5(F)(ii). Liberty

English

The ECHR sets out criteria whereby people of “unsound mind” may lawfully be detained. The CRPD adopts a different approach, with Article 14 of the Convention stating that disability shall “in no case justify deprivation of liberty”. A report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has interpreted this to mean that involuntary detention and/or treatment based the presence of a mental disability or a mental disorder is not permitted.47

In 2010, the “World Report on Disability”, drawing on a variety of sources, reported that persons with disabilities are at greater risk of violence than those without disabilities and that abuse against persons with disabilities has been reported to be 4–10 times greater than that against people without disabilities.48 The prevalence of sexual abuse against people with disabilities has also been shown to be higher, especially for institutionalised men and women with intellectual disabilities, intimate partners and teenagers.49


47 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Thematic Study on Enhancing Awareness and Understanding of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, (A/HRC/10/48) 26 January 2009, para. 48.

48 World Health Organization and the World Bank, “World Report on Disability”, 2011, p. 59.

49 Ibid.

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