JUSTICE FOR ALL
1.3.3. UN STANDARDS
Several UNCRPD articles are relevant
when it comes to the treatment of persons
deprived of liberty with intellectual and/or
psychosocial disabilities, including Arts 14,
15, 12, 17 and 25.
Most relevant is Art 15 UNCRPD, which
enshrines the prohibition of torture and
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment. In its concluding observations
under Art 15, the UNCRPD Committee’s
recommendations to EU Member States
included, amongst others, the following
points:
• collect data on persons with disabilities in
detention and conduct research on their
situation and needs;93
• carry out a review with a view to formally
abolish all practices regarded as acts of
torture, cruel or inhuman and degrading
treatment or punishment;94
• abolish the use of non-consensual practices with regard to persons with psychosocial disabilities in medical institutions,
such as net beds, physical, mechanical
and chemical restraints, forced medication, overmedication, electroconvulsive
therapy, intensive treatment of persons
with psychosocial disabilities in difficult
patients units and other treatment or commitment without their free and informed
consent;95
• ensure the right of persons with disabilities
to make autonomous decisions based on
their free and informed consent, including
through supported decision making mechanisms, concerning any type of medical
treatment and legally recognize involuntary treatment on the basis of disability
as a violation of the right of persons with
disabilities to be free from cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment.
• repeal, as a matter of urgency, all laws
that allow legal guardians to consent to
medical experimentation on behalf of
persons with disabilities.96
• abolish the use of solitary confinement,
seclusion and isolation, which may amount
to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment;97
• end the practice of imposing surgical
castration and any other kind of forced
treatment, as a form of punishment, on
persons with disabilities who are deprived
of their liberty;98
• provide training to medical professionals
and personnel on the prevention of
torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, as provided for
under the Convention;99
• take immediate steps to address the poor
living conditions of persons with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities in
institutions;100
• strengthen independent monitoring and
the role of the national mechanism for the
prevention of torture and cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment,
also ensuring the involvement of organizations of persons with disabilities in the
implementation of the Optional Protocol
to the Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment;101 and
• set up a complaint procedure accessible to
all persons with disabilities in institutions
and investigate and sanction perpetrators
of practices that may amount to torture
or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment against persons with disabilities, imposing sanctions proportional
to the conduct. This should also ensure
that persons exposed to ill-treatment
are entitled to and provided with redress
and adequate compensation, including
rehabilitation.102
Furthermore, in concluding observations
under Art 14, the UNCRPD Committee has
consistently recommended that EU Member
States initiate a structural review of the
procedures used to sanction persons with
disabilities when they commit criminal offences.103 Some of these recommendations
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