The Court's judgment in Stoian v. Romania has to stand as a major stain on the record of an organisation, that is anything but unblemished.
A HUMAN RIGHTS court that distorts and truncates the facts.
A HUMAN RIGHTS court that reduces a case that resulted from years and years of litigation, that includes mountains of evidence, that attracted multiple interventions from prestigious organisations, concerning an uncharted area of jurisprudence, to a committee case (formed of such luminaries as the judges from ROM, HUN and BiH), to be dismissed definitively with a minimum of fuss.
A HUMAN RIGHTS Court that cherry picks the facts and brushes complexity aside to suit a pre-determined outcome.
A HUMAN RIGHTS Court that refuses to engage with the facts of case, effectively denying people with disabilities protection under the Convention.
A HUMAN RIGHTS court that dismisses a story that boils down to a woman carrying her disabled child on her back to school for years on end, as responsible state policy.
A HUMAN RIGHTS court that characterises a police operation that involved forcefully removing a mother from school for providing personal assistance to her disabled child and causing her injuries that required 45 days of medical treatment as not in any way "disproportionate."
A HUMAN RIGHTS court that systematically dismisses people with disabilities as a drain on public resources and as essentially disposable.
Is not a court and has nothing to do with human rights.
I have worked with this court for fifteen years and during this time I have had good moments and bad moments. But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared me for this blow, that left me and my clients in tears and gasping for air.
This is shameful, but it also portents great danger ahead. Our assumptions are collapsing before our eyes, as far as I am concerned I no longer take anything for granted.