The signatories to this call to action acknowledge the leadership of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in their efforts to harmonize international human rights standards concerning children deprived of parental care. Read More
The European Commission has refused to make public documents submitted to it by the Hungarian Government concerning the use of European Union Structural and Investment Funds to finance the renovation and construction of institutions that segregate and discriminate against persons with disabilities. Validity, kindly assisted by… Read More
The European Committee of Social Rights has today found the Czech Republic responsible for large-scale and discriminatory institutionalisation of children with disabilities and Romani children in early childhood care institutions, criticising the failure of the country to adopt and implement an appropriate deinstitutionalisation strategy. In a decision released today,… Read More
Georgi Tsenov spent most of his life in horrible conditions in an institution, fighting to be able to make choices about his own life. Now he has finally achieved recognition by the State for the ill-treatment he suffered over decades. Sofia City Court affirmed that the guardianship authority caused him… Read More
In a disappointing decision issued last week, the Russian Constitutional Court rejected the right of a woman in a social care institution to visit her father. The two had brought the case complaining that the social care institution where the daughter resides unconstitutionally prevented her from… 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
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) 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