Prohibition of Deprivation of Liberty on the Grounds of Mental Disability - International Standards

Zihinsel Engellilik Gerekçesiyle Özgürlükten Yoksun Bırakma Yasağı - Uluslararası Standartlar

Ravan SAMADOV

This article examines the novelties the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities brought into the forum regarding deprivation of liberty, namely the prohibition of deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability. Together with that, the different approaches of various UN bodies thereto are also critically evaluated with the aim to identify the ambiguity among them. The article reveals that the practice of different UN bodies manifestly shows that the mentioned new notion has not been unanimously accepted and interpreted in the UN human rights protection system, which puts the integrity and coherence of that system in question.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Deprivation of Liberty, Mental Disability, Right to Liberty, UN Bodies.

Bu makalede, Birleşmiş Milletlerin Engellilerin Haklarına İlişkin Sözleşme’nin özgürlükten yoksun bırakılma konusunda öngördüğü değişiklikler, yani engellilik gerekçesiyle yoksun bırakma yasağına ilişkin yenilikler incelenmektedir. Bununla birlikte, BM’nin çeşitli organlarının bu konudaki farklı yaklaşımları da aralarınki belirsizliği tespit etmek amacıyla eleştirel bir şekilde değerlendirilmektedir. Makalede, farklı BM organları tarafından yapılan uygulamanın, ileri sürülen yeni konseptin, söz konusu sistemin bütünlüğünü ve tutarlılığını ortaya koyan BM insan hakları koruma sisteminde oybirliğiyle kabul edilmediğini ve yorumlanmadığını açıkça ortaya konmaktadır.

Birleşmiş Milletler Engellilerin Haklarına İlişkin Sözleşme, Özgürlükten Yoksun Bırakma, Zihinsel Özürlülük, Özgürlük Hakkı, BM Organları.

Introduction

The deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities on the grounds of their disability, as with other forms of exclusion of and discrimination against those people, were for many years overlooked to a great extent by the core human rights instruments. Therefore, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is considered to be able to successfully fill the gap and provide “a new era”¹ for persons with disabilities. This first legally binding international human rights treaty dedicated to the rights of persons with disabilities bestowing new dimensions upon the right to liberty and security of person, namely prohibition of deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability, promises a major shift in this field. Therefore, the novelties and the paradigm shift this document engendered in the international forum shall be duly studied and interpreted.

This article aims at analysing the newly emerged prohibition in international human rights law regarding deprivation of liberty on the grounds of mental disability - non-consensual psychiatric hospitalisation. To that end, firstly, the novelties the CRPD brought into forum concerning the right to liberty of person are discussed in the light of the permissible extent of deprivation of liberty in the pre-CRPD human rights treaties.

After revealing the essence of the new prohibition, the analysis continues to tackle the approach to and interpretation of that prohibition within the UN human rights protection system. Namely, there is provided a thorough analysis of the practice of different relevant treaty bodies and mechanisms to illuminate the extent of coherence and consistency of their work in addressing the new notion.