A/HRC/37/56 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities Contents Page I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur ............................................................................................. 3 A. Country visits ........................................................................................................................ 3 B. Engagement with stakeholders ............................................................................................. 3 C. Communications ................................................................................................................... 4 The right of persons with disabilities to equal recognition before the law .................................... 4 A. A paradigm shift towards universal legal capacity ............................................................... 4 B. The normative content of article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ............................................................................................................................ 6 Legal capacity law reform ............................................................................................................. 9 III. IV. V. VI. 2 A. Law reform trends on legal capacity and supported decision-making .................................. 10 B. Learning from supported decision-making in practice ......................................................... 12 The way forward ........................................................................................................................... 14 A. Law reform .......................................................................................................................... 14 B. Policy development .............................................................................................................. 15 C. Research................................................................................................................................ 15 D. Access to justice ................................................................................................................... 16 E. Participation and collaboration ............................................................................................. 16 F. Capacity-building ................................................................................................................. 17 G. Awareness-raising................................................................................................................. 17 H. Resource mobilization .......................................................................................................... 18 Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................................... 18