Tag: access to justice
-
Accountability for Modern Slavery in Romania: Reports of thousands of persons with disabilities placed in private, unregulated institutions point to grave human rights violations requiring urgent action
in RomaniaValidity is deeply concerned by reports from Romania that more than 3,000 persons with disabilities may have been transferred over a period of two decades from public authorities into the custody of a private individual operating unlawful and unregistered institutions. According to media reports and information now emerging in criminal proceedings, the private operator was allegedly contacted by hospitals, police and social services to…
-
Validity joins urgent call to Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to withdraw dangerous legislative proposal legitimising psychiatric coercion
The Validity Foundation has joined twelve other leading European organisations and networks of persons with disabilities to demand the urgent and immediate withdrawal of the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention. Full joint statement below. If adopted by the Council of Europe’s highest decision-making body, the Committee of Ministers, the Additional Protocol would be…
-
Ensuring Charter Compliance : Keys findings and lessons learnt from the FURI project
As the European Union enters critical negotiations for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework, the FURI project is coming to an end after revealing widespread non-compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in EU-funded projects. Launched in Spring 2024, the project aimed to strengthen the capacity of relevant stakeholders at both EU and national levels to…
-
Kenya: High Court’s affirmation of persons with disabilities’ legal capacity a welcome step forward
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Validity Foundation, and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights welcome the judgment of the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi (the Court) in the recent case of Wilson Nderitu Macharia v I&M Bank Limited in which the High Court affirmed that persons with disabilities have the right to obtain the services of private banks on an equal basis with all others, without being…
-
Zambia’s Historic First: Legal capacity Communication submitted to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
On 21 August 2025, The Validity Foundation, together with the Mental Health Users Network of Zambia (MHUNZA) and Disability Rights Watch (DRW) with the technical support of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), have submitted a landmark communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission).…
-
Woman with Lived Experience of Institutionalisation Wins Landmark Case Against Psychiatric Hospital in Bulgaria
On 23 April 2025, a district court in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, awarded substantial damages to Tanya Petkova, a woman with psychosocial disabilities, for repeated periods of psychiatric detention and coercive practices violating her dignity and autonomy and for the trauma inflicted upon her. The decision is a rare judicial acknowledgment of the impacts of intersecting…
-
Landmark Appeal Filed in SGBV Case Involving Woman with Psychosocial Disability in Uganda
On 12 May 2025, the Validity Foundation, together with our Ugandan partner, the Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI), filed submissions before the Court of Appeal in Kampala in a precedent-setting case concerning sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women with psychosocial disabilities. The Appellant, a woman with a psychosocial disability, was sexually assaulted by a private…
-
ENIL and Validity reaction to the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the European Union
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 concluding observations, adopted on 18 March, the CRPD…
-
Update: Validity’s work at the United Nations
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). Holding the EU Accountable: Validity’s Submission…
-
Seasonal Appeal 2024
In 2024, our client Victor achieved a major victory at the European Court of Human Rights. His experience of torture and discrimination as a young person in Moldova was recognised as a grave human rights violation by the highest court in Europe. The judgment represents a major step forward for Victor and others in similar…