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Description
Access to justice in Bulgaria is challenged for many groups of vulnerable people. People with mental health disorders are a particularly vulnerable group that often falls prey to manipulation and abuse by the surrounding environment, including their close family members when it comes to exercising rights following court proceedings. The justice system is not aware at present of social services and opportunities for support that can be provided to this vulnerable group and that will enable both the individual to protect their rights and the court to deliver better and fairer judgements for the individual and the public. The project aims to join the efforts of practising judges, lawyers and civil society organizations to develop and endorse an innovative algorithm for the application of procedures guaranteeing the rule of rights in line with the most up-to-date international legislative acts on rights protection. The model will mainly focus on placement in specialized institutions under the Social Assistance Act and for compulsory treatment under the Health Act. The main project outcome will be to create tools that will turn the court into a social centre integrating knowledge and support for people in a vulnerable state. The project activities will help: 1) develop new and specialized training materials ensuring that the rights of people with mental health disorders will be respected at every stage of the court proceedings, 2) discuss them with the users and the stakeholders, carry out training and discussions and 3) endorse the developed tools in the justice system that will be reformed in a sustainable way. The case law will be also reformed which will ensure better and fairer judgments for people. The main target groups are: judges, prosecutors and civil society organizations and the beneficiaries will be people with mental health disorders.
Summary of project results
Access to justice can be a particularly challenging place for people with disability and mental health issues. Within the project "Ex iure ad iusstatium (from rights to justice); principles for a fair trial for people with disabilities", three organizations - Global Initiative in Psychiatry - Sofia, Union of Judges in Bulgaria and Bulgarian Center for Non-for-Profit Law, joined efforts in developing mechanisms that, on one hand to guarantee the human face of the judicial system for the most vulnerable and on the other to support the court with instruments in cases concerning people with psychosocial and intellectual difficulties.
In the span of 3 years, the judicial practice was analyzed and tools were created to support individuals to participate in legal proceedings. More than 520 stakeholders (judges, lawyers, social workers, representatives of municipalities), were trained in the standards for guaranteeing compliance with the rights of people with disabilities, according to the provisions of Art. 12 and Art. 13 of the CRPD.
The new model was piloted in over 54 court proceedings. A training manual was created for various professionals. Topics related to the participation of people with disabilities in legal proceedings were integrated into the curriculum of the National Institute of Justice. A documentary film, “From Rights to Justice, was created, giving a first-person account of rights and the journey the team took to achieve the change.