UPDATE We remember Gábor Gombos, who passed away on 5 June 2022. Gábor’s work shaped the Hungarian and international disability movement, and his stories, presentations, speeches, and thoughts went to the heart of his audience. The book titled ’The World – Without Cage Beds: World-Shaping Narratives by Gábor Gombos’… Read More
The ENABLE project is focused on developing partnerships between persons with disabilities, organisations of persons with disabilities and lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and social services providers across EU countries to enhance the accessibility and fairness of criminal proceedings for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. As the project enters its final… Read More
Today, in collaboration with the Network of Independent Experts-NIE and the KERA Foundation, the Validity Foundation launched two major reports in Sofia, Bulgaria, during an international conference titled “Unveiling Injustice: Deinstitutionalisation and intersectionality in disability rights.” One of the reports is the outcome of a series… Read More
Validity had the honour of hosting Ivana Jankovic, a passionate young disabled activist, for a week as part of the Youth Leadership Programme organised by the European Network on Independent Living. Joining us from her come country Montenegro, Ivana has been actively involved in the disability rights movement since… Read More
For the first time, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the Czech Republic violated a young man’s right to life due to wrong and violent interventions by the staff of a locked psychiatric hospital and police, tragically resulting in his death. Read More
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) has recently published its findings concerning Hungary’s progress on implementing recommendations following its findings that the country responsible for grave and systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Committee highlighted that Hungary… Read More
The Supreme Court of Zambia has handed down a judgment ruling against a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 4 of the Zambian Mental Health Act 2019. While applauding the petitioners, Sylvester Katontonka of the Mental Health Users’ Network of Zambia (MHUNZA) and Wamundila Waliuya… Read More
Today, Ukrainian OPDs and civil society called on the political leadership and all humanitarian actors dealing with the crisis in Ukraine to ensure international assistance prioritizes deinstitutionalization and inclusion in the community for all persons with disabilities, in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities… Read More
The following is an open letter on behalf of the Validity Foundation to the Government of Romania and international bodies concerning recent events in Romania (list of recipients below). On 4 July 2023, the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (Direcția de Investigare a Infracțiunilor de Criminalitate Organizată… Read More
A key cross-cutting objective for Validity is to contribute to the global push to end all forms of torture and ill-treatment faced by persons with disabilities. In this context, Validity works with partners to represent numerous victims with disabilities in Europe and Africa, with the strategic goals of ending… Read More
Victims with disabilities face almost insurmountable barriers blocking their access to criminal justice in Europe. They are denied their right to be heard, to tell their story, to give evidence, to seek effective remedies, to understand their rights and the proceedings: “…throughout the whole pre-trial phase the victim was neither… Read More
On 5 July 2022, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Mr. Genchev’s right to vote was infringed because a director of a psychiatric institution made it impossible for him to vote in the Bulgarian legislative elections. On 12 May… Read More