The general comment on article 12 of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: A roadmap for equality before the law

International Journal of Human Rights

Volumn 20, Issue 4, 2016, Pages 471-490

  Arstein Kerslake, Anna ^a   Flynn, Eilionóir ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

^b NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND   (Ireland)

Author keywords

Disability; Human rights; Legal capacity; Supported decision making

Indexed keywords

EID: 84947809940     PISSN: 13642987     EISSN: 1744053X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13642987.2015.1107052     Document Type: Article

References (60)

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7. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), ‘Legal Capacity’
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12. Cambridge Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Research Group, Submission on the Draft General Comment on Article 12 of the Convention (January 2014), http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/GC/UniversityCambridgeGCArticle12.doc
13. The Law Society of Scotland, Submission on the Draft General Comment on Article 12of the Convention (November 2013), http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/GC/LawSocietyOfScotlandArt12.doc.
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15. Flynn and Arstein-Kerslake, ‘Legislating Personhood’
16. CRPD Committee website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/DGD2009.aspx.
17. Not all suggestions from the submissions were incorporated into the final GC, however all submissions were read and considered
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21. The Law Society of Scotland, submission to the CRPD Committee to the Draft General Comment on Article 12 CRPD (November 2013), http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/GC/LawSocietyOfScotlandArt12.doc
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23. World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry and the Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, joint submission to the CRPD Committee to the Draft General Comment on Article 12 CRPD, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/GC/WNUSP-CHRUSP.doc
24. Maria Walls, submission to the CRPD Committee to the Draft General Comment on Article 12 CRPD, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/GC/MariaWalls_Art.doc.
25. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 15, The Right to Water (Twenty-Ninth Session, 2003)
26. J. Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), 8
27. A. Arstein-Kerslake and E. Flynn, ‘The Support Model of Legal Capacity: Fact, Fiction or Fantasy?’, Berkeley Journal of International Law 32, no. 1 (2014): 124, 127-28
28. Flynn and Arstein-Kerslake, ‘Legislating Personhood’.
29. P. Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)
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34. The report that each state party must submit to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities every four years which provides an overview of the state of the human rights of persons with disabilities, according to the CRPD, in their jurisdiction. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Article 35, 2515 U.N.T.S. 3 (13 December 2006).
35. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 35 of the Convention: Concluding Observations, Tunisia, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 5th Session, at 4, UN Doc. CRPD/C/TUN/CO/1 (11-15 April 2011); Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 35 of the Convention: Concluding Observations, Spain, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 6th Session, at 5, UN Doc. CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1 (19-23 September 2011)
36. Hungary and New Zealand’s submission to the draft GC consultation process. Contribution by Hungary, Draft General Comments on Articles 9 and 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, page 2 (21 February 2014); and New Zealand submission on draft general comment on Article 12: Equal recognition before the law, page 3 (11 March 2014)
37. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraphs 16-17.
38. A. Dhanda, ‘Legal Capacity in the Disability Rights Convention: Stranglehold of the Past or Lodestar for the Future?’, Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce 34, no. 2 (2006-2007): 429
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41. See submissions to the draft general comments from Autistic Minority International, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, Sociedad y Discapacidad, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/DGCArticles12And9.aspx.
42. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraph 21.
43. The Representation Agreement Act 1993 in British Columbia allows for a representative chosen by the person to support the individual in the exercise of legal capacity, although the Adult Guardianship Act 1996 retains the option of substitute decision-making being imposed on a person who lacks decision-making capability.
44. Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, ‘A New Profession is Born-Personligt ombud, PO’, Västra Aros, Västerås, November 2008, 16-17, http://www.personligtombud.se/publikationer/pdf/A%20New%20Proffession%20is%20Born.pdf
45. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraph 25(d).
46. Government of India, The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, Centre for Disability Studies
47. Nalsar University of Law (2011), http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/report-pwd.pdf.
48. Policy Document Submitted to Justice Aims to Aid People with Intellectual Disabilities, Newfoundland Association of Community Living, http://www.nlacl.ca/news/article/gettingpower-make-decisions-policy-document-submi/
49. Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013 (Act No. 83/ 2013) § 10 (Ir.), http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2013/8313/b8313d.pdf.
50. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraph 21.
51. Allison B. Seckler, Diane E. Meier, Michael Mulvihill, and Barbara E. Cammer Paris, ‘Substituted Judgment: How Accurate Are Proxy Predictions?’, Annals Internal Medicine 115, no. 2 (1991): 92-98
52. Louise Harmon, ‘Falling Off the Vine: Legal Fictions and the Doctrine of Substituted Judgment’, Yale Law Journal 100, no. 1 (1990): 1-71
53. Alexia M. Torke, G. Caleb Alexander, and John Lantos, ‘Substituted Judgment: The Limitations of Autonomy in Surrogate Decision Making’, Journal of General Internal Medicine 23, no. 9 (2008): 1514-17.
54. G. Szmukler, R. Daw, and F. Callard, ‘Mental Health Law and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 37, no. 3 (2014): 245.
55. This is a complex issue, particularly in regard to assisted suicide. There is not space in this article to explore it fully. However, there is no indication that Article 12 would require supporters to break existing law in their efforts to provide support.
56. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraph 13.
57. Piers Gooding and Eilionóir Flynn, ‘Querying the Call to Introduce Mental Capacity Testing to Mental Health Law: Does the Doctrine of Necessity Provide an Alternative?’ Laws 4 (2015): 245-71.
58. Although it is outside the scope of this article, this is an important area for continued research, as discussed above, at footnote 67.
59. P. Bartlett, ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Mental Health Law’, Modern Law Review 75, no. 5 (2012): 752.
60. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, General Comment No. 1-Article 12: Equal Recognition Before the Law, paragraph 46(a).