Oslo, September 2024 – The ICJ participated in the Conference “Ending psychiatric coercion – urgent need for effective remedies and reparations” on access to justice, organized in Oslo by the Human Rights Foundation ReDo and WSO – We Shall Overcome, Norway.
According to ICJ Senior Legal Advisor Tim Fish Hodgson:
“When we talk about reparations for forced institutionalization and forced treatment, we’re not only talking about compensation, we are not talking about cessation of whatever violation has happened. We’re talking about the society-wide acknowledgement that the treatment of persons with disabilities has been bad forever, and terribly so”.
He emphasized the need for States across the world to review and amend their laws and policies to ensure their compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the CRPD Committee’s Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization. He also noted that, even among many human rights organizations, disability is typically perceived as a marginal issue and individuals with disabilities are too often left alone in efforts to claim their rights.
Fish Hodgson’s presentation underscored the strong connection between access to justice for and institutionalization of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are often prevented from defending themselves in courts either by laws depriving them of legal capacity or by inaccessible procedures. As a result, such individuals are then often forcibly institutionalized and treated based on their disability.
This state of affairs contravenes a range of provisions of the CRPD, including Article 13 of the CRPD, which provides for a right to procedural accommodations. Such procedural accommodation includes, for example, ensuring that justice intermediaries are available to support the full participation of persons with disabilities. The role of such intermediaries is clarified by the International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities, developed by the former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and formally endorsed by the ICJ.
“Without an unqualified access to the procedural accommodations required for persons with disabilities in the environment of legal processes, it is impossible for persons with disabilities to participate fully and meaningfully”, said Fish Hodgson.
Fish Hodgson’s presentation also drew attention to the need for training of judges and lawyers on the CRPD and disability rights more generally.
The ICJ congratulates human rights lawyer Tina Minkowitz, who was awarded the distinguished Ketil Njaa Solberg’s Human Rights Award 2024 at the same event.
Watch the full presentation here.
Further resources
Clips from segments of the presentation are also available on: inquiries and reparations; economic and social rights and deinstitutionalization; access to justice for persons with disabilities; judicial rules and judicial training; decriminalization and institutionalization; NGOs, OPDs and disability rights advocacy; and the impact of mental health laws in Africa.
ICJ “Model Bench Book on the rights of persons with disabilities who are defendants in criminal proceedings” (2024), available here.
ICJ “Kathmandu Declaration on Access to Justice for persons with disabilities” (2024) available here.
ICJ “African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights calls for the full continental ratification and implementation of the African Disability Protocol” (2024), available here.