Dignity, Fundamental Rights and Legal Capacity: Moving Beyond the Paradigm Set by the General Comment on Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bilchitz
Author(s):  
Delia Ferri

Italy was among the first countries to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007, and ratified it in 2009 by Law 18/2009. Since then, the Convention has displayed significant influence on case law, and provoked a degree of judicial activism. This chapter provides an overview of how Italian courts have used and interpreted the CRPD. It highlights how Italian lower and higher courts, including the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, have attempted to overcome the gap between domestic law and the CRPD, by ‘rethinking’ legal concepts in light of the Convention. This is evident with regards to the field of legal capacity and the domestic provisions of the civil code on the ‘administration of support’, but also to non-discrimination legislation, the scope of which has been evidently enlarged to encompass the failure to provide reasonable accommodation as a form of indirect discrimination.


2021 ◽  
pp. 80-87
Author(s):  
Terdi E. S. ◽  
◽  
Skrynnik I. K. ◽  

The article is devoted to the problem of the inconsistency of the Russian imperative model of active legal capacity, according to which the content of active legal capacity in case of its restriction due to mental disability of a person is prescribed by the law, to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified by Russia in 2012. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the shortcomings of the imperative model, the main of which is the lack of authority of the Russian court to individually determine the consequences of restriction of active legal capacity of a person due to mental disorder, taking in account degree of actual decrease of his cognitive and volitional abilities. This purpose is achieved by the consistent implementation of the following tasks. First of all, characteristic of the Russian imperative model of active legal capacity is given. Secondly, the French dispositive model of legal capacity is described. In this model the forms of legal protection, but not the categories of active legal capacity, incapacitation and restricted active legal capacity are the backbone concepts for the legal regulation of this group of relationship. It is noted that under the influence of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the more progressive, from the point of view of international law, forms of this model are stipulated in many foreign countries. Thirdly, the evolved form of the French dispositive model of active legal capacity, implemented in the Bill 18 «An Act to amend the Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Public Curator Act and various provisions as regards the protection of persons», that was adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec in 2 June 2020, is analyzed. The main advantage of the latter is that the court, establishing the form of protection, is not bound by the legal norms that imperatively determine the content of active legal capacity of a person with mental disorder. The court is able, based on the cognitive and volitional abilities of particular person, to individually determine which acts person can perform by himself, alone or with the assistance of the tutor, and which one can be performed by the tutor only. The objectives of the study determine the leading role of the comparative legal method in its implementation. The provided research makes possible to assess the perspectives of borrowing of French or Quebec dispositive models of active legal capacity of people with mental disorder by the Russian legislator.


2022 ◽  
Vol 121 (831) ◽  
pp. 30-35
Author(s):  
Chester A. Finn ◽  
Matthew S. Smith ◽  
Michael Ashley Stein

Paternalistic attitudes about what is in the interests of a person with an intellectual disability have long led to abuses, and are embedded in the guardianship laws still in place in most countries. Self-advocates, who identify as people with intellectual or other disabilities and are committed to demanding their rights and educating others about them, are calling for a new approach. They have found support for reforms in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations in 2006 and since acceded to by 182 countries. By supporting the fundamental right of those with disabilities to make decisions, it has enabled disability rights advocates to successfully challenge legal capacity restrictions and push for “supported decision-making.”


Author(s):  
Fennell Phil

This chapter examines Article 15 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment (CIDTP), irrespective of the circumstances and the victim’s behaviour. Article 15 rights overlap with rights under other CRPD articles, including the right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others under Article 12; the right to liberty and security under Article 14; the right to protection against violence, exploitation and abuse under Article 16; the right to physical and mental integrity under Article 17 and; the right to health care on an equal basis with others and based on informed consent under Article 25.


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