In Moldova, the persons with disabilities who, according to documents, are incompetent are deprived of the right to get married or to look after the own children. Without the person’s consent, the guardians take decisions instead of these, often with serious consequences, such as institutionalization or sale of possessions. In a news conference at IPN, people’s ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai said the persons with mental disabilities continue to face such problems as stigmatization, isolation and discrimination based on stereotypes and prejudice.

Mihail Cotorobai said particular protection measures for persons with mental disabilities are needed on the part of the state, including equal rights, so that these could be engaged in the public and political life.

According to the people’s ombudsman, the institution he represents sent a letter to Speaker of Parliament Adrian Candu whereby it is recommended to urgently amend the Election Code so as to allow the persons declared incompetent to vote and to adopt a package of laws to ensure the implementation of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides for equal recognition before the law. The lack of action in this regard on the part of the state results in complaints to the ECHR.

Mihail Cotorobai reminded that the Constitutional Court is to pronounce on a challenge concerning the constitutionality of provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provide that the persons declared incompetent cannot exercise their right to free access to justice.

Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides for the national monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. In this connection, Mihail Cotorobai said that no independent mechanism for promoting and monitoring the implementation of the Convention was officially instituted in Moldova.

World Mental Health Day is annually marked on October 10. In Moldova there are about 4,000 persons with mental and intellectual disabilities who are in residential institutions. The recent studies of NGOs active in the area of human rights show that about 30% of the persons admitted to psycho-neurological institutions are competent and can be integrated into the community from where they come.