Inspect!
Join our ‘Inspect!' campaign by writing to governments in the region urging them to develop effective inspectorates on mental health and social care institutions as a matter of urgency.
Suggested points to make in your letter
- If you are a citizen or resident of the country led by the government you are writing to, explain this.
- If you are a supporter of MDAC say this, and also explain that MDAC advances the human rights of children and adults with actual or perceived intellectual or psycho-social (mental health) disabilities.
- Explain that you are joining MDAC in its campaign to ensure the development of effective inspectorates of mental health and social care institutions.
- Give reasons why the government should develop such inspectorates. These might include some or all of the following:
- for too many years people with disabilities have been virtually invisible to society
- a major cause of this invisibility is the practice of incarcerating people with disabilities in mental health and social care institutions
- abuse and human rights abuses frequently occur behind the closed doors of these institutions
- few people are aware of these abuses and fewer still are held accountable
- such abuses and lack of accountability for them will only stop if all governments develop effective inspectorates of mental health and social care institutions
- you urge the government (Bulgaria, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Slovakia) to Ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT)
- you urge the government at the very least to: establish inspectorates with a legal mandate; ensure that such inspectorates are independent, are staffed by qualified and experienced inspectors, that visits are regular and effective; ensure that comprehensive reports are published and presented to, and debated in, Parliament and finally; ensure that inspectorates should be inclusive of and co-ordinated with relevant private, public and charitable organisations and people with disabilities both within and outside the institutions.
- Ask for a reply to your letter confirming what steps the government has taken towards developing effective inspectorates and what steps it intends to take in the future.
MDAC would be grateful to receive notification, or a copy, of any reply you might receive to your letter.
Thank you for contributing to the advancement of the human rights of people with intellectual or mental health disabilities.
Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC)
Rákóczi út 27/B, 1088 Budapest, Hungary
tel: +36 1 413 27 30, fax: +36 1 413 27 39
e-mail: mdac@mdac.info, web: www.mdac.info
