Disability Rights

They should have a life, too!

Magdi and fellow mothers of children with severe-cumulative disabilities sued the Ministry of Human Resources with our help because even though the state is obliged to, it does not provide financially supported housing for these children in need of constant care.

Total legal chaos at Hungarian psychiatrics

Gabi is about to get a divorce. After a heated argument, her partner calls an ambulance. He tells the paramedics that Gabi is threatening to commit suicide and he is worried about her. They see that Gabi is very tense, nervous and her whole body is trembling. The more she denies it, the more suspicious she becomes to the emergency personnal.

Hungarian government must suspend and redesign deinstitutionalisation projects affecting 2,500 people with disabilities

Why is it a problem that people with disabilities are living in large institutions? What about people with disabilities living in the institutions? What do the NGOs demand from the government? More questions and answers according to DI bellow.

Closing down six institutions: Slowly, Hungarian disability policies are changing

Soon, 600 people with disabilities will leave 6 institutions. This is a great step. The EU has granted money for this purpose and Hungary, in spite of a thousand mistakes, has utilised it well. Research report from HCLU.

The role of EU funding in deinstitutionalisation (DI) in Hungary and te experiences of the DI programme so far

The aim of the present research is to privode information and expand knowledge of advocacy work in the 2014-2020 programming period in regards to the EU and teh Hungarian government.

HCLU's new report on Guardianship and Supported Decision-Making in Hungary

The new Civil Code of Hungary entered into force in March 2014. Unfortunately, the authors of the law decided to sustain the traditional approach to legal capacity which preferred plenary and partial guardianship.

Hungary is under review by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Hungary ratified the UN Convention on the rights of the child in 1993. For the third time - after 1998 and then 2006 - the Committee reviews Hungary's compliance with the Convention. A coalition of NGOs - including the HCLU - has reported to the Committee.

HCLU warns to stop EU investments in institutions in Hungary

Central Eastern European Countries – including Hungary – are obligated to close their segregating institutions for people with disabilities. Despite the fact that the European Union finances the reform, most of the countries spend the funds exactly in the opposite manner: enlarging and renovating the existing institutions.

The Lucky Few: Photo report on Disabled Living in the Community in Hungary

Zoltán, György and József live in a downtown flat in Tapolca, Hungary. A perfunctory look would reveal nothing strange about their life. Two years ago they were living in a residential institution that accommodates two hundred people, like the twenty thousand other intellectually challenged people in Hungary. Photo and article was made by Szabolcs Barakonyi and Veronika Munk (index.hu).

HCLU film disables protest

Local governments of Bélapátfalva and Szilvásvárad, two small settlements in Hungary, protested against disabled people who were going to move into their community. The rejected are the former residents of the social care home in Bélapátfalva, an institution that housed more than 300 disabled and elderly people who lived in exclusion.

"The programme is you" – An account from a mental health service user

The person interviewed in the film has dual diagnosis, which means history both in substance abuse and psychosis. He talks about his experiences with forced hospitalization, which not helped him in recovery, but on the contrary, they contributed to the worsening of his condition.

The HCLU's movies shared a Special Award at the Hégető Honorka Prize ceremony

The aim of the Prize is to acknowledge television and online video works aimed at highlighting the problems of marginalised groups, and raising public and media awareness. It is a big honour for us to be awarded this prize in 2013.