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 United Nations Committee against Torture has expressed concern about the continued restraint of people with mental disabilities in so-called ‘net beds’ in Czech psychiatric facilities. The comments came following a wide-ranging review of the country’s progress in stamping out torture by the UN’s top expert… Read More
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has expressed concern about widespread human rights violations against persons with disabilities in Hungary. The Committee, which is the UN’s authoritative body overseeing global implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), noted that large number of… Read More
The Hungarian Data Protection Authority has found that Validity did not breach data protection and privacy rules when it visited the Topház social care institution and published its report exposing ill-treatment and neglect against residents of the institution. (Click here for Hungarian.)… Read More
NGOs are demanding the suspension and redesign of deinstitutionalisation projects managed by the Hungarian government with funding from the European Commission. According to the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), the Validity Foundation (formerly MDAC) and the European Network on Independent Living, the scheme to ‘deinstitutionalise’ 29 large institutions breaches national… Read More
Yesterday, the Czech Constitutional Court ruled in favour of David Vratislav, a 24-year-old young man suing the local authorities for failing to provide him with the social services he needed. The court said that every person, including people with high support needs, has the right to receive adequate social services… Read More
Today, Mental Health Uganda (MHU) and Validity release a new film documenting the lives and experiences of people with mental health issues across the country. Entitled “The faces of mental health in Uganda“, the film vividly depicts the social isolation and human rights violations faced by… Read More
Lusaka Zambia – On 17 November, Zambian disability activists from the Mental Health Users Network of Zambia (MHUNZA) and Disability Rights Watch (DRW) held a press conference on the outcome of decision of the Zambian High Court concerning the constitutionality of the 1949 Mental Disorders Act. In a Petition brought by three… Read More
Children with mental disabilities, including those with intellectual and psycho-social (mental health) disabilities are perhaps one of the most marginalised groups in the European Union, frequently overlooked by policy-makers, lawyers, judges and broader society. Through research, Validity (formerly MDAC) and our partners have found that children with disabilities experience multiple… Read More
Robert Martin, CRPD Committee Member, talks institutionalistion, ill-treatment and human rights. Earlier this month, Validity (formerly MDAC) published a first-of-its-kind monitoring methodology for identifying and preventing abuse of children with mental disabilities in institutions – the CHARM Toolkit. The Toolkit was the product of a two-year, EC-funded project carried out… Read More
Validity (formerly MDAC) expresses its unequivocal opposition to legislation passed this month in Hungary which undermines the rule of law, freedom of association and respect for fundamental rights of independent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in this country. The law, which directly affects Validity and many other human rights organisations operating… Read More
Validity (formerly MDAC) is today calling for the immediate closure of state-run institutions for people with disabilities in Hungary after an investigation of one large scale institution discovered children and adults who had been tortured and abused, including being tied to beds and restrained with makeshift straitjackets. One three-year-old was… Read More
Joint statement by the Pan African Network of People with Psychosocial Disabilities (PANSUP), Mental Health Uganda and the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (now Validity). Last week Validity (formerly MDAC) was in Uganda and produced this 5-minute video, which is being shown… Read More