Rights of disabled persons in Moldova are limited by guardianship, experts

The legislation concerning the protection of persons with physical and mental disabilities must be modified. Changes are required mainly as regards the institution of guardianship over persons with disabilities so that their rights are not limited, considers the Legal Assistance Center for People with Disabilities that analyzed the national legislation. The conclusions are contained in a study themed “Right to legal capacity of persons with disabilities”, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a roundtable meeting, the Center’s executive director Vitalie Mester said that according to the study, the legislation in the field should be amended so that it stipulates the necessity of assessing the functional capacities of a person. “The areas in which a person with disabilities needs assistance must be defined. The new legislation should contain a series of mechanisms that will enable to provide the support needed to exercise the legal capacity,” he stated. Vitalie Mester also said that the experts who made the study draw attention to the necessity of amending the legislation so that the guardianship of a person does not limit such rights as the right to vote, to choose the domicile, to get married or to appeal to court. Natalia Ciobanu, chairman of the Association “Dor”, said the parents face many problems when they have to institute guardianship over their disabled children who came of age. A parent must spend over 1,000 lei for obtaining the necessary documents and the right to be the guardian of their own children. If the parents do not have money and do not institute guardianship, they cannot receive the child’s invalidity pension. Natalia Ciobanu also said that a person who wants to become a guardian must be healthy and the parents often renounce the disability degree so that they can act as guardians of their children. The woman asked that the legislation should be improved so that bureaucracy disappears, while the persons with disabilities should be protected, especially when the parents die and other people profit from them and drive them away from their homes. The attending experts said the tutelage often prevents the persons with disabilities from making a choice. In practice, the guardians live the lives of the persons they protect, manage their financial resources, decide if they need surgery, ban them from having private life, etc. By July, Moldova is to adjust its legislation to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was ratified in 2010. Article 12 of the Convention enables the disabled persons to benefit from the same legal capacity as other persons in all the spheres of life. The experts said that Moldova must hasten the modification of the national legislation so as to avoid possible convictions in the European Court of Human Rights.