A/HRC/40/54
Indicators and several United Nations agencies to advocate for the collection and
disaggregation of data on persons with disabilities.
8.
On 6 March, the Special Rapporteur presented her annual report to the Human
Rights Council on legal capacity and supported decision-making (A/HRC/37/56). On 22
October, she presented her annual report to the General Assembly on the right to health of
persons with disabilities (A/73/161). Both reports are available in accessible formats. 3
9.
The Special Rapporteur continued to collaborate closely with the special procedures
system, with treaty bodies and with other United Nations experts and agencies, including
the International Labour Organization, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health
Organization and the United Nations Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities.
10.
The Special Rapporteur also engaged with several stakeholders, such as national
human rights institutions, representative organizations of persons with disabilities, other
non-governmental organizations, universities and the diplomatic community.
C.
Communications
11.
Summaries of communications sent and replies received during the period covered
by the present report are available in the communications reports of special procedures (see
A/HRC/37/80, A/HRC/38/54 and A/HRC/39/27).
III. Deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities
12.
Deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities is a major global human rights
concern. Although there is no comprehensive data on the number of persons with
disabilities deprived of their liberty, available statistics and administrative information from
a series of countries demonstrate that persons with disabilities are systemically incarcerated,
imprisoned, detained or otherwise physically restricted across the globe, regardless of the
economic situation of the country or its legal tradition.
13.
Persons with disabilities are significantly overrepresented in mainstream settings of
deprivation of liberty, such as prisons and immigration detention centres. While it is
estimated that persons with disabilities represent 15 per cent of the population, in many
countries the proportion of persons with disabilities in prisons represents as many as 50 per
cent of prisoners.4 Similarly, it has been well established that children with disabilities are
overrepresented in juvenile detention facilities and residential institutions for children, such
as orphanages, social care settings and small-group homes.5
14.
Furthermore, persons with disabilities extensively experience unique, disabilityspecific forms of deprivation of liberty. A deprivation of liberty is disability-specific if
there are laws, regulations and/or practices in place that provide for or permit such a
deprivation based on a perceived or actual impairment; or where specific places of
detention, designed solely or primarily for persons with disabilities, exist. Common forms
of disability-specific deprivation of liberty include involuntary hospitalization in mental
health facilities; placement into institutions; detention as a result of diversion from the
criminal justice system; forced treatment in “prayer camps”; and home confinement. All of
them share common characteristics, rationales and justifications that stem from the medical
model of disability.
3
4
5
4
See www.ohchr.org/en/issues/disability/srdisabilities/pages/reports.aspx.
J. Bronson, L. Maruschak and M. Berzofsky, “Disabilities among prison and jail inmates, 2011–12,
special report” (United States of America, Department of Justice, 2015); and Australia, Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, The Health of Australia’s Prisoners (Canberra, 2015).
G. Mulheir (2012), “Deinstitutionalisation – a human rights priority for children with disabilities”,
Equal Rights Review, vol. 9, pp. 117–137; and C.A. Mallett (2014), “The ‘learning disabilities to
juvenile detention’ pipeline: a case study”, Children & Schools, vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 147–154.
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