Validity (formerly Mental Disability Advocacy Centre)
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2018-051-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2018
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 47.162494
Longitude: 19.5033041
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Hungary
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 21 July 2017
- Type of record
- Named organization
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Type of rights defended
- Other
- Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
release of a public report in May 2017 on allegations of human rights violations at the Topház social care institution (HUN 372017). Validity also brought these issues to the attention of OHCHR and to the Human Rights Committee when it considered the sixth periodic report of Hungary held in March 2018 (see CCPR/C/HUN/CO/6 para. 21 and CCPR/C/SR.3464 and 3465.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Treaty Bodies: HRC
- OHCHR: OHCHR - General
- Dates of engagement
- March 2018; 2017
- Type of attempted engagement
- Submission of information to UN
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- May 2017; 17 July 2017
- Reprisal information
Since the release of the report, the Government has reportedly tried to delegitimize the work conducted by Validity, threatening the organization that it would open criminal proceedings as well as intimidating its staff members. On 17 July 2017 a Validity representative was reportedly summoned by police in connection with the investigation.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Charge/Investigation/Prosecution: Charge/Investigation/Prosecution - General
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- State actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Government response dates
- 3 August 2018
- Government response content
On 3 August 2018 the Government responded to the allegations. It noted that the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (Validity) was not authorized to prepare and publish the documentation they made at the unit of Pest County Social Institution (Topház) without the guardians’ permission. As several photographs of the report were published on the internet, the “Pest County Police Headquarters launched an investigation procedure on account of the criminal report of the state authority responsible for the maintenance of the Institution,” which the Government should not be regarded as a form of retaliation in connection with any monitoring activity. The Government referred to its detailed position on the subject matter in response to the 21 June 2017 communication by special procedures (HUN 372017), available online.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0