Victim and community support. Offenders pay.
Background:
The project “Justice for victims with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities” is intended as a follow-up to the CRJ initiatives “AdaptJust – accessible justice for people with disabilities” and “Free to decide” which identified increased needs for comprehensive assistance to over 200 people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, victims of human trafficking offenses in the files of DIICOT Central Structure and DIICOT Territorial Structure Mures. CLR visited multiple social care homes between 2022-2023 and referred the cases to the prosecutor’s offices, also collaborating with investigative journalists. Hundreds of people with disabilities of different ages from the counties of Mureș, Maramureș, Ilfov, Bucharest, Covasna and Harghita ended up there against their will (some people were minors, some had severe intellectual disabilities, others had mental health problems or were elderly).
In July 2023, DIICOT prosecutors, accompanied by judicial police, doctors, psychologists and social workers raided these centers. In the orders issued, the prosecutors recognized the active procedural standing to assist and represent these victims – pointing out that the CLR had demonstrated legal standing through the very activity of unannounced monitoring of these places and based on the provisions of art. 4 lit i) Law no. 8 of 2016: ‘in order to ensure independent representation of persons with disabilities before a court or any other independent body, the mentioned non-governmental organizations have active procedural standing to defend the rights and legitimate interests of these persons’.
Aim of the project:
To improve the quality of services for victims of crime who have intellectual or psychosocial disabilities (mental health problems) and who come from the residential social care system (public or private) through the efficient, transparent and ethical use of financial resources made available by the National Agency for the Administration of Dispossessed Assets.
Activities:
- Providing services to victims with intellectual/psychosocial disabilities
- Monitoring the work of DGASPCs in supporting victims of crime with intellectual/psychosocial disabilities
- Monitoring the situation of victims with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities who are deprived of care
- Online and in person advocacy campaign
