The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Definition of Disability and Prohibition of Deprivation of Liberty on the Basis of Mental Disability

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons of Disabilities (CRPD), and seeks to determine two main issues. First, whether the CRPD adopts the British ‘social model’ approach to disability, or rather defines disability in a way which is closer to WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) conceptualisation. Second, whether the English law, in particular the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA 1983) and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005), complies with the prohibition under Article 14 of the CRPD of deprivation of liberty on the basis of mental disability.With regard to the first issue, based on the examination of the British ‘social model’ approach, the ICF conceptualisation and the definition of disability in the CRPD, it finds that the CRPD defines disability in a way which is closer to the ICF conceptualisation.With regard to the second issue, based on the examination of Article 14 of the CRPD, the MHA 1983 and the MCA 2005, it finds that the English law fails to comply with the CRPD prohibition of deprivation of liberty on the basis of mental disability.