Indicator 1(D): Does the law respect the choices of people with disabilities about where and with whom they live and which services they receive?
Conclusion:
No. Of all European countries which strip people with disabilities of their right to make choices in their lives, Hungary comes in at number one place.[21]
Explanation:
The right to choose one’s residence is guaranteed by the Hungarian Constitution,[22] and by the CRPD. However, this right is denied to people placed under guardianship.[23] More than 55,000 people are placed under guardianship in Hungary, a higher per capita rate than any other country in Europe.[24] Many people with mental disabilities are placed in institutions because a guardian has placed them there. 92% of people with intellectual disabilities living in institutions were under guardianship the year after Hungary ratified the CRPD,[25] and this proportion has remained unchanged to date.
[21] Mental Disability Advocacy Center, Legal Capacity in Europe, (Budapest: MDAC, 2013), 22, available at: http://mdac.org/sites/mdac.info/files/legal_capacity_in_europe.pdf (last accessed: 23 September 2014).
[22] Article XXVII of the Fundamental Law of Hungary, 25 April 2011.
[23] Where a person is placed under plenary guardianship, the guardian has the power to decide where they live. Where a person is placed under partial guardianship, the person concerned can only make decisions with the approval of their guardian. Sections 2:20 (1) and 2:22 (1) of the Civil Code of 2013.
[24] Mental Disability Advocacy Center, Legal Capacity in Europe, 54-55.
[25] Tamás Verdes, Marcell Tóth, A per tárgya, Gondnokság alá helyezett személyek társadalmi kirekesztődésének mozgásformái a rendszerváltás utáni Magyarországon, 81.