Croatia: Towards legal capacity for all

On 24 February 2014, Udruga za Samozastupanje - the Croatian Association for Self Advocacy, GONG and Disability Ombudsman Office organized a roundtable meeting in the Croatian Parliament within the framework of an EU-funded project Human Rights Advocacy through Learning by Doing.

Croatia: Towards legal capacity for all
etr Self-advocacy group in Croatia organised a meeting at the Croatian Parliament.

Self-advocates, people from governments and organisations
came to this meeting.

They talked about a new law in Croatia.

They talked about what government should do,
so this law will help more people with disabilities
to decide on themselves

On 24 February 2014, Udruga za Samozastupanje – the Croatian Association for Self AdvocacyGONG and Disability Ombudsman Office organized a roundtable meeting in the Croatian Parliament within the framework of an EU-funded project Human Rights Advocacy through Learning by Doing. Hosted by the Health and Social Policy Parliamentary Committee, the roundtable focused on the changes to the new draft Family Act. It gathered representatives of academia, state institutions, professionals, people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

The new Family Act draft shall bring changes into the system of legal guardianship and thus strengthen the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities who are deprived of their legal capacity. However, the alignment of the draft legislation with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is far from satisfactory. The draft proposes improvement of the custodial protection, yet its own existence and the absence of alternative vision of legal protection leaves a vast space for improvement towards standards defined by Article 12 of the UN Convention.

During the discussions, Nenad Sekušak and Romana Posavec, members of the Association for Self-Advocacy, shared their life stories about escaping from the institutional life and choosing independent living. Both of them described that this battle was not easy to win and a lot of effort was needed to convince the system and their guardians to allow them to live in the community.  Self-advocates also demanded support in exercising their right to parenthood, family and marriage.

All relevant stakeholders agreed on the obligations arising from Article 12 of the UNCRPD, which requires state parties to support individuals in the exercise of their legal capacity. The Disability Ombudsman and civil society organisations (CSOs) suggested improvements to the draft Family Act that would increase its compliance with the UNCRPD. In their proposal, Ombudsman and CSOs called on the Ministry of Social Policy and Youth to include support for the exercise of legal capacity into the draft Family Act. This would allow at least some persons with disabilities to preserve their legal capacity and get adequate support for making decisions about their life. At the same time, it would send a strong message that the reforms in guardianship models are irreversible and that government is strongly committed to respect highest standards in protection of rights of persons with disabilities.

Source: Udruga za Samozastupanje

 

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