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Article 14 - Liberty and security of the person
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Draft Article
10
LIBERTY AND SECURITY OF THE PERSON
• States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities:
a. enjoy the right to liberty and security of the person, without discrimination
based on disability;
b. are not deprived of their liberty35
unlawfully36 or arbitrarily, and that any
deprivation of liberty shall be in conformity with the law, and in no case shall
be based on disability.37
• States Parties shall ensure that if persons with disabilities are deprived
of their liberty, they are:
a. treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person,
and in a manner that takes into account the needs they have because of their
disabilities;
b. provided with adequate information in accessible formats as to the reasons
for their deprivation of liberty;
c. provided with prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance to;
i. challenge the lawfulness of the deprivation of their liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority (in which case, they shall be provided with a prompt decision on any such action);
ii. seek regular review of the deprivation of their liberty;
d. provided with compensation in the case of unlawful deprivation of liberty,
or deprivation of liberty based on disability, contrary to this Convention.
Footnotes:
35. The jurisprudence of the Human Rights
Committee (see, for example, General Comment 8) notes that States interpret
deprivation of liberty too narrowly, so that it applies only to the criminal
justice system. The right to liberty and security of persons, however, applies
to all deprivations of liberty, whether in criminal cases or in other cases
such as, for example, mental illness or intellectual disability, vagrancy, drug
addiction, educational purposes, or immigration control. The Ad Hoc Committee
may wish to consider: a) whether civil and criminal cases should be dealt with
separately; b) whether the text needs further elaboration on civil cases of
deprivation of liberty; and c) whether, for criminal cases, the clauses in this
text dealing with procedural matters need strengthening (see also Article 9
of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).
36. The Ad Hoc Committee may wish to discuss
whether the wording of paragraph 1(b) does or does not prohibit civil commitment,
and whether it should.
37. The Ad Hoc Committee may wish to consider
adding a provision that obliges states to reform laws and procedures that perpetuate
the arrest and detention of persons with disabilities on the basis of disability.