The International Commission of Jurists, the Colombian Alliance for Legal Capacity, the Action Programme for Equality and Social Inclusion of the University of the Andes, and Colombian Lawyer Liliana Patricia Rojas Rojas called on the Colombian Ministry of Justice to adopt measures to improve access to justice for persons with disabilities while conducting reforms in the justice system. The organizations emphasized that such measures are required in order for Colombia to comply with its obligations in terms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
“The planned reform of the justice system is an excellent opportunity to adopt structural changes to remove historical barriers to access to justice for persons with disabilities and to consider what administrative measures can be taken to improve respect for the rights of persons with disabilities in judicial proceedings”, said Rocío Quintero, ICJ legal adviser for the Latin America programme.
The organizations made the submission on 1 February 2024 in response to an open call by the Ministry of Justice. The submission highlights the importance of an inclusive approach to the justice system to address substantial barriers to access to justice faced by persons with disabilities.
“Legal reform processes should involve the full and meaningful participation of individuals with disabilities and organizations of persons with disabilities”, added Quintero.
The organizations underscore that Colombia is bound by the CRPD, which contains provisions relevant to the Ministry’s deliberations, including articles 5 (Equality and Non-discrimination), 12 (Equal recognition before the law), 13 (Access to Justice) and 14 (Liberty and Security of Persons). The submission brings the CPRD Committee’s jurisprudence and its concluding observations and recommendations made to Colombia in 2016 to the Ministry’s attention. The submission also refers to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities, contributed to and endorsed by the ICJ.
On this basis, the organizations noted a range of measures which should be considered to further compliance with the CRPD, including:
- Procedural Accommodations: Implement procedural accommodations to facilitate access to justice for persons with disabilities, which should be available at all stages of judicial proceedings, including those conducted within transitional justice mechanisms.
- Legal Capacity: Fully recognize the legal personality and legal capacity of persons with disabilities within judicial proceedings.
- Justice intermediaries: Ensure access to justice intermediaries or justice facilitators to enable persons with disabilities to communicate effectively with justice actors during legal proceedings.
- Abandon a medical approach to assessing disability.
- End institutionalization of persons with disabilities.
- Participation: Ensure the right to participation of persons with disabilities in the administration of justice, including as lawyers, judges, experts, witnesses, victims, defendants or in any other capacity.
The complete submission in Spanish is available here: Propuesta para el Ministerio de Justicia – Colombia
Further reading:
Access to Justice Knowledge Hub, Implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Criminal Justice Systems, Briefing paper, 2022. Available here.