27 April 2010, Budapest, Hungary. Yesterday the Hungarian Constitutional Court shattered hopes that Hungary would reform its guardianship laws, jeopardizing the rights of 80,000 people with disabilities under guardianship.

It will be of considerable alarm and concern for the international community that in its first judgment after Sunday’s landslide victory by the Fidesz party in Hungary’s general election, the Constitutional Court has undermined the legal status of one of the most vulnerable groups in Hungarian society, namely people with disabilities stripped of their legal capacity.

16 April 2010, Budapest (Hungary), Moscow (Russian Federation). The Mental Disability Advocacy Center has completed a mission to the Russian Federation where it led discussions on ongoing reform efforts in the fields of legal capacity and guardianship in light of Russia’s forthcoming ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

On 13 April, MDAC participated at a hearing on the right to legal capacity, held at the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament. Article 12 of the CRPD requires States Parties to recognize that all persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life, and to ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law.

Budapest, 2010. április 8. Veszélyben az új Ptk.- Alkotmánybírósághoz fordul a májusi hatálybalépés érdekében több jogvédő és fogyatékosságügyi szervezet

The new Civil Code at risk - Human rights and disability organisations submit a petition to the Constitutional Court of Hungary in favor of ensuring that the new Code enters into force in May (English version of the full text will be available soon).

9 jogvédő és fogyatékosságügyi szervezet fordul az Alkotmánybírósághoz az új Polgári Törvénykönyv (Ptk.) hatályba lépéséről szóló törvénnyel (Ptké.) kapcsolatban.

1 April 2010. Today MDAC launched a one-year initiative in which it will seek to provide guidance to governments and NGOs on the effective implementation of Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the provision which focuses on domestic implementation of the Convention.

Through a grant by the UK Government Strategic Programme Fund, MDAC will develop practical guidelines and checklists to assist governments and NGOs on the obligations of States Parties to the CRPD under Article 33, apply the guidelines in order to determine whether and how countries within Europe are meeting their Article 33 obligations, and produce a summary report for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to assist the Committee in holding States Parties to account.