Across all nine provinces of Sri Lanka, persons with psychosocial disabilities came together with representative and cross-disability organizations, caregiver networks, healthcare workers, and other stakeholders to share their experiences, identify gaps and shape recommendations for Sri Lanka’s upcoming review under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) during the Committee’s August session (2026).
Led by NCS-CAF (Consumer Action Forum), together with We for Rights and Open Minds Sri Lanka, the nationwide process was peer-led, participatory and rights-based, ensuring that persons with psychosocial disabilities actively shaped the evidence and recommendations, and it was based on the movement’s experiences and priorities. TCI Global was proud to support this member-led process in Sri Lanka, along with providing technical expertise wherever requested for.
The process has resulted in a shadow report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, documenting the exclusionary practices, laws and policies, priorities and recommendations of persons with psychosocial disabilities on legal capacity, liberty, community living, autonomy, health, education, employment and other rights. It also highlights discriminatory provisions affecting persons with psychosocial disabilities in Sri Lanka’s proposed Mental Health Act.
For the movement, this is an opportunity to challenge exclusion, strengthen participation, and ensure that persons with psychosocial disabilities remain central and are supported as leaders in the policies and processes that affect their lives.
To read about the Committee’s dialogue with the State Party, please refer here:
