The recent Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Stanev v Bulgaria concerns the rights of persons with psycho-social disabilities and intellectual disabilities across Europe. The Grand Chamber found that persons in social care institutions with said disabilities could challenge their deprivation of liberty and the inhuman and degrading conditions in institutions.
Interights, the international legal human rights NGO intervened in the case as a third-party and put forward the main trends involved in mental health care law and policy in addition to recent developments at international level which include the move towards “the right to community living” and community-based facilities as opposed to institutions.
However, the scope of the judgment is somewhat limited as there was a failure to examine the applicant’s claim under Article 8 of the Convention (right to respect for one’s private and family life, their home and correspondence). The Chamber did not consider the right to live in the community under Article 19 of the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities to be distinct and separate right. In addition, the Chamber to not taking account of Article 14 of the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities which provides for “liberty and security of the person.”
Click here to see the judgment
Click here to see a press release from Interights