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The Mental Disability Advocacy Centre supports the rights of children and adults with disabilities. This organisation is called MDAC for short. MDAC says that Hungary is using European money MDAC wants this to change. Persons with disabilities have the right to live included in the community. The European Union should make sure |
The Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) asked the European Commission to withdraw 12 million of European tax payers’ money, a lot of which is used to fund institutions in Hungary. Placing a person with disabilities into any type of institution is contrary to international human rights law and a violation of their right to live included in the community as enshrined in Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Hungarian government has allocated a total of 24 million Euro (half of which is European Commission funding) to six psychiatric and social care institutions which currently house 900 adults, MDAC stated.
While 650 persons with disabilities will be moved out of these large institutions, the vast majority will be placed in newer and smaller ones, with 408 people being sent to live in group homes – small, residential facilities which are designed to serve children or adults with severe disabilities.
The Commission must take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures to ensure that the Convention is implemented, and this means it should bring laws, regulations and funding mechanisms in line with the Convention, said MDAC.
”There is no such thing as a good institution. Spending European taxpayers’ money to fund segregation and discrimination mocks the very notion of human rights,” noted Oliver Lewis, MDAC Executive Director.
In September 2012, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities examined Hungary’s compliance with the Convention. It called on the government to re-examine the allocation of funds, including EU funds, which are dedicated to the provision of support services for persons with disabilities. Other key recommendations included the need to guarantee the right to independent living as stipulated under Article 19 of the Convention.  However, MDAC noted that the Hungarian government is currently ignoring this recommendation. The government has been asked to report back to the Committee by September 2013 about progress it has made.
“The European Commission should not put itself in a position that it too, as well as the Hungarian government, is actively violating human rights,” said MDAC.
MDAC is an international human rights organisation which promotes the rights of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and psycho-social disabilities. It further promotes their social inclusion so they can use their rights on an equal basis as others.
