Strategic litigation (EU Charter)

From 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2025 FORUM will participate in the implementation of a two-year European project officially entitled Strategic Litigation as a Gateway to address the rights of Persons with Disabilities in the European Union. This project, abbreviated LITI-GATE, is part of the CERV Project Grants, Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme, managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency.

Our international partners on the project are:

Background and rationale for the project:

Although the rights of persons with disabilities are central in the EU legal system and central to EU policies, their practical application remains limited. For example, in 2020, national courts made 72 referrals to the EU Charter, with only 2 focusing on the rights of persons with disabilities. This is concerning, as persons with disabilities are overrepresented in court proceedings as victims or perpetrators (FRA, Fundamental Rights Report, 2021). Due to their vulnerability, they are more likely to have their rights breached, and issues concerning their human rights are cross-cutting, being thus covered, -at least theoretically, by many of the Charter Articles.

The assumption from which this project stems is that a lack of knowledge and training among judicial practitioners on the EU Charter is one of the key causes limiting its use. This project aims to contribute to mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities in the EU and the Member States by raising awareness of the relevance of the Charter to this group and – increasing collaboration with lawyers, victim support organisations, and organisations of persons with disabilities (“OPDs”) – its application in court proceedings.

Project aim: LITI-GATE aims to promote enforcement of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights with strategic litigation activities to address breaches of the fundamental rights of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. Specifically, the project aims to:

  • improve knowledge on how to conduct strategic litigation for the benefit of persons with disabilities;
  • develop practical guidance on how to use the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for strategic litigation;
  • build capacity of national and regional stakeholders on how to conduct strategic litigation;
  • strengthen cooperation between national and regional organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), victim support organisations, and relevant EU networks to enforce the Charter for persons with disabilities victims of fundamental rights breaches.

This will be accomplished through the combined implementation, with the participation of persons with intellectual and/ or psychosocial disabilities, of activities to:

  1. develop an adaptable and practice-oriented strategic litigation guidebook as well as accessible information to access legal and support services;
  2. develop and pilot an adaptable and practice-oriented training programme to build the capacity of civil society organisations (including organisations of persons with disabilities and victim support organisations) and lawyers on how to use the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in strategic litigation for the benefit of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities. The training programme will include a mentoring programme to exchange practices and obtain first-hand experience in strategic litigation cases;
  3. promote multistakeholder cooperation, exchange and ownership between civil society organisations (OPDs, victim support organisations) and legal practitioners (ombudsman, lawyers, etc.), with regional events (LABs), podcasts and an international symposium.

Full name of the project: Strategic Litigation as a Gateway to address the rights of Persons with Disabilities in the European Union (LITI-GATE) CERV-2022-CHAR-LITI

This project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.