Mental health law reform in Zambia is desperately overdue. The outdated Mental Disorders Act [Chapter 305 of the Laws of Zambia] perpetuates discrimination, human rights violations, and abuses against persons with mental disabilities. It denies mental health care users the rights to live with dignity, make decisions about their care,… Read More
The European Committee of Social Rights has ruled that the systematic denial of inclusive education to tens of thousands of children with disabilities in Flanders breaches their fundamental rights. Merel Coen from Ruiselede, Belgium, was denied enrolment at her local school due to her disability. Photo: Family. In… 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.) The Topház Special Home is a… 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
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
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 in Geneva today to members… Read More