A/HRC/37/25 must be clearly stated in national laws and regulations. Persons with disabilities should not be forced to openly disclose personal, health or rehabilitation information against their will and without their free and informed consent.36 30. A number of States have made progress on adopting legislation and developing protocols concerning procedural accommodations for persons with disabilities in accessing justice. For example, Azerbaijan modified its Code of Civil Procedure to allow witnesses with disabilities to testify at their place of residence, when appropriate. 37 The Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments under the Americans with Disabilities Act of the United States of America, the Protocol for Accessing Justice by Persons with Disabilities of Argentina and the Disability Access Bench Book of Australia are examples of protocols that provide recommendations and guidance on how to provide procedural accommodations. 31. Lack of procedural accommodations violates the right to a fair trial and may lead to effective exclusion from proceedings and/or being subjected to unfair sentences. Related to the latter, limited support in terms of procedural accommodations for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in criminal proceedings results in their overrepresentation among persons sentenced to the death penalty, 38 as acknowledged by the Committee. 39 In the past year, it has been reported that people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities have been executed or remained under sentence of death, 40 despite Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/64, 41 General Assembly resolution 71/187 and Human Rights Council resolution 36/17, in which retentionist States were called upon not to impose or execute the death penalty on persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities. The Human Rights Committee has also underlined that States parties must refrain from executing or sentencing to death persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities. 42 The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has expressed concern at the fact that persons with psychosocial and/or intellectual disabilities may face a greater risk of incurring the death penalty because of a lack of procedural accommodations in criminal proceedings.43 32. The imposition of the death penalty is increasingly regarded as being incompatible with fundamental tenets of human rights, in particular human dignity, the right to life and the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. States that continue to impose and implement death sentences should declare a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. The Secretary-General has recently reiterated that laws and sentencing guidelines must be developed or amended to prohibit the imposition of the death sentence and the execution of persons with psychosocial and intellectual impairments. 44 3. Right to claim justice and stand trial 33. Deprivation of legal capacity and substituted decision-making arrangements can prevent and exclude persons with disabilities from participating in legal proceedings and may force their representation by a third party, such as a legal guardian. The exercise of legal capacity is intrinsically connected with the right to access to justice, as often the second cannot be exercised without the first. 45 At the same time, without access to justice, 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 See CRPD/C/DNK/CO/1, para. 51. See CRPD/C/AZE/Q/1/Add.1, para. 74. See, for example, Fair Punishment Project, “Death penalty disproportionately used against persons with significant mental impairments in five Florida counties”, January 2017. See CRPD/C/IRN/CO/1, paras. 22 and 23. Amnesty International, Global Report: Death Sentences and Executions 2016, p. 7. See also E/2015/49 and Corr.1, para. 85. See CCPR/C/PAK/CO/1, para. 18 (c). See CRPD/C/IRN/CO/1, paras. 22 and 23. See A/HRC/36/26, para. 56. See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 1, para. 38. 9