Supported decision-making for persons with mental and/or intellectual disabilities: An examination of Ethiopia’s legal and institutional framework in light of the CRPD

Abstract

models of support practices that could be customized in Ethiopia. Supported decision making is one of the rights of persons with isabilities recognized under Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Elaborating on the concept of supported decision making, General Comment 1 on the CRPD clarifies the right to legal capacity of persons with disabilities. First, it succinctly separates mental capacity from legal capacity and makes the latter absolute right not to be impaired by the earlier. Second, it identifies two steps in the full exercise of the right to legal capacity: recognition before the law on an equal basis and legal agency. Third, it confirmed Persons with disabilities must be provided with support (formal or informal) to enable them to fully exercise their right to legal capacity. However, the CRPD does not specify what types of support States should provide. Hence, States are developing their own supported decision-making system, such as the ombudsman in Sweden, enduring power of attorney and supportive guardians and administrators in Australia. To the contrary, Ethiopia, as it could be understood from its initial report to the CRPD committee, fails to properly understand the concept of supported decision-making and to move forward in legal and policy measures. Therefore, this article, by conducting desktop review, presents foreign experiences of supported decision-m king that Ethiopian government could take lesson from.