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MDAC Releases Major Report on Right to Legal Capacity


In early April 2014 MDAC released "The Right to Legal Capacity in Kenya”. The report highlights the voices of people with mental disabilities themselves for the first time, outlining the need for substantial legal and social reform, and provides comprehensive recommendations to bring Kenya in line with international law, and specifically right to legal capacity guaranteed by Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Today the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is calling on President Uhuru Kenyatta not to sign the Marriage Bill which will deny the right to marriage to any person who has "any mental disorder or mental disability", a day before we launch a major report on the right to legal capacity in the country.
MDAC is pleased to see the UK Supreme Court recognising that placing people with disabilities in institutions without their agreement is a deprivation of liberty, referencing so many of our leading cases at the European Court of Human Rights.
In the final instalment of his three part blog series, MDAC’s Executive Director discusses the importance of advocacy and restorative justice as possible solutions to psychiatry’s failure to recognise and deal with human rights abuses among its professionals.
Today, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights released a report on his 19-21 November 2013 visit to Denmark. Commissioner Nils Muižnieks noted that Denmark has policies in place that promote the autonomy of persons with disabilities. However he expressed deep concern that people with intellectual disabilities and psycho-social (mental health) disabilities are being segregated from the rest of the community, subjected to their legal capacity being stripped from them and being placed under guardianship.
The Global Movement for Mental Health could make a bridge between the public health and disability rights worlds. In the second of a three-part series MDAC’s Executive Director discusses how community living with supports has become a human right that should reshape the public mental health landscape.
The UK House of Lords has found that supported decision-making for people with disabilities is 'not well embedded', and strongly criticised the fact that tens of thousands continue to be deprived of their liberty without the protection of the law.
A legally-binding European standard on involuntary psychiatric detention and treatment is being drafted by the Council of Europe. If you or a loved one have a “mental disorder” (not our phrase), you should be concerned. We attended a meeting in Paris on 11 March to find out more. Read what is at stake in this blog post from our Executive Director. The committee secretariat wants your comments by 21 March.
Today, on International Women’s Day, MDAC calls on European governments to commit to eradicating violence against women with disabilities. This week the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights released a report on violence against women across the EU. It reveals that women with disabilities are far more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than those without disabilities.
Leading psychiatrists are calling for a hierarchy of rights for people with 'mental disorders'. In this blog post, MDAC's Executive Director argues that their views offend well-established notions of human rights. The is the first in a three-part series, based on a chapter in a new book which discusses torture in healthcare settings.

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