About the project:
People with disabilities are confronted with a reduced access to the justice system than others when they need to signal an injustice or a breach of their rights. In this context, it becomes necessary to eliminate all the legislative and technical obstacles so that people with disability can have a total access to the mechanisms that could allow them to file complaints in the courts of justice. The actual legal framework does not allow to adapt the administrative procedures that come with the act of justice nor the access to legal assistance or to a free or at least cheaper legal representation. At the same time, the persons working in the justice system are not trained to understand the needs of the persons with disabilities making these persons become vulnerable in their efforts to access justice.
Today, Romania has around 17.500 persons with disabilities that are still in the state’s specialised institutions and around 56,6 percent have a mental disability. The UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), ratified in Romania through the Law no. 221/2010, recognises the right of all these persons to have free access to justice, equally to others, and forces the Romanian authorities to implement the necessary measures to train all the actors involved in the act of justice.
LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS
CerAjutor.ro – website launch: report abuses instantly | PRESS RELEASE 13.12.2023 - Centre for Legal Resources, a non-governmental human rights organization, in partnership with the Public Ministry – the Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, have developed within the AdaptJust project – accessible justice for people with disabilities – a web platform for people with disabilities confined in social care homes, elderly homes,...
“I translated from Romanian into Romanian” – how the course for justice intermediaries ended 24.10.2023 - States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations to facilitate their active role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including the investigative and other preliminary stages. Convention on the Rights...
Study visit to the Council of Europe: Roma inclusion and empowerment – Standards and cooperation activities 18.09.2023 - From 12-14 September, the Council of Europe Education Department hosted a group of representatives of the EEA/Norway Grant Programme in Romania “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Increasing Roma Inclusion” on a study visit to the Council of Europe on Roma inclusion and empowerment. CLR, through our colleague Georgiana Bădescu, coordinator of communication activities within the...
Căsuța Lu’ Min | PRESS RELEASE 27.07.2023 - It has not been the purpose of the Centre for Legal Resources (CLR) to publicly communicate the main observations today, but following the latest public notice from the responsible authorities, we have to make the subsequent clarifications: As the persons found by the CLR here are not only from Mures Couunty but also from Bucharest...
Report abuses instantlty: CEASUL BUN – mobile app | PRESS RELEASE 25.07.2023 - The Centre for Legal Resources, a non-governmental human rights organisation, in partnership with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, developed within the AdaptJust project – Accessible Justice for Persons with Disabilities – a mobile application, Ceasul bun, designed for persons with disabilities confined in social care homes, medical-social units...
International organisations raise concern over abuses in Ilfov 18.07.2023 - We would like to thank Validity Foundation, a human rights organisation that focuses on the situation of people with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, for its open letter addressed to the Romanian Government and the international community. In defending the rights and dignity of people with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, we consider any form of solidarity...
CLR urges the Labour Minister, Marius Constantin Budăi, to resign 9.07.2023 - Open letter to Mr. Marcel Ciolacu, Prime Minister, Government of Romania Dear Prime Minister, The Center for Legal Resources (CLR), a non-governmental human rights organization, founded in 1998 by the Open Society Foundation (Soros), has been running the “Advocate for Dignity” programme since October 2003. In almost 20 years, CLR has been the only organization...
The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) knows the legislation and the social assistance standards for institutionalized persons with disabilities, better then competent authorities 4.07.2023 - DIICOT has become more familiar with the legislation and with the social assistance standards for institutionalized persons with disabilities than the competent authorities have. The recent raids in social care homes (some being private, but financed by public money) where adults and elderly persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities are confined (Vrancea, Park Lake Bucharest)...The Implementation of ECTHR Psychiatry-Related Judgments In Romania: UN CRPD Standards As A Way Forward 16.06.2023 - article written by Ioana Iliescu, Law and Advocacy Officer at the European Implementation Network, a Strasbourg-based NGO working exclusively to advocate for the full and effective implementation of ECtHR judgments. Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) concerning psychiatry in Romania have proven particularly challenging to implement. These cases concern, inter alia, issues ranging...
NEW: Decisions of the Committee of Ministers – rights of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities 8.06.2023 - We appreciate the position taken by the European institutions (Council of Europe – Committee of Ministers, department for the supervision of the execution of ECHR judgments) regarding the cases in which Romania has been convicted, which were examined during the meeting of 5-7 June 2023. Among the issues highlighted were: urged the authorities to continue...
CLR’s submissions pursuant to Rule9 (2) | Committee of Ministers – published by the Council of Europe 23.05.2023 - CLR’s submissions to the Committee of Ministers, pursuant to Rule9, para. 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Committee of Ministers on the Supervision of the Execution of Judgments of the ECHR, have been published on the Council of Europe website. Both communications can be read, in English, at the links below: N. v....
Accesible justice: a common effort of self representatives with disabilities and legal professionals 8.03.2023 - People with disabilities face multiple barriers when they need to access the justice system, many more and more subtle than those faced by people without disabilities. Whether they need to go through the legal process of reviewing court injunctions or need to report an injustice or violation of rights when they find themselves as victims...
The Romanian Government provides no human rights guarantees to adults and elderly with disabilities secluded in social care homes 2.03.2023 - We urge the Romanian Prime Minister to activate the UNCRPD Coordination Mechanism concerning the rights of persons with disabilities
From institution to institution. What happens to people with disabilities when they are locked up? 9.02.2023 - “Casa Cora”, Voluntari, Ilfov – a social care home where the team of CLR monitors arrived last autumn. The visit is going with difficulty. Initially, the representative of House Grandma Anastasia`s S.R.L. refused access to the CRJ monitors on the grounds that the S.R.L. administrator was not present and that the Public Health Directorate –...
People with disabilities locked up against their will – Ill treatment, inhumane and degrading conditions. 1.02.2023 - Wednesday 7 September 2022. Representatives of the Centre for Legal Resources are waiting outside the gate of the social care home for adults with disabilities “Armonia”, in Ilfov county, Afumați commune. It is another of the unannounced monitoring visits that the CLR has been making for 20 years in such social care homes, the first...
Money factories disguised as “social care homes” 25.01.2023 - The multiple violations of the rights of people with disabilities that the Centre for Legal Resources identified during monitoring visits to the social care home “Sfântul Gabriel cel Viteaz”, Voluntari, Ilfov County, are brought to public attention, where they belong, with the support of journalists Ovidiu Vanghele – Investigative Media Center and Bianca Albu –...
National Training Session: Rules of the Committee of Ministers concerning the supervision of ECHR judgments against Romania in respect of the rights of persons with disabilities and/or mental health problems 17.01.2023 - Romania is condemned by ECHR judges for violating the rights of people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, especially in the areas of access to health services, dignified life in the community, access to justice, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, inhuman and degrading conditions of treatment, family life and child rearing and care. In order to respond...
AdaptJust Wrapped – What have we done 5.01.2023 - Considering everything that we’ve done until now, we found it necessary to offer everyone a summary of what it meant to organise 12 courses across the entire country, with the help of our interdisciplinary team. Why did we consider it necessary to have such a large horizon? The subjects discussed were various and, given the...
Debate on the rights of people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities for the elaboration of the National Action Plan – press release, 12 December 2022 13.12.2022 - The Centre for Legal Resources (CLR) and the Commission for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities, Cults and Minorities of the Romanian Senate organised on 12 December 2022 the national debate on the Government’s obligation to implement the ECHR rulings on the rights of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities through the elaboration of the National Action...
Romania’s psychiatric system – victim of degrading treatment by health ministers themselves. 4.10.2022 - In September, the Legal Resources Centre met representatives of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) in Romania on an unannounced visit to psychiatric hospitals and residential centres for people with disabilities. The CRJ spoke about the observations from the unannounced monitoring visits: prolonged admissions to psychiatric...The project is implemented by the Center of Legal Resources in partnership with The Public Ministry – The Prosecutor’s office of The High Court of Justice and benefits from a grant of 1.324.994 € offered by Island, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants. The aim of this project is to facilitate the access to justice for the persons with intellectual disabilities and/or with mental health problems. The project is financially supported by the EEA Grants 2014-2021.
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