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, medical-social units and psychiatric wards or hospitals, www.CerAjutor.ro.
Why a web platform?
In July this year, we launched the Ceasul bun mobile app, where people locked up in institutions can send complaints directly to the authorities. The web platform, in the form of an accessible questionnaire, complements the mobile application and responds to the same need identified in more than 20 years of expertise in the field, namely the lack of adequate tools through which people in vulnerable categories (with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities, but also those with neurological disorders, institutionalised) can have access to justice (be able to make complaints about criminal acts of which they are victims, claim their rights or ask for a reassessment of the protective measures in place).
As well as the mobile app, the web platform is dedicated to helping institutionalised people or employees in residential social care centres, hospitals or other such institutions to report situations of physical, emotional or neglect abuse.
The platform is accessible and its functions and modules are the same as those provided in the application. Victims can report abuses they are experiencing, ask to be moved or ask to be reviewed. Relatives, friends or guardians can also lodge complaints on behalf of victims.
The options they can choose from are listed below:
- someone hurt me (tied me up, hit me, sedated me, etc.)
- I want to move
- I want to see a judge
What exactly does the platform do?
The first three steps in the request for help focus on identifying the user, their location and the institution they are in. If the device has a location function enabled, this information can be retrieved automatically. The last two steps in the process collect information about the reported situation. In the fourth step, for example, the user will be able to select from multiple options which form of abuse they have been subjected to, if any, or enter details of their own situation. The penultimate step is to upload evidence and documents relevant to the complaint. At the end, the complaint is signed in handwriting. If the device is not connected to the internet, the completed information is saved locally and will be transmitted once an internet connection can be established.
What can I do?
At this moment, the most important thing for us is to popularize the platform and the app as a complaint tool for residents or their carers, relatives, friends and family or employees of the above-mentioned institutions who want to report an abuse.
Pass the information on – If you know of families with institutionalised people, tell them about the platform and app. If you have someone in an institution, show them the platform and app. If you know someone in an institution is experiencing abuse, send a complaint.
The platform is developed within the AdaptJust – Accessible Justice for People with Disabilities project, implemented by the Centre for Legal Resources in partnership with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through EEA Grants under the Local Development Programme. The aim of the project is to improve the implementation of ECHR judgments and decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe concerning the rights of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities deprived of their liberty.
Digital solution developed by Code4Romania
Media partner: Starea Nației
