IDA’s Compilation of the CRPD Committee’s Concluding Observations and List of Issues
Article 17
International Disability Alliance
Article 17 - Protecting the integrity of the person
Every person with disabilities has a right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity on an equal
basis with others.
I. Concluding observations
Australia, El Salvador, Argentina, Spain, Tunisia
II. List of issues
Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Australia, China, Hungary, Peru, Spain, Tunisia
...
I. Concluding Observations
Australia (CRPD/C/AUS/CO/1)
39. The Committee is deeply concerned that the Senate Inquiry Report into the Involuntary or
Coerced Sterilisation of Persons with Disabilities, released in July 2013, presents
recommendations, which would allow this practice to continue. The Committee further regrets
the failure of Australia to implement the recommendations from the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC/C/15/Add.268; CRC/C/AUS/CO/4), the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/10), and
the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (A/HRC/22/53), which addresses concerns
regarding sterilisation of children and adults with disabilities.
40. The Committee urges the State party to adopt national uniform legislation prohibiting the
use of sterilisation of boys and girls with disabilities, and of adults with disability in the
absence of their prior, fully informed and free consent.
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El Salvador (CRPD/C/SLV/CO/1)
37. The Committee is concerned at the fact that the law permits the forced sterilization of
women with disabilities and the abortion of pregnancies often resulting from sexual abuse, as
well as the paucity of information about how the use of physical and pharmaceutical restraint
and similar treatments in psychiatric facilities undermines the integrity of the person and about
cases brought before the Office of the Human Rights Advocate.
38. The Committee recommends that the State party repeal provisions permitting the forced
sterilization of women with disabilities and that it prevent and investigate the practice of
aborting pregnancies resulting from sexual abuse. It also recommends that the State party
ensure that the administrative authorities provide the information needed to monitor the
situation of persons with disabilities in psychiatric hospitals.
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Argentina (CRPD/C/ARG/CO/1)
31. The Committee regrets that, in cases where a woman with disabilities is under guardianship,
her legal representative may give consent for a legal abortion on her behalf. It is likewise
concerned that persons with disabilities are being sterilized without their free and informed
consent.
32. The Committee recommends that the State party amend article 86 of its Criminal Code and
article 3 of Contraceptive Surgery Act No. 26.130 so that they will be in accordance with the
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Convention and take steps to provide the necessary support to women under guardianship or
trusteeship to ensure that the women themselves are the ones who give their informed
consent for a legal abortion or for sterilization.
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Spain (CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1)
37. The Committee is concerned that persons with disabilities whose legal capacity is not
recognized may be subjected to sterilization without their free and informed consent.
38. The Committee urges the State party to abolish the administration of medical treatment,
in particular sterilization, without the full and informed consent of the patient; and ensure
that national law especially respects women’s rights under articles 23 and 25 of the
Convention.
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Tunisia (CRPD/C/TUN/CO/1)
28. The Committee is concerned about the lack of clarity concerning the scope of legislation to
protect persons with disabilities from being subjected to treatment without their free and
informed consent, including forced treatment in mental health services.
29. The Committee recommends that the State party incorporate into the law the abolition of
surgery and treatment without the full and informed consent of the patient, and ensure that
national law especially respects women’s rights under article 23 and 25 of the Convention.
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There are no recommendations on Austria, Paraguay, China, Hungary and Peru.
II. List of Issues
Azerbaijan (CRPD/C/AZE/Q/1)
18. Please explains what steps are being taken to explicitly incorporate into the law protection
of women and girls with disabilities against forced sterilisation, forced abortion, forced
contraception and all other forced medication and procedures which is not authorised by
individual consent? And to recognise as illegal any treatment which is administered by the
consent of a third party including a guardian?
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El Salvador (CRPD/C/SLV/Q/1)
19. Please furnish information on any specific legislation for protecting persons with disabilities
from undergoing experiments or medical treatment without their free and informed consent, as
well as any measures taken to avoid substitute decision-making in those situations. Please
specify whether there are accessible systems for reporting cases of experimentation or
treatment without consent. Please also furnish information on the regulations that govern the
use of equipment for immobilization or physical or pharmacological restraint and of the forcible
treatment of persons in psychiatric care units.
20. Please describe any actions taken by the State party regarding the criminalization,
prohibition and punishment of forced sterilization so as to protect persons with disabilities and
ensure that no such persons, especially women and girls, are sterilized without their free and
informed consent. Please explain how persons with disabilities are protected from forced
abortion. Are these acts identified as crimes in the State party’s Criminal Code?
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Australia (CRPD/C/AUS/Q/1)
23. Please provide statistics on the number of persons with disabilities that have been subjected
to compulsory treatment, since the Convention entered into force on 16 August 2008. (paras. 9,
96, 97, 100).
24. Please inform the Committee on measures taken to discuss the declaration of Australia
regarding Art.17 with DPOs and on plans to repeal it.
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China (CRPD/C/CHN/Q/1)
China
18. Please provide data on forced sterilization used as a method of family planning. Please
explain how the right to an informed choice of methods of contraception is implemented with
regard to persons with disabilities (ibid., para. 71).
Hong-Kong
38. Please provide information on the existing safeguards assuring that medical treatment,
including psychiatric treatment, abortion and sterilization, is undertaken only with the full and
informed consent of the person with a disability (ibid., para. 17.5).
Macao
54. Please explain the “strict objective conditions” for placing a person with “severe mental
illness” in compulsory hospitalization, in particular the persons involved in the assessment of
these conditions and the types of mental illnesses covered. Please provide information on the
periodic review of the internment, in particular whether it is a judicial or administrative review
(ibid., para. 47).
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Hungary (CRPD/C/HUN/Q/1)
14. Please specify who is entitled to enter an application to the courts to sterilize an
“incompetent” person. (para. 101)
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Peru (CRPD/C/PER/Q/1)
10. Please provide information on the percentage of persons with disabilities forced to live in
institutions, and on measures taken to prevent abuses. Please indicate how persons with
disabilities are protected from forced sterilization and forced abortion, and if these conducts are
defined as a crime in the criminal code in the State party’s legal framework. Please outline the
measures in place to protect women and children with disabilities from sexual abuse.
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Spain (CRPD/C/ESP/Q/1)
16. Please indicate the criteria for allowing the sterilization of persons with disabilities whose
legal capacity is not recognized without their informed consent on the basis of article 156 of the
Penal Code, in particular on the evaluation that it is in “the interest of the person with a
disability” to proceed to such an action (paras. 88-90).
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Tunisia (CRPD/C/TUN/Q/1)
17. Please indicate whether specific legislation exists to protect persons with disabilities from
being subjected to medical experiments or treatment without their free and informed consent,
including forced abortion or sterilization on women with disabilities. Please provide information
about the legal and regulatory framework concerning the use of restraining equipment and
forced treatment in mental health services. Please outline the protocols and training
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programmes in place, if any, that ensure that persons are not subjected to restraints and forced
treatment.
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There are no questions on Costa Rica, Sweden, Austria, Paraguay and Argentina.
LAST UPDATED VERSION NOVEMBER 2013
This document is an unofficial compilation assembled by the International Disability Alliance for
pedagogical use and dissemination. The official and binding texts of the Concluding
Observations and List of Issues adopted by the CRPD Committee are available
at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/SessionsList.aspx?Treaty=CRPD
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