A/HRC/37/56
support for exercising their legal capacity. Demonstrations can provide legislators,
policymakers and the wider community with valuable information about the functioning,
cost and value of supported decision-making, thus contributing to a better legal and policy
design.
68.
Pilot initiatives should be implemented in collaboration with civil society
organizations, particularly organizations of persons with disabilities who represent the full
range of potential support users, including persons with intellectual disabilities, persons
with psychosocial disabilities, persons with dementia, autistic persons and persons with
brain injuries. That is in order to benefit from the outreach capacity of organizations of
persons with disabilities, their knowledge of the local context and their mobilization and
advocacy capacity (see A/HRC/34/58, para. 64). Supported decision-making experiences
can also benefit from involving a broad range of local stakeholders, including authorities
and service providers. Evaluation should be considered during programme design,
including qualitative data that incorporates the perspectives of participants.
C.
Research
69.
States should undertake or promote research in relation to legal capacity and
supported decision-making. Research can offer legislators and policymakers valuable
information and possible lines of action to guarantee the right to legal capacity and to
implement supported decision-making. There is a need for more quantitative and qualitative
data on the current use of different forms of substitute decision-making to understand the
extent and impact of that human rights violation, including involuntary commitment to a
mental health facility and forced treatment. Similarly, despite the increasing
implementation of supported decision-making schemes, there is still a clear need for better
quality data to inform subsequent initiatives and policy design. Research on supported
decision-making has predominately concentrated on formalized forms of support, with little
attention paid to other informal forms of support in decision-making, such as natural
support networks or the support provided in the framework of peer support groups. There is
a need to understand how all those forms of support operate and how they relate and
contribute to the exercise of legal capacity of persons with disabilities.
70.
Importantly, research on supported decision-making should respond to the rights of
persons with disabilities and include the perspective of the disability community. In line
with article 4 (1) (d) of the Convention, States should refrain from funding or engaging in
any research project that is inconsistent with the right to legal capacity of persons with
disabilities, as enshrined in article 12. Research should, wherever possible, be led by
researchers with disabilities, be participatory and include the views of persons with
disabilities and their organizations in all phases. Outcomes should be published in
accessible formats, including easy-to-read versions.
D.
Access to justice
71.
While the recognition of the right to legal capacity is fundamental to guaranteeing
access to justice, it is also essential for the protection and restoration of legal capacity. 25 As
required by article 13 of the Convention, States must take appropriate measures to ensure
effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others and
promote appropriate training for those working in the field of administration of justice.
States should also take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have
access to procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, including supported decisionmaking, in all legal proceedings before, during and after trial.
72.
States must ensure that all persons under substitute decision-making regimes have
access to an effective remedy and consider a moratorium on new applications. They must
also guarantee that all persons with disabilities who have experienced any form of
25
16
See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 1, para. 38.
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