Tag: legal capacity
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Finland: Validity intervenes before the European Court of Human Rights to argue coercive psychiatric treatment violates the Convention
At the beginning of June, Validity intervened in the case H.H. v. Finland in which the applicant complained of coercive treatment in a psychiatric hospital. She was medicated against her will but could not turn anywhere to complain and try to stop it. The courts refused to hear her case. Many people with psychosocial disabilities…
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Moldova: Validity calls on European Court of Human Rights to recognise forced abortion and sterilisation as torture
Validity has intervened before the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) in the case G.M. and others v. the Republic of Moldova. Our intervention highlights that forced sterilisation and forced abortion are forms of torture and ill-treatment, and constitute systemic discrimination against women with disabilities. We also explained that legal systems condone these acts…
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Ukraine: Validity urges European Court of Human Rights to condemn forensic psychiatric detention
Recently, Validity intervened in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine brought by a young woman with a psychosocial disability who was detained and treated against her will in a psychiatric hospital. The Ukrainian prosecution accused Ms Tymoshenko of hurting another person. Eventually, the criminal court decided that she could not understand and control her…
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Bulgaria: Stefan Stankov continues his fight for independence
For 20 years, Stefan Stankov has been fighting for recognition as a person under the law. Sadly, his journey is one familiar to many people with psychosocial disabilities. Mr. Stankov was deprived of his legal capacity in 1999 and then institutionalised for 15 years. He lived in appalling conditions, isolated from the community and under…
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Hungary: Budapest Court confirms Government must release the names of public guardians on request
Topház Social Care Institution became widely known after Validity revealed the inhumane and horrific treatment of its residents in a 2017 report. 220 residents were subject to torture and ill-treatment in Topház. Children as well as adult residents were put in metal cage beds, routinely chemically and/or physically restrained, were underweight, and physically, mentally and emotionally neglected. Topház is a closed institution and almost all residents are placed under guardianship. Validity made several attempts to get access to victims in…
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Hungary: Disability rights organisations address lack of respect for the rights of persons with disabilities through the UN’s Universal Periodic Review
Yesterday, Validity Foundation together with the Hungarian Autistic Society, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Living Independently in the Community Advocacy Group, and the Step by Step! Association submitted a shadow report to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), an important human rights process conducted by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Validity also contributed to…
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Romanian Constitutional Court says plenary guardianship is unconstitutional
This month, the Constitutional Court of Romania declared that Article 164(1) of the Civil Code addressing ‘judicial interdiction’ for adults with disabilities is unconstitutional. Judicial interdiction is a legal term that is also known as ‘full guardianship’ or ‘plenary guardianship’ under which adults with disabilities are denied the right to make decisions about their own…
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‘I’m finally free!’: Moldovan courts quash guardianship order in favour of support
Following almost a decade of legal action, Natalia Sitova, our client from Moldova, achieved victory at the Chisinau Court of Appeal, in a claim to regain her autonomy which was discriminatorily restricted on the basis of her disability. “Natalia has always considered herself as able to act on her own behalf. She can, directly,…
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Bulgaria: Validity intervenes at European Court of Human Rights on voting rights of people with disabilities
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is currently examining the case of a Bulgarian man who was not allowed to vote in the parliamentary election in May 2017 due to his placement under partial guardianship. With the help of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee he has challenged his disenfranchisement before the ECtHR. Validity submitted a…