[hr-education] Seminars on mental disability rights (October-December 2002)

MENTAL DISABILITY RIGHTS SEMINARS
Central and Eastern Europe
September-December 2002

        The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC), an international
human rights and mental disability NGO based in Hungary, is conducting
2-day training seminars on "mental disability and the European Convention
on Human Rights", for lawyers in the 10 Eastern European European Union
(EU) accession countries. The seminars are supported by the Council of
Europe, and focus on national and international remedies and law reform.

            The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has potentially
vast implications for mental health systems across Central and Eastern
Europe. Current mental health practice in all of the EU accession
countries falls far short of ECHR standards.

The following topics are discussed during the seminars:

*          Right to life - to protect patients in institutions with high
mortality rates, and to require proper investigations of causes of death
*          Right to protect patients from oppressive treatments 
-"unmodified" electro-convulsive therapy, caging, punishments
*          Right not to be treated in institutions where conditions may
constitute inhuman or degrading treatment
*          Right to have a meaningful court review of the justification
for mental health detention, including effective legal representation
*          Remedies against guardianship powers taken behind a patient's
back, and without notice or representation
*          Remedies against oppressive guardianship powers
*          Assisting patients to enforce privacy rights, such as
privileged correspondence with family or lawyers
*          Remedies to enhance quality of life in long-term residential
facilities
*          Human rights monitoring within mental disability institutions
*          Lobbying using international legal instruments and guidelines

MDAC already has carried out trainings in Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania and Slovakia. A training pack is available in those languages on
MDAC's website, and further translations will be posted as they become
available.

Following these successful events, MDAC will be continuing the series of
training seminars this year in:

*          Warsaw, Poland. 26 - 27 September, with the Helsinki
Foundation for Human Rights

*          Bucharest, Romania. 31 October - 1 November, with the
Romanian League for Mental Health

*          Tallinn, Estonia. 4-5 November, with the Estonian Bureau of
Legal Services

*          Sofia, Bulgaria. 5 - 6 December, with the Bulgarian Helsinki
Committee

*          Ljubljana, Slovenia. 12 - 13 December, with the NGO Mir Srece

On November 22-23 training for advocates on monitoring human rights in
psychiatric institutions will be conducted in Bratislava, Slovakia.

For more information on MDAC training seminars please write to Aida
Somfai-Pamirbek, Legal Assistant: <aida@mdac.info>.


For more information please visit our website or contact us.
Mental Disability Advocacy Center
Oktober 6. utca 12, 1051 Budapest, Hungary
tel: (+361) 411 4410, fax: (361) 411 4411
e-mail: info@mdac.info , website: http://www.mdac.info



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