Czech Republic
Since 2005 MDAC and one of its partner NGO the League of Human Rights (an NGO based in Brno, Czech Republic) have been jointly working to advance the rights of children and adults with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities.
Current situation
Although social care services for people with disabilities have been “humanised” in recent years, people with disabilities are denied the right to live in the community and often live in segregated institutions, in poor conditions and with lack of privacy. They often do not have access to mainstream services, such as inclusive education, employment, and leisure activities.
Although reform of the law in 2004 changed the term “special school” to “vocational school”, segregated schools are still common, violating the right of children to inclusive education.
More than 25,000 adults with disabilities are deprived of their legal capacity and placed under guardianship. Every year, the courts deprive around 2,000 people of legal capacity in proceedings which do not meet international due process standards. The guardianship system is insufficiently regulated, increasing the risk of exploitation and abuse. People under guardianship are denied the right to political participation.
People are hospitalised for lengthy periods because of faulty laws and lack of community support services. The conditions in psychiatric hospitals and social care institutions are often poor and people, and inside institutions, people are denied access to justice, including complaints mechanisms.
MDAC activities
Strategic litigation: At present MDAC represents several people in the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. We have already achieved significant decisions before the domestic courts, such as
case of M.F.
case of J.S.
case of Mr Kotek
Advocacy: MDAC was part of a group of NGOs which in May 2011 sent a shadow report to, and advocated before, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that many children’s right to inclusive education is denied in the Czech Republic.
In addition, MDAC and the League of Human Rights are carrying out advocacy before the country’s government and parliament for legal capacity law reform.
