Amicus Curiae - Rights of a Person with Intellectual Disabilities
European Court of Human Rights: D.D. v Lithuania (ongoing)
As Chair of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), in February 2008, the IHRC organised the first third party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights by a regional grouping of national institutions in the case D.D. v Lithuania.
The IHRC applied to the European Court on behalf of the European Group of NHRIs to intervene as amicus curiae in the case which concerns the civil commitment of the Applicant in a psychiatric institution and the law and procedures that pertain to declaring "incapable" persons with a mental illness and/ or intellectual disability. The purpose of the intervention, submitted in April 2008, is to draw to the Court's attention the normative changes exemplified by the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, relevant international principles and European law. The case is still pending before the European Court.