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Dear Readers, 

Welcome to the first edition of MDAC's quarterly newsletter!   

Our aim is to keep you informed of our activities, advances, and the challenges faced in advocating for the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities and people with mental health disabilities in our countries and on the international plane. We intend to provide focused articles and provide links to further information where appropriate. This first edition reports on MDAC's activities in the first half of this year. Legal capacity has featured widely as one of MDAC's main areas of focus. Read more.
 
mdac logo Before the Courts

A large part of MDAC's activities focuses on strategic litigation before national and international courts.  While the aim of taking cases is to seek justice for the individual concerned, there is a parallel objective of achieving broader legal and social reform.  MDAC thereby selects cases which carry an impact on a wider group of individuals and where an identified gap in the law or its application leads to human rights violations. Read more.
 
Recent Decisions

Russia: Constitutional Court judgment welcomed as first and important step to reform Russia's outdated system of guardianship and bring it into line with international legal obligations. Read more.
 
The Czech Constitutional Court found a violation of Mr K's right to a fair trial in compensation proceedings for violation of his rights under guardianship. The Constitutional Court criticised the lower courts that dismissed Mr K's legal action. As obiter dictum, the Constitutional Court underlined that restriction of legal capacity on procedural acts violates basic freedoms and rights of people with disabilities.   Read more

Czech Republic: Prague District Court grants 1,300 EUR compensation to Ms T who was involuntarily hospitalised for 60 days in Prague Psychiatric Hospital in 2007. Read more.

ECHR News

In the recent case of Glor v. Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights has for the first time (1) found a violation of the right to non-discrimination on the basis of the applicant's disability, (2) referred to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and (3) used the human rights concept of "reasonable accommodation". Read more.

Law Reform

New mental health law adopted in Egypt.
Read more.

MDAC and the League of Human Rights have been working in an NGO coalition to encourage the Czech government to adopt a new Civil Code which reforms the system of legal capacity for persons with disabilities. The adoption of the new law has been postponed until after general elections in autumn 2009. Read more.

With its NGO partners, MDAC has been advocating for guardianship reform in Hungary for several years. The Government has agreed with a draft Civil Code heavily influenced by civil society, and the Parliament will vote on adopting the draft in September 2009.  Read more.
 
mdac logo Projects

In January 2009, MDAC began implementing a new project in Russia funded primarily by the Swedish Helsinki Committee. The project's main focus is upon Russia's outdated guardianship system which is in dire need of a comprehensive reform to achieve compliance with the country's international obligations. While legal capacity and guardianship have been one of the key areas of MDAC's work in Russia for years, this project breaks new ground for us by switching to advocacy aimed directly at the federal-level policy-makers based in Moscow. Read more.

MDAC is participating in the "ASPEN" project, an EU public health-funded project, whose overall goal is to contribute to reducing stigma and discrimination against people diagnosed with depression in EU Member States. Read more.
 
mdac logo People
Dmitri Bartenev

MDAC lawyer, Dmitri Bartenev, received a special award from the Russian Federal Bar Association in recognition of his outstanding achievements in advocating for the rights of people with mental disabilities. Read more.
 
International Advocacy & Policy

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During their first session of the year, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted two texts aimed at ensuring access to rights for people with disabilities and their full and active participation in all areas of life.  MDAC assisted Rapporteur Bernard Marquet in compiling his report, and recently had a chance to interview him on how these important instruments were developed.  Read more.
 
Events

MDAC-UK

MDAC launched its sister charity "MDAC-UK" at a fund-raising event at the House of Lords in London earlier this year. Read more.
 

MDAC wishes to thank all our supporters without whom our work would not be possible.  In particular, we wish to thank: Open Society Institute - Budapest, the Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Swedish Helsinki Committee, the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Norwegian EEA/EFTA Financial Mechanism with the Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation and its partners.
MDAC also extends its gratitude to each and every individual donor for their generous contributions.  

Continue to support us by making a contribution here, and if you're a UK taxpayer you can make a GiftAid donation there too.