Straightjackets and Seclusion
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
Uganda: People with Psychosocial Disabilities Demand, “End the Abuse!”
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
A tribute to Rusi Stanev
We would like to share a few words on hearing the news that our dear client, collaborator, friend and hero Rusi Stanev has died, at the age of 61. Our hearts go out to people whose lives were touched by Rusi, to the Bulgarian disability rights movement, and to our… Read More
Zambia Must Close Abusive Institutions, says UN Expert
Ms. Catalina Devandas, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Disabilities has welcomed greater respect for the rights of people with disabilities in Zambia since 2010, but says the country must go further and abolish abusive practices against people with mental disabilities. In her report to the UN… Read More
Poland: Government admits failure to investigate rape of man with intellectual disabilities
Peter* has intellectual disabilities and lives in Poland. Ten years ago he was 33, and one day came home from attending a day-care centre and told his mother that he had been raped by a therapist at the centre and that he had been beaten with a belt. They went… Read More
Slovakia: UN says stop putting people in cages and get them out of institutions
The UN Human Rights Committee has recommended that the Slovakian Government abolish cage beds and restraints in psychiatric institutions and speed up the evacuation of people with disabilities out of institutions and into the community. More than 40,000 people with disabilities live in Slovakia’s social care… Read More
Moldova: Psychiatrist guilty of raping multiple women with disabilities
Today in Bălți, Moldova, a psychiatrist was found guilty of several counts of rape that he committed during the course of a decade against 16 women under his care in a 400-bed social care institution. Dr. Florea Stanislav was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. Ana (not her real name) recounted… Read More
Moldova: Constitutional Court Finds Guardianship Violations, But Will Government Listen?
Today the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova called time on guardianship, an outdated and unjust system that harms people with disabilities. This follows an international trend away from removing rights, and towards providing supports for people to make decisions about their own lives. Guardianship entraps around 4,000 people… Read More
Russia: For first time Russia admits overcrowding and injustice in psychiatric hospital
After six years of litigation at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Russian Government has admitted violations of our client, Rafael Usmanov’s rights. He was detained in an overcrowded secure psychiatric hospital and denied any opportunity of having his detention reviewed. It is the first… Read More
Duped, detained and drugged
Today, the European Court of Human Rights found that 55-year-old Jaroslav Červenka from the Czech Republic was deceived and wrongfully held in a social care institution for eight months (judgment here). Validity (formerly MDAC) calls on the Government to prohibit disability-based incarceration, and to evacuate the more… Read More
Polish Constitutional Court says stop segregating people with disabilities
The Polish Constitutional Court has ruled that laws allowing guardians to detain people in social care institutions without court’s supervision are unconstitutional. This landmark judgment should change the law for an estimated 12,500 people under guardianship living in institutions. In 2002, Mr Stanislaw Kędzior’s brother was his guardian and sent… Read More