the right to live independently and be included in the community entails a right to grow up in a family, and that the necessary information, guidance and assistance should be provided to families to ensure that they can in turn provide support and living conditions necessary for the child’s optimum development. 15 This support must be respectful of the rights and evolving capacities of the child and the increasing contribution they make to their own lives. 16 20. Despite the fact that the placement of children with disabilities in institutional care remains a practice in many countries, 17 according to article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, all persons with disabilities have the right to live in the community, with choices equal to those of others, and must have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others. The institutionalization of children with disabilities heightens their risk of rights violations on multiple grounds, and is in itself an inherently disempowering practice that impedes their inclusion and participation in the community. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has in particular highlighted the higher risk run by children with intellectual disabilities, children with autism and children with psychosocial disabilities 14 15 16 17 6 See preamble to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and preamble to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and arts. 5, 9 and 18. See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 5, paras. 37, 67, 75 and 87, and Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 20, para. 50. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 20, para. 50. UNICEF, Children and Young People with Disabilities, Fact Sheet, May 2013, p. 24. See also UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children Report 2013: Children with Disabilities, May 2013, p. 42; and United Nations, Realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with Persons with Disabilities, UN Flagship Report on Disability and Development 2018, p. 247.