Under this campaign, we call for recognition of equal citizenship of people with mental disabilities, including their right to make decisions about their own lives. Too often, people with mental disabilities are labelled as “incompetent” or are denied the right to decide by punitive guardianship systems. They may be denied the right to vote, to marry, to manage their own money, and even to decide where to live. Instead of systems based on restriction and control, we push governments to provide support to people to make their own decision – so that they can be the authors of their own lives.
The European Network on Independent Living – ENIL and the Validity Foundation welcome the adoption of the concluding observations on the combined second and third periodic reports of the European Union by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee). In the… Read More
At the beginning of 2025, Validity worked on and submitted three submissions to UN Treaty Bodies. We contributed to the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee). Read More
First-ever European Court decision on servitude of persons with disabilities reveals systemic failures in Moldova’s deinstitutionalisation practices Validity has prepared an Easy-to-Read Summary of the Court’s Decision: see here. The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a groundbreaking judgment… Read More
I have reached the end of a precious year spent with the Validity Foundation. This piece is a brief record of the activities I participated in and the moments I witnessed during this short yet eventful year at Validity. It is also an attempt to reflect on what this… Read More
In a ground-breaking judgment today, the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) condemned Hungary for failing to protect the lives of institutionalised persons with disabilities. States must effectively investigate the context and conditions in which people in institutions die, the Court also said. The judgment sends… Read More
Az Emberi Jogok Európai Bírósága („a Bíróság”) a mai napon közzétett úttörő ítéletében elítélte Magyarországot, amiért nem védte meg a fogyatékossággal élő, intézményben elhelyezett személyek életét. Az államoknak hatékonyan ki kell vizsgálniuk az intézményekben elhelyezett emberek halálának összefüggéseit és körülményeit – mondta ki a Bíróság. Az ítélet… Read More
On July 26, the UN Committee against Torture issued its Concluding Observations on the sixth periodic report of the Republic of Korea under the UN Convention against Torture. The Committee called on the Republic of Korea to provide remedies to victims of torture with… Read More
In July 2024, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) published its first-ever general comment on Article 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (places of deprivation of liberty). To effectively fulfil the… Read More
During the 17th Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP17), the Validity Foundation and the Network of Independent Experts-NIE internationally launched a new monitoring report on torture and ill-treatment of persons with disabilities in Bulgarian institutions, including in small… Read More
UPDATE We remember Gábor Gombos, who passed away on 5 June 2022. Gábor’s work shaped the Hungarian and international disability movement, and his stories, presentations, speeches, and thoughts went to the heart of his audience. The book titled ’The World – Without Cage Beds: World-Shaping Narratives by Gábor Gombos’… Read More
Today, in collaboration with the Network of Independent Experts-NIE and the KERA Foundation, the Validity Foundation launched two major reports in Sofia, Bulgaria, during an international conference titled “Unveiling Injustice: Deinstitutionalisation and intersectionality in disability rights.” One of the reports is the outcome of a series… Read More