3(E). MDAC’s contribution

As an international NGO focused on the issues facing people with mental disabilities, MDAC has over 12 years of experience in conducting strategic litigation in this regard. MDAC is the only international NGO that focuses on strategic litigation for people with mental disabilities. We have found it effective to pool resources and work in teams to conduct strategic litigation.

MDAC has secured a number of notable victories at various national and international courts using strategic litigation. Among other cases, MDAC co-represented the applicants in the cases of Shtukaturov v. Russia^[3] and Stanev v. Bulgaria^[4] before the European Court of Human Rights. MDAC has also submitted third-party interventions in cases before that Court, including in Kędzior v. Poland^[5] and Z.H. v. Hungary.^[6] In the case of Bureš v. Czech Republic,^[7] MDAC highlighted the link between detention and abuse.

Over the next three years MDAC will strengthen its networks and grow its own capacities to scale up the effect that it can have. MDAC staff work in teams with national lawyers and NGOs, international law firms and international legal experts in a variety of areas to ensure that each case in which it is involved is chosen on the basis of case selection criteria, forms an integral part of a larger advocacy strategy and incorporates the highest standard of argumentation to secure the most effective implementation of human rights. MDAC coordinates its advocacy and litigation strategies and participates in coalitions, seeks to secure media attention at litigation milestones and ensures advocacy follow-up to judgments.