At its Human Rights meeting from 9 to 11 March, the Committee of Ministers examined the case Stanev v. Bulgaria, which concerns the poor living conditions to which the applicant, a person with mental disability and partially incapacitated, was exposed in a social care home from 2002-2009, and the lack of a domestic remedy in this regard (violations of Articles 3 and 13). The case also involves violations arising from his confinement in the social care home, which was unlawful because the authorities had failed to ascertain whether he consented to his placement and because of the lack of recent medical evidence attesting to the continuing need to confine him (violation of Article 5 § 1). The applicant moreover had no judicial remedies available to challenge the lawfulness of his placement or to claim compensation (violations of Article 5 §§ 4 and 5). He also lacked access to court to seek the revocation of his partial incapacitation (violation of Article 6 § 1).
The Committee positively noted the overall progress achieved, including improvements in the material and hygiene conditions in social care homes for people with mental disabilities and the provision of domestic remedies. It called for information on the sustainability of the recent positive trends to remedy the long-standing problems, especially to ensure appropriate staff levels in social institutions to avoid the risk of reccurrence of serious forms of neglect and unhygienic conditions.
Considering the authorities’ consistent efforts in this area and the overall progress achieved also in the above and other areas, the Committee decided to transfer the Stanev case from enhanced to standard supervision and encouraged the authorities to engage in consultations with the Secretariat on the outstanding questions.
