Member of the Expert Panel for ENABLE – Enabling inclusion and access to justice for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities At Validity Foundation

Background

Validity is an international non-governmental human rights organisation that uses legal strategies to promote, protect and defend the human rights of people with mental disabilities worldwide. We strive for a world of equality, where emotional, mental and learning differences are valued equally; where the inherent autonomy and dignity of each person is fully respected; and where human rights are realised for all people without discrimination.

“Enabling inclusion and access to justice for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities” (ENABLE) is an EU co-funded project focused on promoting access to justice and fairer criminal proceedings for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in 8 EU countries – Bulgaria, Czechia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Portugal, and Spain.

People with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, who are suspects or defendants in criminal proceedings, face multiple barriers to participation in the criminal justice process. These barriers are usually linked to the inaccessible physical environment, lack of information in accessible formats and appropriate communication technologies, but also to the absence of qualified legal aid and representation. While the national legislation – general and procedural – may not transpose efficiently the existing United Nations and European Union standards on equal access to justice services and procedural accommodation, the problem is further exacerbated by the lack of awareness, knowledge, and skills in this field of professionals working in the criminal justice system. As a result, cases involving persons with disabilities are often traumatic for them due to the impossibility of adequately exercising their defense rights, but also to power imbalances these limitations create.

Drawing from recommendations from persons with disabilities, the literature, and criminal justice professionals, the project has set the following objectives:

• Improve knowledge on participation barriers, and how to overcome them, experienced by defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in the criminal justice system, and particularly by women with disabilities and those who are deprived of their liberty;
• Improve capacity of criminal justice professionals (lawyers, police, prosecutors and/or judges) to ensure the provision of reasonable and procedural accommodations in the criminal justice system in accordance with EU and international human rights law
• Strengthen cooperation and exchange between civil society and criminal justice professionals to optimize access to legal services for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.

This will be achieved through the combined implementation of the following activities:

• Research to understand experiences and participation barriers facing defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in the criminal justice system. This includes collecting recommendations from both defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, as well as criminal justice professionals;
• Development of an adaptable and practice-oriented equal treatment/ disability bench book(s) for criminal justice professionals on how to ensure participation, inclusion, and fair treatment of defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities; as well as,
• Development of a cross-disciplinary protocol and proposals to improve access to legal services for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities by linking existing services. It will serve to develop a coordinated approach and a practical response protocol to enhance access to legal services (such as legal aid, access to a lawyer, restorative services).
• Provide trainings, in the participating countries, to lawyers, police, prosecutors, judges, bar associations, training agencies for the police, judges/prosecutors on procedural accommodation and testing the contents of the national bench books

The role

Validity is looking for members of the ENABLE project Expert Panel, whose task is to provide general guidance in the process of development of the project’s major deliverables, specifically the disability bench book, trainings for criminal justice actors, and the cross-disciplinary cooperation protocol.

The panel shall meet (online) up to 5 times throughout the project implementation period (i.e., August 2024) to provide feedback (verbally, mostly) on the deliverables specified above. To make this process as time efficient as possible, the project coordinator (Validity) shall present the panel members, in useful time before each meeting, a 1–3-page summary of the main findings of the consulted document. In addition, at the request of the Expert Panel, the main points shall be presented via a ppt presentation.

In addition, the Expert panel members will be invited to participate in the project’s closing event (the International Symposium) organized in Bruxelles in July-August 2024, where they could share their views on the project’s main deliverables.

Budget

It is expected that the members of the Expert Panel shall render their service in the project without charging a fee (pro bono). At the same time, the project shall cover all the costs associated with the participation of the experts in the International Symposium, planned for July-August 2024, in Bruxelles.

Alternatively, at request, the project can provide a compensation of 50 EUR [I.Skidu1] per meeting per expert for the time allocated for participating in the expert panel meetings. The compensations can be offered for up to five meetings.

Profile Specification

Essential

• Ten or more years of professional work experience in one of the following fields:
• criminal justice (judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police, including investigators/detectives)
• clinical psychology,
• communication and linguistics,
• interrogation techniques fields
• Five or more years of professional work experience with people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, or identifying herself/himself as such.
• Knowledge of disability rights/human rights
• Fluent in spoken English

Desired

• Knowledge of the criminal justice system and victims’ rights, especially in Central and Eastern Europe

Enabling inclusion and access to justice for defendants with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities (101056701 – ENABLE – JUST-2021-JACC).

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.