| Affiliation with other organizations: |
MDAC was involved in the negotiations which led to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. MDAC worked within the International Disability Caucus and was asked to take the lead on right to liberty issues (Art. 14), and played an active role in developing other Convention rights. Since its entry into force, MDAC has been encouraging countries to ratify and effectively implement it. We have led NGO coalitions for CRPD implementation in Hungary and Czech Republic, and are planning activities in Egypt, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and Sierra Leone to build the CRPD knowledge and advocacy capacities of NGOs to encourage governments to ratify and implement the Convention. At the UN, MDAC has send shadow reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Committee, the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Right to Health, SR Torture, SR Disability. MDAC has participatory status with the Council of Europe, and regularly sends information to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, relevant committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. MDAC is an international NGO entitled to lodge "collective complaints" under the European Social Charter and the European Committee of Social Rights found violations of the right to education for children with intellectual disabilities and right to non-discrimination in the case MDAC v. Bulgaria (2008). Furthermore, MDAC has around 25 cases on disability rights pending before the European Court of Human Rights. MDAC is a member of the OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture) Contact Group, an official NGO network which develops papers to support the work of, and meets regularly with, the UN Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture and attending their meetings. MDAC's research work includes a Europe-wide a study of stigma against people with mental illness, and a study on human rights in institutions. This involves collaborations with several research centres including the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and around 20 other European universities. MDAC is engaged with education on the rights of persons with disabilities. Its Executive Director teaches an annual course on the subject at the Central European University, and its Chair is on of the world's only Professors of Mental Health Law. MDAC staff and board regularly write academic journal articles and books. |
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