2009 marks a turning point for MDAC as the year the organisation began to work outside Europe. MDAC has chosen to work in Egypt because the government has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, because several NGOs are working on disability and human rights, and because there are still many human rights violations where MDAC might usefully make a strategic impact.
MDAC started its work in Egypt by contributing technical expertise to the human rights organisation the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which in January 2009 issued a report on mental health law reform. The report states that the mental health bill currently before Parliament is an improvement on current legislation, and calls on Members of Parliament to support and improve the bill. However, the report also stresses that a new law must be succeeded by other measures to promote and protect human rights related to mental health. In late April 2009 the Egyptian parliament adopted a new mental health law. Read MDAC's information bulletin about the new law here.
MDAC went on mission to Cairo in early March 2009 where it held meetings with human rights and disability NGOs, met with key stakeholders in the mental health law reform process, and learnt more about how MDAC could develop its programming to support local NGOs to monitor the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
