A/HRC/28/37 ensuring free and informed consent to prevent forced institutionalization and deprivation of liberty.42 56. Submissions for the study contained descriptions of the variety of mechanisms in place to monitor the implementation of deinstitutionalization policies and the incidence of abuse in current segregated settings, and to ensure access to justice. Such mechanisms include general judicial remedies, national human rights institutions, ombudsmen, specific bodies established by disability laws, insurance bodies and independent monitoring mechanisms established in line with article 33, paragraph 2, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires that States parties take into account the principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights. In some States, including Lithuania, specific interinstitutional bodies have been established to oversee the deinstitutionalization process. National preventive mechanisms created in compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment have also been mandated, in some cases, to monitor residential institutions. Regardless of the mechanism, its independence must be secured and guided by the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. V. International cooperation 57. International cooperation has, in some cases, been directed to promote independent and community living. In Serbia, Oxfam, Handicap International, Irish Aid and the United Nations Development Programme funded pilot projects of personal assistance services from 2001 to 2009. In 2013, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development worked with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency to establish two independent living centres in Johannesburg, South Africa to build local capacities and replicate the model in other parts of South Africa and the region.43 In the Republic of Moldova, the partnership between OHCHR and the Ministry of Health led to a system-wide decision in 2013 to move, within 18 months, from reliance on large psychiatric hospitals to community-based support. In addition, OHCHR-led United Nations cooperation contributed to the establishment in 2014 of the first non-governmental organization of users and survivors of psychiatry in the Republic of Moldova, and the subsequent opening of the country’s first user-managed community center and multiple-service provider. VI. Conclusions 58. Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities illustrates the paradigm shift from a medical and charity approach to a social and human rights-based approach to disability. Persons with disabilities, without exception, have the right to live independently and be included in the community. In practice, however, some groups are more likely to be excluded than others. 59. States parties have the obligation to comply with article 19 by putting an end to the segregation of persons with disabilities and enabling them to have control over 42 43 16 See the thematic report by OHCHR on the structure and role of national mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (A/HRC/13/29). Report of the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development on monitoring of the implementation of the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (E/CN.5/2013/10).