Category: I’m A Person
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Moldova: ECHR finds Moldova responsible for failing to protect women with intellectual disabilities against forced abortion and contraception
On 22 November, the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment in G.M. and others v. the Republic of Moldova, a case represented by a Moldovan lawyer Violeta Gaşiţoi, which Validity supported as an amicus curiae. The Court found that Moldova violated Article 3 of the Convention, which protects against abortions and contraception to…
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Strengthening the rights of victims of crime with disabilities in Europe: From ‘blank space’ to humanising justice
The justice system is confusing and intimidating for many victims of crime, but victims with disabilities face almost insurmountable barriers. Research conducted by the Voices for Justice project in 7 EU countries, and brought together in the ‘Humanising Justice’ report published in 2022, found a ‘blank space’, as people with disabilities experience entrenched physical, attitudinal, institutional,…
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Czechia: Reports expose shocking use of mechanical restraints in psychiatric institutions
A psychiatric hospital in Opava, Czechia, kept a young woman in mechanical restraint for over 12-years. The story was exposed by a Czech human rights activist, supported by Validity, who managed to obtain reports of monitoring visits in 2018 of Czech psychiatric hospitals conducted as a part of a programme of psychiatric reform. The reports…
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Slovakia: European Court of Human Rights condemns failure to protect the life of a girl with intellectual disability in police custody
In September, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Slovakia for failing to protect the life of a 17-year-old girl with an intellectual disability who almost died in police custody. The victim described being verbally and physically abused by the police while being taken to the police station. Then, under unclear circumstances, she fell out…
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The European Court finds once again that Bulgaria has breached the right to vote of persons with disabilities
On 5 July 2022, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Mr. Genchev’s right to vote was infringed because a director of a psychiatric institution made it impossible for him to vote in the Bulgarian legislative elections. On 12 May 2005 Mr Genchev went to the Radnevo Psychiatric hospital for a voluntary treatment. During…
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Finland: Validity intervenes before the European Court of Human Rights to argue coercive psychiatric treatment violates the Convention
At the beginning of June, Validity intervened in the case H.H. v. Finland in which the applicant complained of coercive treatment in a psychiatric hospital. She was medicated against her will but could not turn anywhere to complain and try to stop it. The courts refused to hear her case. Many people with psychosocial disabilities…
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Joint statement on suspension of the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention
Joint statement welcoming the suspension of the adoption of the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention We, organisations of persons with disabilities, non-governmental organisations, international and human rights bodies, including national human rights institutions and equality bodies, welcome the decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe that suspends the…
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Romani man wins unlawful detention case against Slovak Police
Bratislava, Brussels, Budapest, 4 May 2022: The Bratislava I District Court have ruled in favour of a 30-year-old Romani man with an intellectual disability who was illegally held in police custody for four weeks in 2013. The Court, in its first instance judgment, awarded the man from Moldava nad Bodvou €4,000 in compensation for his…
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Moldova: Validity calls on European Court of Human Rights to recognise forced abortion and sterilisation as torture
Validity has intervened before the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) in the case G.M. and others v. the Republic of Moldova. Our intervention highlights that forced sterilisation and forced abortion are forms of torture and ill-treatment, and constitute systemic discrimination against women with disabilities. We also explained that legal systems condone these acts…
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Ukraine: Validity urges European Court of Human Rights to condemn forensic psychiatric detention
Recently, Validity intervened in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine brought by a young woman with a psychosocial disability who was detained and treated against her will in a psychiatric hospital. The Ukrainian prosecution accused Ms Tymoshenko of hurting another person. Eventually, the criminal court decided that she could not understand and control her…