{"id":1329,"date":"2020-11-02T11:21:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T07:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohrc.om\/english\/?p=1329"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:13:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:13:56","slug":"new-guidelines-aim-to-dismantle-barriers-blocking-people-with-disabilities-from-access-to-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/new-guidelines-aim-to-dismantle-barriers-blocking-people-with-disabilities-from-access-to-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"New guidelines aim to dismantle barriers blocking people with disabilities from access to justice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first-ever guidelines on access to justice for people with disabilities are an\u00a0\u201cindispensable contribution\u201d\u00a0towards ensuring justice for all, UN\u00a0human rights experts said on Friday.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The document will help countries dismantle the barriers that block people with disabilities from being able to use justice systems worldwide.\u201cThe guidelines respond to the challenges that people with disabilities face in accessing justice on an equal basis with others,\u201d said Catalina Devandas, UN special rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities.\n
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\u00a0\u201cMany barriers prevent that access. Just to name a few, court houses or police stations are often not accessible, or court officials and police officers may not think that those with disabilities can take part in legal proceedings or have the capacity to instruct a lawyer. We want to help countries dismantle obstacles and parallel systems that prevent access to the existing guarantees and rights by all people.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A ‘practical handbook’ for countries<\/h3>\nThe International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities\u00a0are the product of joint work by the three UN bodies that deal with disability rights.<\/div>\n
They were developed in collaboration with disability rights experts, organizations of people with disabilities, States, academics, and others.<\/div>\n
\u201cThese guidelines are an important contribution to international human rights law, and are an indispensable contribution to achieving justice for all,\u201d said Danlami Basharu, chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.<\/div>\n
\u201cFor the first time, countries will have a practical handbook on how to design and implement justice systems that provide equal access to justice for people with disabilities, regardless of their role in the process, to bring them into line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international standards.\u201d\n

Principles for inclusion<\/h3>\nThe guidelines outline 10 principles of access to justice for people with disabilities \u2013 such as \u201cpeople with disabilities have the right to participate in the administration of justice on an equal basis with others\u201d \u2013 and detailed steps for implementation.They have been endorsed by the International Disability Alliance and the International Commission of Jurists.\u201cWe believe we have supplied one pillar that many justice systems were lacking \u2013 disability inclusion,\u201d said Mar\u00eda Soledad Cisternas Reyes, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility.\u201cThis should be a valuable tool for everyone in the justice system. We want to ensure that people with disabilities are part of the system in the same way they are part of society, that they can fully exercise the human rights they have by virtue of being human.\u201d\n

About UN rapporteurs<\/h3>\nThe Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts are part of what is known as the\u00a0Special Procedures\u00a0of the\u00a0Human Rights Council. The experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.\n\n\"\"\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first-ever guidelines on access to justice for people with disabilities are an\u00a0\u201cindispensable contribution\u201d\u00a0towards ensuring justice for all, UN\u00a0human rights experts said on Friday. The document will help countries dismantle the barriers that block people with disabilities from being able…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ohrc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989697,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1329\/revisions\/989697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ohrc.om\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}