A/HRC/40/54 their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. Article 14 further clarifies that deprivation of liberty on the basis of impairment38 is discriminatory and, thus, contrary to the letter and spirit of the Convention. In doing so, the Convention has fundamentally challenged the prevailing understanding of the right to liberty in relation to persons with disabilities, superseding previous standards and interpretations. B. Normative content of article 14 of the Convention 44. Article 14 of the Convention articulates the content of the right to liberty and security of person as it applies to persons with disabilities. Article 14 (1) (a) reaffirms the right to liberty and security of all persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. Article 14 (1) (b) stipulates that persons with disabilities cannot be deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and further clarifies that disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty. Finally, article 14 (2) reaffirms that all persons with disabilities deprived of their liberty are entitled to procedural and substantive guarantees on an equal basis with others, including conditions of accessibility and reasonable accommodation. States parties thus have an obligation, with immediate effect, to: (a) refrain from engaging in any action that unlawfully or arbitrarily interferes with the right to liberty, and from authorizing such practices; (b) protect this right against practices by private actors such as health professionals, and providers of housing and/or social services; and (c) take positive action to facilitate the exercise of the right to liberty. 45. The right to liberty of persons overlaps and interacts with other human rights and fundamental freedoms under the Convention. Those rights include, but are not limited to, equality and non-discrimination (art. 5), life (art. 10), equal recognition before the law (art. 12), access to justice (art. 13), freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 15), freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse (art. 16), integrity (art. 17), liberty of movement and nationality (art. 18), living independently and being included in the community (art. 19), freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information (art. 21), privacy (art. 22), health, including the right to free and informed consent (art. 25), work and employment (art. 27), an adequate standard of living and social protection (art. 28), and participation in political and public life (art. 29). 46. Article 14 establishes an absolute ban on deprivation of liberty on the basis of impairment. While persons with disabilities can be arrested or detained lawfully, on an equal basis with others, article 14 (1) (b) does not permit any exception whereby persons can be deprived of their liberty on the basis of their actual or perceived impairment. Any deprivation of liberty on such grounds would be discriminatory in nature and, thus, both unlawful and arbitrary. These cases include, inter alia, the placement of persons with disabilities into institutions, their involuntary commitment to mental health facilities, their detention resulting from a declaration of unfitness to stand trial, exemption from criminal responsibility or other diversionary mechanisms. 47. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has further stipulated that this absolute ban also applies when additional factors are used to justify the deprivation of liberty; commonly, being regarded as a “danger to self or to others” or in need of treatment or care.39 In this respect, the Committee has recalled that, during the drafting process of the Convention, there were extensive discussions on the need to include a qualifier (“solely” or “exclusively”). 40 States opposed those proposals, arguing that they could lead to misinterpretation and allow cases of deprivation of liberty based on impairment if other factors were present. Similarly, a proposal to include a provision on periodic review was not included because such a provision would contradict the outright ban on the deprivation of liberty on the grounds of impairments, and might lead to an interpretation that detention 38 39 40 See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: the right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities” (2015), para. 6. Ibid. Ibid., para. 7. 11