Validity is an international non-governmental human rights organisations that uses legal strategies to promote, protect and defend the human rights of people with mental disabilities worldwide.
Their main activities are carried out in six core countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in Africa.
Since 2002, Validity has learned a lot about how to promote greater respect for the rights of people with mental disabilities. Now, they have a variety of tools that they can use to tackle the most entrenched human rights violations.
Some of the tools they use are as follows:
- Strategic litigation – Through taking a small number of individual cases to national, regional and international courts, Validity is a global leader in pushing for legal validation of the human rights of people with mental disabilities. Each case seeks to improve the lives of our clients and many other people who suffer similar human rights violations.
- Advocacy – They engage with coalitions and wider movements to push for greater protection and respect of human rights by governments, policy-makers, national and international institutions. They do this through calling for change in law, policy and practice, providing feasible solutions for substantially increasing equality and inclusion of people with mental disabilities.
- Research – They regularly undertake research initiatives to develop an evidence-base that is used to inform our strategic litigation and advocacy initiatives. Validity’s research has been central in re-framing the issues faced by people with mental disabilities as more than just matters of social justice, by grounding our work in binding human rights standards. We have also developed internationally-acclaimed monitoring methods for investigating human rights in social care institutions.
- Capacity-building – Validity also undertakes extensive formal and informal capacity-building with organisations of persons with disabilities, lawyers and other stakeholders. They provide concrete input to help others advocate for inclusion and justice through a combination of tailored training programmes, expert seminars and promoting professional exchange through our global networks.
Hungary
Impact Hub, Milestone Institute Budapest, Wesselényi utca 17. 1077 Hungary
General