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Human Rights Comment
Reform of mental health services: an urgent need and a human rights imperative
Already in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was warning that substantial investment in mental health services was necessary to avert a mental health crisis. The evidence for the devastating impact of the pandemic on mental health is now overwhelming....
Human Rights Comments
Corruption undermines human rights and the rule of law
In recent years, in many European countries, including Romania, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, the Slovak Republic and Ukraine, people have taken to the streets in protests against systemic corruption, demanding respect for the rule of law, accountability of corrupt politicians and a...
Human Rights Comment
Learning from the pandemic to better fulfil the right to health
The COVID-19 pandemic has concentrated minds about the resilience of our health care systems and it is challenging member states’ health policies and their effectiveness. In addition, doctors, medical staff and health care staff are under unprecedented pressure. Do we have sufficient medical...
Human Rights Comment
Respecting the human rights of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities: an obligation not yet fully understood
The human rights of persons with disabilities is one of the areas I have taken up most frequently in my country work, with the most recurrent issues being the right to live in the community and deinstitutionalisation; the right to legal capacity; and the right to an inclusive education. A...
Human Rights Comment
Inclusive education vital for social cohesion in diverse societies
Public debates on the need to ensure more inclusive education for children and young adults who face social exclusion in diverse societies have recently rekindled in Europe. Evidence shows that in many European states the dropout rate of children coming from migrant families or minority groups,...
Human Rights Comment
Persons with disabilities have a right to be included in the community – and others must respect this principle
Persons with disabilities have long been cut off and forced to lead lives of isolation, in large-scale institutions or the back-rooms of family homes. Ironically, this has sometimes been inflicted on them with good intentions, in the name of charity, care, welfare or medical rehabilitation....
Human Rights Comment
Persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities must not be deprived of their individual rights
Persons with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities are today routinely placed under a guardianship regime in several European countries - they are deprived of their “legal capacity”. In the eyes of the law they are seen as non-persons and their decisions have no legal relevance. This policy...
Human Rights Comment
Persons with disabilities must not be denied the right to vote
People with disabilities do not generally ask for charity; they demand equal human rights. Their message was heard when the United Nations adopted a Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006. This treaty has now been ratified by 27 member states of the Council of Europe and...
Human Rights Comment
Inhuman treatment of persons with disabilities in institutions
The prosecutor general in Bulgaria has initiated criminal investigations into 166 deaths and 30 more cases of abuse of children living in state homes for young people with mental disabilities. This was an important signal not only for the Bulgarian authorities but for several other states with...
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Human Rights Comment
Addressing the invisibility of women and girls with disabilities
Often, women with disabilities are invisible and marginalised in society, including among those promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, and those promoting gender equality and the advancement of women. The exclusion of women with disabilities from decision-making spaces has for a long...
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