Memo for the Removal of the Interpretive Declaration of Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Dear, respected friends:

The following is a memo prepared in a collaborative manner with Marithé Fernández, with the objective of a call to action to Mexican authorities; in particular those who will be present on April 15th and 16th in the International Conference on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CDPD) in Mexico City. In this conference we hope to see the removal of the Interpretive Declaration of Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This interpretive declaration weakens the extent of the Convention and sets a very negative precedent for other countries contemplating ratification of the Convention and its reservations.

We extend a public invitation to any persons or institutions wishing to adhere to our request in the memo to please send us your complete name, name of your organization, country of residence, address, and email.

We are convinced that a massive and international demand to remove the declarative interpretation could have a significant impact on the Mexican authorities. To add your name to the memo please send your information to the following email address:mtfernandez@laneta.apc.org

Sincerely,

Luis Miguel del Águila
Assistant Commissioner of the Congress on Disability in PeruYour Excellencies:President of the Republic of Mexico
President of the Chamber of Deputies Directive Board
Senior Minister of Foreign AffairsSenior President of CONADIS, in the area of disability

We the undersigned, representatives of the civil society, members of organizations of persons with disabilities and of governments and parliaments of Latin America, participants of the Latin American Regional Conference “Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” and supporters of other organizations and virtual networks with work with disability and human rights, with all due respect we direct your attention toward the following:

Firstly, we recognize the brave role than you have played in the government of Mexico to bring about the creation and development of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and we will not end the celebration.We also recognize the fact that Mexico finds itself among the first twenty countries to ratify the convention. We consider this event to be of extraordinary importance as thisd has permitted that this notable legal instrument will be activated this May 3.We also publically wish to express our appreciation to the government of Mexico for the generous support shown towards the realization of this important event, on the level of the Americas, directed towards the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We would like to take this opportunity to express our concern with the Declarative Interpretation, introduced by the government of Mexico, which expresses: the United States of Mexico interpret paragraph 2 of article 12 of the Convention, in the sense that in the case of conflict between said paragraph and the national legislation which would apply- in strict adherence with the pro homine principle- the norm which assures the best legal protection, safeguards the dignity and ensures the physical, psychological, emotional, and patrimonial integrity of individuals.

The aforementioned paragraph 2 of article 12, which establishes that persons with disabilities have the legal capacity to equal treatment in all aspects of life, is of utmost importante as this implies a paradigm change introduced by this Convention with respect to the notion of legal capacity.Without this recognition, dedicated in paragraph 2 of article 12, it will not be posible that persons with disabilities, without distinction, regardless of the type or level of disability, will no longer be viewed and treated as minors or second-class citizens. In other words, persons with disabilities will be forced to endure a restricted citizenship or subject to guardianship, the representation or the interdiction. There is no form in which any national law, be it different from the text of the Convention, could be better than this. For this reason, the aforementioned Declarative Interpretation leaves the door open for the possibility that the country of Mexico does not complete that which is described in the aforementioned paragraph and in article 12 in general. This concern has intensified given that, with the best intentions to protect the interests of those with disabilities, the ability of selected persons with disabilities to exercise their rights would be limited. We also run the risk of limiting the rights of all persons with disabilities. This is cause for alarm as this would affect the entire value of the Convention.

One element to consider is that of the 20 countries which have ratified the Convention, none of them have made an observation or declarative interepretation.In light of the above arguments, we implore officials in the government of Mexico, within their respective posts in the Senate of the Republic and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, to reevaluate the considerations which led to the creation of the aformentioned Interpretive Declaration. With the consideration of the arguments we have presented, we implore you to remove this Interpretive Declaration with the goal of strengthening the current usefulness of the entire Convention.We hope that through this healthy rectification the Mexican government will be deserving of great recognition, on the national and international levels, within the movement of persons with disabilities. We also hope this will serve to prevent any future observation which could be introduced by any country and result in a limitation or reduction of the dignity and rights of persons with disabilities which this Convention promotes.

Originally published on http://wwwderechospcd.blogspot.com/ by Eduardo García