From January 2024 on, FORUM will begin implementing the project Social Services – Strategic Litigation. The project focuses on strategic litigation in the area of the inaccessibility of social services for people with disabilities, particularly children and young adults with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities. This 12-month-long project is supported by a financial grant from the Abakus Foundation. The donation will go towards planning and implementing charitable and public benefit activities that promote and strengthen the rights of carers and persons with disabilities, particularly in the context of the growing pressure to ensure the accessibility of social services.
Aim of the project:
- provide specific legal support to carers and people with disabilities,
- to initiate strategic cases with potential systemic impact following research,
- to prepare an analytical primer on the human rights of carers,
- to educate and empower on human rights and legal claims to the provision of social support by the state.
Description of planned activities:
- Litigation line
- a) Individual litigation: individual legal support for carers and people with disabilities in the preparation, filing and representation of lawsuits, complaints and other legal submissions concerning the unavailability and inaccessibility of relevant services (active cooperation with other organisations, e.g. NAUTIS, Ombudsman),
- b) Collective litigation: legal arguments will be prepared and at least one collective complaint will be drawn up to the European Committee of Social Rights concerning the lack of access to services.
- Analytical line: a human rights analysis will be prepared on the concept of care (specifically on carers’ rights) – the analysis will be used in strategic litigation.
- Empowerment strand: lawyers actively participate in seminars/workshops/meetings organised by partners and bring awareness of rights and how to claim these rights; lawyers actively offer support to families and people with disabilities at seminars/workshops/meetings.
Research findings:
As part of our research on the rights of carers and persons with disabilities, particularly in the context of the growing pressure to ensure the accessibility of social services, a human rights analysis, Informal Care and Human Rights: The Right to Care from the Perspective of Informal Caregivers, was prepared and can be downloaded in Czech here:
The analysis focuses on the legal status of informal caregivers, a largely overlooked topic. The report highlights that, although international case law shows positive changes, the Czech Republic has yet to systematically address caregivers’ needs. The analysis examines court rulings on caregivers’ rights and offers interpretations to support the right to care.
