Peru leads legal paradigm shift to benefit persons with disabilities

It seems obvious that all people have the right to express and exercise their individual preferences and will when making legal decisions. Yet, this is not the case for millions of people living with disabilities in the region, who are forced to relegate their rights to a third party. The recognition of these rights represents a paradigm shift that is currently being promoted by the OAS, through the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (CEDDIS), and it’s Working Group which met in Lima, Peru on April 15 and 16.

In support of the efforts underway to promote this paradigm shift, the Working Group—composed of 30 delegates from 11 countries in the region—gathered in Lima to continue the process of developing an Instructive Handbook on the specific provisions and safeguards for exercising the legal capacity of peoples with disabilities. The handbook is intended to aid the authorities and judicial officers in the State Parties to the Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (CIADDIS).

Ana Evelyn Jacir de Lovo, Chief of the Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups Section at the OAS-SEDI, explained that "the handbook will support the judicial system with very specific guidelines on how to operationalize what is proposed by the CEDDIS, where it is suggested that instead of substituting the will of a person with disabilities, it is necessary to provide the provisions and safeguards necessary to ensure that they can exercise their rights. In case that a person needs to be appointed to represent a person with disabilities, that representation should be chosen by the person with disabilities, limited, and should always keep in mind the preferences of the person that is being represented."

It is fitting that Peru served as the venue for this event, given the country’s recent progress in this matter. This progress was presented at an additional meeting held between the international delegation of the CEDDIS and the Special Committee of the Congress of Peru that is currently drafting a bill to reform the Civil Code, intended to ensure the exercise of legal capacity by persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities. At the meeting, Parliamentarian John Reynaga, president of the Committee, told a local newspaper that "We must abolish the civil death for people with mental and intellectual disabilities. Right now, we (Peru) are leaders in having worked closely in proposing a legal formula in accordance to the Convention of the United Nations and the Organization of American States, in favor of this relegated sector, providing the legal capacity under the same conditions as other citizens in all aspects of life, with provisions and safeguards, thus ending the practice of judicial interdiction".

Indeed, the progress in Peru was built upon the efforts of the OAS at the hemispheric level to uphold the rights of peoples with disabilities. These initiatives include a series of trainings, technical assistance for specialized authorities, and access to a network of specialists, not only of the Department of Social Inclusion of the OAS, but also the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Committee as well as national authorities and experts from civil society who are sharing their experiences to strengthen the legal and institutional changes being promoted by countries.

The high level of regional interest in this issue was evident during the Working Group’s meeting,  not only by the clear commitment of the countries represented, but also by the more than 3,000 spectators that went online to watch its live broadcast. Going forward, the Technical Secretariat of CEDDIS-OAS will continue to offer training sessions aimed at promoting the creation of legislative harmonization initiatives of the region’s Civil Codes, as to ensure the full exercise of rights of peoples with disabilities.