engleski

Protection of people with disability under European Convention on Human Rights

Disabled people are the largest minority in the world encompassing more than 500 million persons. For a very long time disabled persons have been confronted with different kinds of disregard and mistreatment. Legal systems have excluded disabled persons as non-persons. For too long policies, concerning persons with disabilities have been focused on institutional care, medical rehabilitation and welfare benefits. Over the last few decades, a shift in thinking has taken place. It is no longer correct to view persons with disabilities as merely objects of concern. The challenge is to put this shift in thinking fully into practice. In reality, persons with disabilities are still discriminated against all over Europe and globally. European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter: ECHR) does not contain provisions specifically aiming at advancing or protecting the rights of disabled persons. This does not prevent such individuals from bringing their case to the European Court of Human Rights. In a many of these cases their disability is a matter of particular concern. In principle, this can happen in relation to all the rights protected by the ECHR, although they are of specific concern in relation to some of them. Therefore, the focus in this paper is on Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination).

disability ; European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ; degrading treatment ; private life ; discrimination

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