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Article 17 [Protecting the Integrity of the Person]

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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Abstract

This is the first time personal integrity has been included in a UN human rights treaty as a stand-alone provision. In a single sentence Article 17 refers to the need to respect physical and mental integrity of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. It does not expressly state the kinds of human rights violations it is intended to guard against. Specifically, the text is silent on whether involuntary interventions are ever permitted or are even subject to limitation. The CRPD Committee has made it clear that informed consent is a core element of Article 17 while decisions of the European Court of Human Rights also support personal integrity. Forced treatment is a major problem for persons with disabilities and now States Parties must indicate the measures to protect persons from coercive interventions such as forced medication, seclusion, restraint and non-consensual sterilisation. One of the goals of Article 17, therefore, is to address the issue of informed consent.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ad Hoc Committee Daily Summaries Draft Article 17, 7th Session January 19, 2006. http://www.un.org./esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc5summary.htm. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  2. 2.

    Kayess and French (2008).

  3. 3.

    Kampf (2010).

  4. 4.

    Ad Hoc Committee Daily Summaries Draft Article 17—Protecting the Integrity of the Person, January 19 2006, Canada. http://www.un.org./esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc5summary.htm. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  5. 5.

    Ad Hoc Committee Daily Summaries January 19, 2006 Draft Article 17—Protecting the integrity of the person IDC available at http://www.un.org./esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc5summary.htm. The Chair noted that there were no proposals on Article 17 from Member States submitted in advance, but there was a proposal from IDC, http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc7docs/ahc7idcchairamend1.doc. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  6. 6.

    Ad Hoc Committee (n 36).

  7. 7.

    Ad Hoc Committee, Daily Summaries Draft Article 17—Protecting the Integrity of the Person, January 19 2006, Chile available at http://www.un.org./esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc5summary.htm. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  8. 8.

    CRPD Committee, Guidelines to State Parties on treaty-specific document to be submitted by States Parties under Article 35, para. 1, of the CRPD, CRPD/C/2/3.

  9. 9.

    Ad Hoc Committee, 7th Session, January 19, 2006 Draft Art 17—Protecting the integrity of the person IDC. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc7docs/ahc7idcchairamend1.doc. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  10. 10.

    Quinn (2009), p. 104.

  11. 11.

    Quinn (2009), p. 105.

  12. 12.

    Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union available at www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  13. 13.

    Kayess and French (2008), p. 30.

  14. 14.

    Mc Sherry (2008).

  15. 15.

    ECtHR, Pretty v United Kingdom Appl. No. 2346/02, 27 July 2002, para. 65.

  16. 16.

    ECtHR, Bensaid v. United Kingdom Appl. No. 44599/98, 6 February 2001, para. 49.

  17. 17.

    Mental Health Act 2001 of Ireland, Mental Health Act 1983 & 2007 of England and Wales.

  18. 18.

    CPT (2003) (8th General Report [CPT/Inf (98) 12]).

  19. 19.

    ECtHR, X v Finland App. No. 34806/04, 3 July 2012, para. 214.

  20. 20.

    Minkowitz (2010), p. 151.

  21. 21.

    Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, and other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Mendez, General Assembly A/HRC/22/53, 1 February 2013, para. 80. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf. Accessed 22 February 2014.

  22. 22.

    Ibid., para. 48.

  23. 23.

    Ibid., para. 61.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., para. 63.

  25. 25.

    Ibid., para. 63.

  26. 26.

    Mental Health Commission (2014), Seclusion and Restraint Reduction Strategy. www.mhcirl.ie/publications. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  27. 27.

    CPT Standards (2006): Means of restraint in psychiatric establishments for adults, Extract from the 16th General Report [CPT/Inf (2006) 35]. On their Irish visit, the CPT met patients who had been given medication for behaviour control rather than decreasing symptoms of disease, especially after a violent incident. Response of the Government of Ireland to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to Ireland from 25 January to 5 February, 2010. The Report recommended that clear rules must govern the use of chemical restraint with robust oversight, para. 132.

  28. 28.

    ECtHR, Bures v The Czech Republic App. No 37679/08, 18 January 2013, para. 83.

  29. 29.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Czech Republic, CRPD/C/CZE/CO/1; CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Croatia, CRPD/C/HRV/CO/1; CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Cook Islands, CRPD/C/COK/CO/1.

  30. 30.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Germany, CRPD/C/DEU//CO/1.

  31. 31.

    Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice DCA(2007): para 8.22. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.justice.gov.uk/docs/mca-cp.pdf; Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013 at (n 27).

  32. 32.

    ECtHR, E. (Mrs.) v. Eve, [1986] 2 S.C.R. 388.

  33. 33.

    Brazier and Cave (2007), p. 287.

  34. 34.

    Jackson (2009), p. 55.

  35. 35.

    Herring (2014), p. 279.

  36. 36.

    ECtHR, Gauer & Others v France Appl. No. 61521/08, 10 December 2008. See also Amicus Curiae https://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/73416199?access_key=key-d3jj7keqxh7xofxt0zm. Accessed on 28 April 2015.

  37. 37.

    No decision had been reached at the time of writing (May 2015).

  38. 38.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Germany, cit.

  39. 39.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Spain, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1; CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Australia, CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1.

  40. 40.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Cook Islands, cit.; General Comment No. 1 (2014), CRPD/C/GC/1.

  41. 41.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Australia, cit., and Croatia, cit.

  42. 42.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Croatia, cit.

  43. 43.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Germany, cit.

  44. 44.

    CRPD Committee, Concluding Observations Czech Republic, cit.

Table of Cases

  • Canada (Supreme Court of) 23.10.1986, E (Mrs) v Eve, [1986] 2 S.C.R. 388

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  • ECtHR 06.02.2001, Application No. 44599/98, Bensaid v United Kingdom, (2001) 33 EHRR 205

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  • ECtHR 29.04.2002, Application No. 2346/02, Pretty v United Kingdom, (2002) 35 EHRR 1

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  • ECtHR 10.12.2008, Application No. 61521/08, Gauer & Others v France, ECHR II- 532

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  • ECtHR 03.07.2012, Application No. 34806/04, X v Finland, [2012] ECHR 1371

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  • ECtHR 18.01.2013, Application No. 37679/08, Bures v The Czech Republic, [2012] ECHR 1819

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  1. NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland

    Mary Keys

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  1. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Valentina Della Fina

  2. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Rachele Cera

  3. Institute for International Legal Studies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, Italy

    Giuseppe Palmisano

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Keys, M. (2017). Article 17 [Protecting the Integrity of the Person]. In: Della Fina, V., Cera, R., Palmisano, G. (eds) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43790-3_21

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