NGO Comments on the draft text
Draft article 12 - FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE AND ABUSE

World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry
May 26, 2004

World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry generally supports the Working Group text for articles 9 through 12, and in particular urges that the following language be retained.

In Article 9:

States parties shall
…
(b) accept that persons with disabilities have full legal capacity on an equal basis as others, including in financial matters;

(c) ensure that where assistance is necessary to exercise that legal capacity:

(i) the assistance is proportional to the degree of assistance required by the person concerned and tailored to their circumstances, and does not interfere with the legal capacity, rights and freedoms of the person;
…
(d) ensure that persons with disabilities who experience difficulty in asserting their rights, in understanding information, and in communicating, have access to assistance to understand information presented to them and to express their decisions, choices and preferences, as well as to enter into binding agreements or contracts, to sign documents, and act as witnesses;

In Article 10:

1. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities:
…
b) are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty … in no case shall be based on disability.

In article 11:

1. States Parties shall take all effective legislative, administrative, judicial, educational or other measures to prevent persons with disabilities from being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

2. In particular, States Parties shall prohibit, and protect persons with disabilities from, medical or scientific experimentation without the free and informed consent of the person concerned, and shall protect persons with disabilities from forced interventions or forced institutionalisation aimed at correcting, improving, or alleviating any actual or perceived impairment.

In article 12:

2. Such measures should prohibit, and protect persons with disabilities from, forced interventions or forced institutionalisation aimed at correcting, improving, or alleviating any actual or perceived impairment….

Intervention by (Australian) National Association of Community Legal Centres, People with Disability Australia Incorporated, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations

Thank you Mr Chairman,

We strongly support the content of draft article 12 but recommend the following amendments:

(a) it is crucial to add harassment, victimisation, emotional and mental abuse to the types of abuse specified in paragraphs 1,3, 4 and 5, and to add references to economic exploitation. Violence and abuse occur in many forms, some of which, such as mental or emotional abuse, are often unrecognized. Their inclusion in this document will assist in highlighting these forms of abuse;

(b) the article should contain an acknowledgement that certain groups of people with disability are subject to even greater levels of abuse, particularly women and children with disability, indigenous people with disability, and people with multiple and severe impairments;

(c) the article should also address the fact that people with disability are systemically excluded from programs, information and services provided to the general population with the aim of reducing exposure to violence, and emergency and short-term residential and other support services provided to people escaping violence. The article ought to include a paragraph guaranteeing that violence prevention and relief services are fully accessible to people with disability;

(d) the phrase “in and out of the home” in paragraph 1 should be replaced with the phrase “in all aspects of life;” and

(e) the references to state responsibilities which occur throughout the article could be consolidated in a new paragraph for the purposes of clarity.

Finally, we support those comments that have been made to date regarding the need for a separate article dealing with the human rights of people with disability in circumstances of emergency, for example, refugees.

Thank you for your attention.