Tag: institutionalisation

PRESS RELEASE: UN finds Hungary responsible for “grave and systematic violations” of disability rights, condemns mass institutionalisation funded by the EU

in Article, Campaigns, Content type, Countries, Hungary, I’m A Person, My Home, My Choice, Press Release, Schools For All

The United Nations has today found Hungary responsible for “grave and systematic” violations of the human rights of persons with disabilities in the country. In a report released today, the UN found the country in flagrant breach of international law for placing people with disabilities in institutions, aided by the European Union which has provided…
Hungary: Validity expresses concern that European anti-torture committee wrongly supports transinstitutionalisation of persons with disabilities

in Article, Hungary, My Home, My Choice, Uncategorised

Last week, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) released a report following its monitoring visit to the country during 2018. The body, which has the mandate to conduct rolling inspections of places of detention across the Council of Europe, visited Hungarian prisons, police stations and social care homes, including the infamous Szentgotthárd…
Hungary, Topház: Names of public guardians of persons with disabilities must be made available on request

in Article, Hungary, My Home, My Choice, Uncategorised

Hungarian court orders the Guardianship Authority to disclose to Validity the names and addresses of the public guardians responsible for the 220 victims of torture and ill-treatment in Topház social care institution. More than 25,000 people with disabilities live in residential social care institutions in Hungary, most of them placed there against their will. These…
‘Urgently close Topház’ – says the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

in Article, Hungary, My Home, My Choice

18 February 2020, Budapest. Last week the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) published its Concluding Observations for Hungary. In November 2018, the CRC Committee requested the Hungarian Government to submit information on how Hungary has progressed on implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Child to which the…
Moldova: Doctor guilty of raping 18 women, compensation ordered

in Article, Moldova, My Home, My Choice

Eighteen women who were systematically sexually abused by their doctor at the Balti institution for a period of almost a decade in Moldova have finally achieved justice. Earlier this month, the Moldovan Supreme Court pronounced judgment in one of the most grievous cases of gender-based violence Validity has come across. Following 6 years of litigation,…
Bulgarian court finds guardian responsible for harm of forced institutionalisation

in Bulgaria, My Home, My Choice, Uncategorised

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 harm by failing to prevent…
Hungary must end rights abuses against persons with disabilities and stop targeting NGOs, says UN human rights committee

in Article, Campaigns, Content type, Countries, Hungary, I’m A Person, My Home, My Choice, Schools For All

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 persons with disabilities in Hungary continue to be institutionalised,…
Duped, detained and drugged

in Czech Republic, I’m A Person, My Home, My Choice

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 than 28,000 people living in social care institutions, and…
Polish Constitutional Court says stop segregating people with disabilities

in Article, I’m A Person, My Home, My Choice, Poland

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 him to a social care…
Russia: landmark judgment on parenting rights for persons with disabilities

in Article, I’m A Person, Russia

Today, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against the Russian Government in a Validity (formerly MDAC) case – Kocherov and Sergeyeva v. Russia. It is the first time in European legal history that stripping parental rights from a person with an intellectual disability has been found to breach international human rights law. The Kocherov family gave…