Preliminary communication
Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities – new approach to the understanding of right of persons with mental disabilities
Aleksandra Korać Graovac
; Faculty of law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Anica Čulo
; Faculty of law, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
At the international level, The Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides a new approach to this issue and obliges the states parties to introduce changes both at the legal and political levels. The paper discusses certain rights from the Convention which are important for the protection of human rights of persons deprived of legal capacity (included among persons with disabilities): right to life, equality before the law and access to justice, protection from exploitation, violence and abuse, protection of bodily and mental integrity, inclusion, respect for privacy, home and the family, eduction, health, habilitation and rehabilitation, work, employment and adequate living standards, as well as participation in public and private life. All these rights must be connected with non-discrimination, which in cases of specific functional difficulties of persons with mental illnesses may prove to be a problem.
The paper also briefly covers the implementation system, which provides for the possibility of submission of petitions to the Board for Persons with Disabilities.
Changes at the legislative level in the Republic of Croatia have also been announced in documents of a political nature, The National Strategy for Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities and the National Programme for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (2008 -2011). The authors consider that family legislation is somewhat out-dated, since it is based on the traditional model of custodianship. The obvious conclusion that can be drawn from a study of this field is that it is not in line with the provisions of the Convention, and that an urgent but careful revision is required. A brief outline of the research conducted on the question of deprivation of legal capacity and on custodianship, carried out in 2007, gives a slightly better image of Croatia's practical achievements in this field.
In the end, the paper makes some proposals de lege ferenda, stressing that the reform must be brought in line with the reform of provisions on agency law.
Keywords
Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities; Persons with Mental disabilities; human rights; custodianship; deprivation of business capacity
Hrčak ID:
65250
URI
Publication date:
22.2.2011.
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