Abstract
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) accommodates the concept of human dignity more fully than does any other human rights treaty. The role and interpretation of dignity is thus particularly interesting from the perspective of disability human rights and case law. This study examines the role and significance of the concept of dignity in relation to the human rights disability discourse and jurisdiction through the guidance and impact of the CRPD. It examines the currently available jurisprudence of the CRPD Committee and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in light of the CRPD, seeking to identify the rights that are particularly related to the concept of dignity through the perspective of disability and to identify the requirements of the respect for dignity for persons with disabilities. While accepting the limitations of the sources in this examination due to the recent history of the CRPD, the study nevertheless locates some points where human dignity has particular relevance to the realisation of the rights protected in the CRPD.
Highlights
Among the prominent contemporary notions in the human rights discourse is that of human dignity
Motivated by the role of human dignity in the overall rights language and in disability human rights struggle, this study looks at the role and significance of the
It would be an over-interpretation to claim that the dignity argument, in this case, reflects any particularity in terms of persons with disabilities, but the report drafted by the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other forms of illtreatment does highlight the specific relationship between torture and disability, noting that persons with disabilities in institutions ‘are frequently, subjected to unspeakable indignities, neglect, severe forms of restraint and seclusion, as well as physical, mental and sexual violence’
Summary
Among the prominent contemporary notions in the human rights discourse is that of human dignity. In addressing the situation of persons deprived of their liberties, the Committee referred to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and noted that the author’s treatment during detention violated his right to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person and amounted to violence and abuse, in violation of Article 16 of the Convention It would be an over-interpretation to claim that the dignity argument, in this case, reflects any particularity in terms of persons with disabilities, but the report drafted by the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on torture and other forms of illtreatment does highlight the specific relationship between torture and disability, noting that persons with disabilities in institutions ‘are frequently, subjected to unspeakable indignities, neglect, severe forms of restraint and seclusion, as well as physical, mental and sexual violence’.28. Even though the violation concerned the relation between dignity and accessibility, it is worth recalling what Lawson (2012, p. 851) noted concerning reasonable accommodation on the individualised dimension of accessibility, in respect to the detention conditions of persons with disabilities; in certain cases, ‘the
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