Background Information – What is Article 12?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD; 2006) was a watershed moment for the rights of disabled and mad individuals globally. Its paradigm-shifting Article 12 affirms their rights to be recognized as persons before the law and to enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others.

Revoking legal capacity via guardianship appointments or the imposition of substitute decision-making deprives individuals of decision-making authority, often leading to detention, institutionalization, and/or forced treatment. In contrast to substitute decision-making, supported decision-making is a promising framework being mobilized globally to ensure the right to decide, in which individuals are supported in making decisions that are aligned with their will and preferences. However, despite its promise, implementing this framework is challenging because of inconsistent guidelines and regulations within and between nations.

As research indicates, implementation of Article 12 will require strengthening local knowledges with practical tools, resources, and processes to help individuals and communities in enacting supported decision-making. The article also specifies that states are responsible for ensuring access to such support, but lacks guidance on how support measures are to be enacted and implemented in specific contexts. In the absence of guidance and evidence about what types of decision-making supports people need or ‘what works’, supported decision-making tools, frameworks, policies, and processes are being created and implemented in an ad hoc manner in many countries. While it is likely that these initiatives aim to be responsive to local realities and needs, their effectiveness and potential transferability to other jurisdictions and/or different sectors (e.g., health, finance, etc.) is unclear.

To read Article 12, visit the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities website.